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How many times have you been in a park or forest and seen garbage or been disturbed by noise from other campers or picnickers? Do things like this detract from your enjoyment of the outdoors?
As Girl Scouts, we want to leave a place looking better than we find it and don't want to disturb other people around us. These things are considered in Leave No Trace ethics.
Leave No Trace is a program of outdoor ethics. It teaches principles and skills that encourage outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy the outdoors without loving it to death. In 2006, GSUSA partnered with Leave No Trace to make these ethics part of Girl Scouting.
Leave No Trace consists of seven principles:
- Plan Ahead and Prepare
- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
- Dispose of Waste Properly
- Leave What You Find
- Minimize Campfire Impact
- Respect Wildlife
- Be Considerate of Other Visitors
Plan Ahead and Prepare
Planning ahead is doing all those things that help you enjoy your outdoor activity, keep you out of trouble, and keep you off the six o'clock news! Some level of planning is needed for every activity. Planning helps ensure safety of the group, reduces the chances of needing rescue, prepares the girls for a fun outdoor experience and prepares the girls to "leave no trace."
Preparations include but are not limited to:
- making reservations
- checking on facilities at the site
- checking on restrictions or regulations for the site, including group size allowed
- preparing the proper food, clothing and equipment for the outing
- getting permission slips and checking health forms
- getting approval from your field executive
- checking weather forecasts
- preparing an emergency plan
When planning an activity or choosing a location, consider the skill level of your girls. Pay close attention to Progression in Outdoor Activities later in this course. Select destinations that match the goals, skills, and abilities of the girls.
Check with the land managers of the area where you are going. They can answer your questions and may have helpful ideas about where to go or what to do. Ask about regulations, permits, reservations, group size or other restrictions, and any hazards such as hunting being permitted in the area.
Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Generally, Girl Scouts use established trails and campgrounds. The big exception is when backpacking, but that's another class.
- When hiking, stay on trails.
- Avoid taking shortcuts or cutting switchbacks because they cause erosion.
- It's best to go through a mud puddle rather than making a new trail on the edge.
- If you go off a trail, try to keep to durable surfaces such as rocks, sand, gravel, leaves, and pine straw.
- When camping, if there is a tent pad, use it. If not, look for a location with a durable surface or a previously impacted (disturbed) area. Good surface choices include gravel, pine straw, dirt, leaves and short grass.
- Don't make a new site. Don't cut plants, move large rocks, or rake the site. Moving small branches and pine cones is okay. Replace anything you move.
- Unless sites are designated near the water or a trail, choose a location at least 200 feet from water sources and from any trails.
- Locate your camp kitchen either on the most durable surface or in an impacted area.
- Keep to footpaths or sidewalks when going to bathrooms, faucets, etc.
Dispose of Waste Properly
You've probably heard the saying "Pack it In, Pack It Out". This applies even to day trips in the out-of-doors.
Cooking and Clean-up
- Repackage foods to reduce the number of containers and reduce waste.
- Bring reusable water bottles rather than purchased bottled water (cheaper too!)
- Carry out all garbage and food scraps, even orange skins and apple cores.
- When washing dishes, either dispose of water at the place designated by the campground or disperse it in a wide area at least 200 feet away from any water source. Make sure all food scraps are removed from the water before disposing of it.
Human Waste
- Properly dispose of human waste to avoid water contamination.
- Use toilets or outhouses if provided.
- On day hikes away from toilet facilities, take a trowel with you and dig a cathole (a small hole dug 6 inches deep in which feces is buried. Choose a location at least 200 feet away from water and trails).
- Pack out all toilet tissue and sanitary supplies. If sealed inside two sealable bags, these won't smell. They can then be disposed of properly when returning to the trailhead.
- Holes do not need to be dug for urine, but toilet paper should still be carried out.
Leave What You Find
This principle can be a difficult one to apply for youngsters. Everyone wants to take home that special rock or to pick just one flower. However, if everyone picks a flower, soon there will be none left for others to enjoy.
Plan ways for the girls to remember the experience. For example, take photos or sketch a flower.
- Leaving natural objects of beauty or interest is especially important. Objects such as antlers add to the interest of the outdoors.
- Removing historical objects is illegal. Many old home sites exist in this area. While it is okay to explore them, avoid causing damage or removing any objects.
- Minimize site alterations. Don't construct furniture from branches or rocks.
- Avoid damaging trees by cutting branches or hammering in a nail.
The one exception to leaving what you find: Trash. Take home all you can find!
Minimize Campfire Impacts
Fires and the outdoors go together. While no longer needed for cooking or warmth, a campfire is still very much part of Girl Scout camping. However, be sure to consider how to lessen the impact of any fires you have.
Cooking
- With the use of camp stoves, it is no longer necessary to have a fire for cooking. Cooking on a stove is faster, cleaner, and more reliable than cooking on a fire; most camp cooking should be done on a stove.
Campfires
- When you have a campfire, use an existing fire ring.
- Bring your own firewood. Most campgrounds are heavily used and firewood may be difficult to find.
- Check for restrictions on fire building (fire danger or air pollution concerns).
- Keep your fire small and allow it to burn completely to ash.
- Put fires out with water. Scatter the cold ashes or dispose of them in a metal trash can.
- Never throw trash of any kind in the fire. Foil and cans don't burn. Paper can cause embers that fly out of the fireplace. Burning plastics and styrofoam can emit toxic fumes.
Collecting Firewood
- If collecting firewood, use wood that is "dead, down, and dinky," about 1 inch across or smaller.
- Both standing and fallen trees provide bird and animal shelter and should be left in place. Leave branches on trees.
- Gather wood over a wide area to avoid depleting the supply in the immediate campsite area. Afterwards, scatter any unused wood.
Instead of having a campfire every night, spend an evening without one. Listen to the noises, take a night hike, or look at the stars.
Respect Wildlife
"Look at that cute squirrel!" "Can I go pet the deer?" Or even better, "Take a photo of me next to the bear!" Have you heard any of those?
When outdoors, your actions can disturb wildlife. In extreme cases, you can cause an animal to abandon its young or to attack you to protect its young. While most wildlife adapt to humans, it's best to learn about wildlife by watching quietly.
- Observe animals through binoculars. If you notice an animal reacting to you, for instance, by looking up or moving away, you are too close and should move away yourself.
- Travel quietly and in small groups. Do not follow animals or force them to flee.
- Allow animals easy access to water by camping at least 200 feet from water sources.
- Feeding animals may sicken them.
- Animals sometimes carry diseases such as rabies. If you find a sick or injured animal or one which is behaving abnormally, leave it alone. Notify a game warden or ranger.
- Make sure animals can't get into your food. Animals that have become accustomed to humans can become a nuisance and may have to be relocated or destroyed.
- If food storage rules are followed, bears are not a big problem when camping. If a bear does come into the campground, retreat and notify a ranger or the campground manager.
Be Considerate of Other Visitors
Girl Scouts promise to be considerate. Not only are we there to enjoy the outdoors but so are other people. There are many ways that a group can minimize its social impact on an area:
- Travel in small groups, go in the off-season or during the week when possible, and avoid holiday weekends.
- Be courteous when you meet other groups on the trail. Yield the right of way to other hikers and to all horse riders.
- Take rest breaks off the main trail.
- Let nature's sounds prevail. Try not to be too noisy in campgrounds and maintain quiet hours so other campers can sleep.
- Leave radios and CD players at home.
- Choose colors that blend into the background. Bright colors attract the eye and may make an area seem more crowded.
- If you are concerned about being able to spot your girls in an emergency, have each one carry a red bandanna or carry a white or orange trash bag (which can double for emergency shelter/rain gear) rather than wear brightly colored shirts or jackets.
- Respect both public and private property. Leave gates as you found them. Don't leave any signs that you have passed through.
- Pick up trash when you see it.
- Be courteous when you meet other visitors.
Make Leave No Trace part of your outdoor experience, part of your attitude, and part of your life!
For more information on Leave No Trace, including free down-loadable teaching materials, go to www.lnt.org. Plastic hang tags with the seven principles can be ordered through the website. Leave No Trace Skills and Ethics booklets and a "cookbook" of activities suitable for all ages are available for review at the Council Office. Contact Training Coordinator for availability.
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