News

Baywatch Calendar March 12, 2010
Press-Register - al.com (blog)
... on the first Tuesday of the month at 7 pm On March 2, the speaker will be Jim Felder, executive director of the Alabama Scenic River Trail. ...

Coconino Forest has new supervisor
Verde Independent
In the Talladega National Forest; deputy district ranger, district ranger; 1999-2005 He has also served in the House of Representatives and Washington ...

It’s true – as part of our Bigfoot Challenge this year, http://lnt.org/bigfootchallenge/index.php, you can participate in various challenges that are updated every month. Sign up and take action, pledge to do something that helps forward Leave No Trace in your area, and be eligible to win great gear and other cool stuff from Bigfoot himself. Our first winner is Mike Doyle, from Atlanta. Mike takes home a Coleman sleeping bag, soft cooler, backpack and other great prizes from Coleman. We’ll feature new winners every month.

Thanks, Mike, for helping bring Leave No Trace to your community. Read more about what Mike, an inspiring young leader at Georgia Southern University, is doing to make Leave No Trace fun and accessible to students on campus:

My name is Mike, I'm from Atlanta, GA but I've been in Statesboro, GA for the past four years going to school at Georgia Southern University. Statesboro is a small college town that has been rapidly growing, but faces some big problems with the proposed budget cuts for higher education by the state legislators. With the city seeing a large influx of college age students, more and more of the local scene is being turned into apartment complexes. Development projects are popping up all over the place and pushing access to natural setting farther and farther away. College students are becoming less and less likely to find quiet places in nature to recreate. Yet, on campus there is a great outlet for students. Southern Adventures is our outdoor recreation program on campus. I've been working for Southern Adventures for 3 years now, facilitating challenge courses, teaching climbing, kayaking, and canoeing clinics, managing the climbing wall, and leading backcountry trips. As a student employee, I've had the privilege of leading backcountry trips for other students going climbing, backpacking, canoeing, sea kayaking, caving, and mountain biking. Before I started leading trips I became a Leave No Trace trainer, so that I could not only practice Leave No Trace principles in the field, but also teach my participants how to minimize their impacts on the places we go, and hopefully where they go in the future. I've come to find that most of the students that come on these trips learn more about the impacts that they have on their environments every day than they do if someone just told them, or if they saw it in a documentary. I taught a group about low impact fire building, and more so about when fires are not appropriate. I set it up as a discussion rather than a lecture. I think that the most rewarding thing about it was that I wasn't teaching them directly 'this is right and that is wrong' but that I posed the questions to them, and they came up with alternatives and the answers themselves. Leave No Trace is something that I am very passionate about and I'm glad to have a way of sharing that with others. Becoming a Leave No Trace trainer has given me ways of teaching I never would have otherwise had.

If there could be ONE thing about Leave No Trace that everyone could do, it would be to spread the word!

On Tuesday, we started the day off by visiting the Odyssey School, a small middle school for gifted and talented students in San Mateo, California. We met with the 6th and 7th grade classes to introduce them to Leave No Trace information. We discovered that the students had a wide range of outdoor recreation experiences in beautiful locations around the globe. These experiences allowed us to identify a common ethic amongst the group while participating in a number of activities focusing on the principles of Leave No Trace!

In the afternoon we traveled to the East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy, a small college preparatory charter high school created four years ago in East Palo Alto, California. We first spoke with nine students in the E-packers club, the new outdoor recreation club. The E-packers will be going on a five-day backpacking trip in Big Sur at the end of the month, and we were invited to share Leave No Trace information with the club as they prepare for this trip. Our second presentation was open to the community and many parents, siblings, and friends of the E-packers came to find out what Leave No Trace was all about. We had a very interesting and bi-lingual conversation about Leave No Trace. When we talked about the decomposition rates of common trash items, the participants were quite surprised that it can take a plastic six-pack holder about 450 years to biodegrade. The audience was also interested in learning more about the Hotspots program to possibly nominate a local site for restoration within the community.

All the best....

Agata and Jason

Local Hiking Trails Range From Easy to Difficult
The Auburn Plainsman
From the Pinhoti Trail in Cheaha National Park near Talladega to the start of the Appalachian Trail in north Georgia, there are trails for hikers of every ...

Birmingham metro forecast: Rain and flooding threats
al.com (blog)
The Cahaba River at Cahaba Heights was predicted to rise to near 18.3 feet this morning. At stages near 18 feet flooding of some commercial property in the ...

and more »

Truss relishes return as Tuskegee district ranger
Tuskegee News
A native of Monroeville, Truss was selected as the new district ranger of the Tuskegee National Forest. He has been on the job for moret han a month, ...

Every month we’re offering new Bigfoot Challenges – an easy way for you to get involved and demonstrate your commitment to responsible recreation. You can participate each month and you’ll have the opportunity to win great outdoor gear prizes every time you pledge to Leave No Trace – just like Bigfoot!

1. Take the Leave No Trace online Awareness Course and invite others (friends, family, coworkers) to do the same.
2. Earth Day is next month. Find an event in your area and get involved. Volunteer, participate, take action.
3. Ensure your computer’s energy saver power settings are enabled right now.
4. Write why your individual membership to Leave No Trace is important to you and email it to the Center at sara@LNT.org (mailto:sara@LNT.org).

And if you haven't seen it yet, visit the Bigfoot Challenge page on our website, with new animation provided by Leave No Trace member, Dave Titus!

Dear Education Department,

I was writing to inquire about your grants and scholarship programs. I volunteer for a youth-serving organization in my community and am interested in using some of your teaching resources to teach my kids about Leave No Trace. We have an overnight camping trip coming up later this spring and we have a limited budget for the program. I had looked into your grants and scholarships program earlier in the year, but it didn’t look like the deadlines were posted. Can you provide me with an update or suggest other resources that I can use?

Sincerely,

Community Leader

********

Dear Community Leader,

Thank you for your email! We always enjoy hearing about the great work that individuals are doing in their communities on behalf of the Leave No Trace program. Thanks for checking back in about the grants and scholarships. We did make recent changes, so here is an update on deadlines:

• Tools for Teaching: April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2010;
• Master Educator Scholarships: April 1 and August 1, 2010;
• Packing with PEAK: June 1, 2010;
• Connect Grants for Culturally Diverse Communities: June 1, 2010.

Please make note of this update from our Grants and Scholarships page:

Due to funding, limited grants will be awarded in 2010. Please refer to the specific grant that you are applying for to determine application deadlines. Apply for a grant only if your project fits into the designated timeline. At this time, the Center is not accepting applications for grants that serve the international community.

With that in mind, the Center has a number of other free resources that could benefit your community programs:

1) Educational and Training Resources Pages with materials you can download

2) PEAK and Teen program pages with activities you can download

3) Online Awareness Course to take from anywhere, anytime

4) YouTube Page with online instructional videos

Keep in mind that a Leave No Trace lesson could be as simple as a discussion while you are packing bags for a hiking or camping trip. We appreciate all your support and hard work and look forward to working with you in the future.

Sincerely,

The Education Department

On March 5th and 6th we attended the Five Rivers Metro Parks Adventure Summit in Dayton, OH. The Adventure Summit is an event celebrating the spirit of outdoor adventure by showcasing the vibrant lifestyle and culture of human powered endeavors through inspiration, education, and experience. And inspired we were! The keynote speaker Charlie Engle captivated the audience by expanding upon his simple motto “Do Something Now!”

Charlie Engle is an elite adventurer who has pushes himself beyond his limits. In 2007, he challenged himself to run across the entirety of the Sahara Desert- a 4600 mile expedition. His experience was captured in the documentary “Running the Sahara”. At the Adventure Summit, he spoke about this experience and the difference it made in his life. His motto “Do Something Now” reminded us to take action in our lives. Whether we challenge ourselves to try an adventure race, a new outdoor activity, or make a difference in your community, we can all do something now!

One of the perks of our job as Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers is attending events where amazing people come to speak. We get the opportunity to learn and experience from some of the best in the outdoor industry. We are continuously inspired and rejuvenated by the energy of these people. With Spring right around the corner, we encourage you to step up to the challenge, where ever the road may take you!

Happy Adventuring,

Kate and Tracy

From The Daily Camera:
Sometime this spring -- amid the usual bikers, joggers and amblers -- an odd looking tricycle will roll down the Boulder Creek Path snapping 360-degree photos as it goes.

With 21,000 votes, the Boulder Creek Path won a contest Monday to become one of the first off-road locations visited by the new Google Street View Trike, a cross between a mountain bike and trailer with a camera mounted on a pole in the back.

The trike will allow Google to complement its popular Street View function -- which gives users an on-the-ground perspective through their computer screens, including a look at store fronts, street signs and yards -- with a "path view" for places where cars can't go.

"We're very excited," said Marni Ratzel, bicycle and transportation planner for the city's Go Boulder program. "I think it's great for our residents as well as for tourists who come to Boulder to see this great amenity that we have. They can do that virtually prior to coming, and they can show their friends after they've been there.

"It's just a really cool tool."

The Boulder Creek Path beat out four other finalists in Google's parks and trails category -- the Capital Crescent Trail in Maryland and Washington, D.C.; the Centennial Trail in Washington; the Schuylkill River Trail in Pennsylvania; and the Stevens Creek Trail in California -- to win a visit from the trike.

The strong support for Boulder's trail, which amounted to more than one vote for every five city residents, may have had something to do with the staffers in Google's Boulder office.

"I think they did some work to get the vote out," said Elaine Filadelfo, Google spokeswoman. "They did some grassroots campaigning, I would say."

And while Google typically hires contractors to ride the trike, the company is looking at recruiting some of the avid cyclists who already work for Google in Boulder for the job, Filadelfo said.

The city of Boulder hopes that the trike's ride through Boulder marks the beginning of a deeper relationship between the city and Google's mapping programs. The city has applied to share data about its extensive bike path system with Google as a Base Map Partner.

If the city's proposal is accepted, people will be able to get directions for traveling in Boulder from Google Maps that are tailored for bikes, routing cyclists along multi-use paths and roads with bike lanes. The city already has its own mapping software at gobikeboulder.net that does just that, but if Boulder can partner with Google, Go Boulder staffers hope that even more people will take advantage of the 360 miles of local bike routes.

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Bike paths are a great way to enjoy the outdoors. They are an accessible and fun option for families to explore their neighborhood. Keep the Leave No Trace Frontcountry principles in mind as you travel on bike paths like the Boulder Creek Path.

Wadley declares Zula Battle Day to commemorate 108th birthday
Randolph Leader
The council also adopted a resolution joining the Alabama Scenic River Trail. Envision Wadley has been the spark in this move, bringing members of the ...

One of the many pleasures of our job as Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers is to facilitate trainer courses all over the lower 48 states. Last year we trained over 100 people during our ten months on the road. The above picture displays the zest that participants bring to the courses. This year we hope to train even more people. We are kicking the 2010 season off in full force as we are preparing for three trainer courses over the next two weeks!
If you are curious if there is a trainer course coming up in your area, check out the Community Page. Click on your state and nearby surrounding states to locate any trainer courses and awareness workshops that will be happening near you.
Do you know of 5-12 people that would be interested in a trainer course? You can request a visit from the Traveling Trainers to come to your area. Currently, we are taking requests for June-November 2010. We would appreciate the opportunity to work with you!
Happy Adventuring...Kate and Tracy

In an interesting merge of nature and technology researchers from Ohio State were able to determine the geological effects of the February 27th earthquake in Chile using GPS units.
GPS measurements before and after the earthquake revealed that the town of Conception, the epicenter, moved nearly 10 ft to the west, while the larger city of Santiago moved over a foot.
For more information, please refer to this article: Chilean Earthquake
Historically used for scientific purposes, GPS units are a hot topic in the outdoor recreation world, with the increasing number of people worldwide participating in the activity of geocaching - similar to a treasure hunt - by which participants find caches based on GPS coordinates. Sometimes these caches are man-made, sometimes they are nature-based (a beautiful waterfall for example).
Thousands of caches are found in cities worldwide; an interesting (and peripheral) effect of a natural event like an earthquake, would be the shifting of these published geocaching coordinates.
For more information about geocaching, visit: http://www.geocaching.com/
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics recently began publishing educational materials that promote responsible enjoyment of this activity. For more information, please contact us.

This weekend we attended the Subaru Master the Mountain event at Mountain High Resort. Each winter season, the Subaru Master the Mountain team travels to ski resorts across the country bringing music, giveaways, and free activities for people to enjoy. Skiers have the opportunity to demo the latest Nordica skis, hone their skills with free ski and snowboard lessons, check out the latest film from MSP Films, In Deep: The Skiing Experience, test drive a Subaru, and of course learn about Leave No Trace.


We had participants provide their best guesses for the decomposition rates of common trash items and awarded small prizes. In this photo, the Mt. High Ski and Snowboard School instructors celebrate their correct answer.


Gratefully we received a sprinkling of fresh snow and a little bit of sunshine over the course of the weekend. Thanks to Subaru for putting on such a great event!

All the best....

Agata and Jason

Alabama Game and Fish Magazine
Gobblers On The River
Alabama Game and Fish Magazine
Needing a new place to hunt after that, he migrated to the Bankhead National Forest, which also includes the Black Warrior WMA. "I hunted the Bankhead hard ...

Do you have a great idea for new Leave No Trace educational or promotional items? The Center is always looking for new ideas when it comes to our Educational materials and Promotional items. Many of our best ideas have come from our passionate community of volunteers, educators and supporters. What one or two items would you like to see us consider adding?

This past weekend we attended the fifth annual 5 Rivers Metro Parks Adventure Summit. The mission of the event is to celebrate the spirit of outdoor adventure by showcasing the vibrant lifestyle and culture of human powered endeavors through inspiration, education, and experience. Leave No Trace was a natural fit for this event. Thousands of people from the 5 Rivers area gathered at Wright State University to express their enthusiasm for outdoor recreation. The energy charged weekend was full of exhibitors, competitions, and motivational speakers.
While on the road, we take advantage of every opportunity to meet and thank key Leave No Trace volunteers. Indiana State Advocate Douglas Wagoner was in attendance promoting upcoming trainer courses that he is teaching through his organization Green Earth Outdoors. We would like to thank Douglas and all of the volunteers that donate their time to enhance the Leave No Trace program. The Summit has grown tremendously since 2006. The Dayton, Ohio area is emerging as the "Adventure Capital of the Midwest," so if you ever have the chance to pass through this part of the country, be sure to step outside and experience what the area has to offer!
Happy Adventuring...Kate and Tracy

al.com (blog)
Falcon's recovery takes it from metro Birmingham to Florida
al.com (blog)
... tracked to winter homes in South America, a round trip of 15500 miles. The private, nonprofit Alabama Wildlife Rescue Center is at Oak Mountain State Park.

Company: Sauce For A Cause (aka. SFAC)
Website: www.sauceforacause.com
Hometown: Boulder, CO
Motto: All Natural Gluten-Free Gourmet Sauce for an active Lifestyle!

Mission: “To simply create the best all-natural, gluten-free, gourmet sauces, while improving the well-being of the world around us."

Why Sauce For A Cause: Sauce For A Cause makes the best all natural, gluten-free, gourmet sauces. Our sauces include: Tangy Tangerine BBQ, Mango Mint, Not Your Traditional Ketchup, and Gourmet Mustard. Each of these sauces is a unique recipe created by the founder, Alex Mitchell.

Sauce For A Cause began in Boulder, CO in the kitchen of Alex Mitchell. He was just finishing up his degree in Art History and wondering what adventure was to come next. He always loved to experiment in the kitchen. He has especially loved making barbecue sauce ever since his grandfather taught him how to make it as a kid. (Since then no one has been able to stop Alex from putting barbecue sauce on almost everything he eats.) Upon graduating, he decided to perfect his barbecue sauce recipe. Experimenting in the kitchen led to other yummy sauces. After being put through more taste test sessions than they could imagine, Alex decided to take his family and friends seriously when they told him he was really on to something. That is when he decided to start bottling it. Being the paragliding, world traveling, ambitious person he is, Alex did not take presenting his sauce to the world lightly. Less than a year later, we are proud to present you with Sauce For A Cause.

What does Sauce For A Cause do for the environment? We strive to find the best packaging we can. The bottles are an innovative package that is eco-friendly, space saving, and great for taking anywhere you want them to go. The packages are more like a pouch, made from recycled materials and could be reused in all sorts of creative ways.

Not only is it important to us to bring you the best products, but also to make a true difference. That is why Sauce For A Cause donates fifty-percent of its proceeds to five carefully selected causes: Life Straw, Friends of the World Food Program, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, Cancer and Flight for Life Colorado.

Sauce For A Cause & Leave No Trace: Sauce For A Cause Is honored to work with Leave No Trace. We are strong supporters and believe strongly in the program, and the partnership with the REI peak program. As a past instructor of the peak program and Leave No Trace, trainer Alex Mitchell is all about getting kids playing outside and away from video games. Everybody should know the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace!

Interested in learning more? Visit the Sauce For A Cause website, or join them on Facebook!

For more on Partnerships with Leave No Trace, visit our Partnership page or contact Sara@LNT.org.