Practicing Leave No Trace Ethics & Why It Matters
How lucky are we to share this beautiful planet and partake in all its natural wonders? In this day and age of social media where photos of epic scenery and beautiful places can reach millions and inspire droves of people to travel to, locations that used to be wild and remote are attracting thousands of visitors who want to explore and experience Mother Earth’s beauty themselves. It is important to note, however, that the problem doesn’t lie in the fact that more and more people want to seek these outdoor experiences, but rather how we, as visitors to these places, use and leave our impact on them. Realizing that our actions accumulate overtime and can result in drastic measures being taken to preserve a landscape is the first step to Leaving No Trace on the outdoors, and taking conscious actions to preserve and maintain this place we get to call home.
I know that I haven’t been perfect about leaving no trace when I’m outdoors. I’ve made mistakes - tons - that, I’m frankly ashamed of. The truth is, we all have. However, it is important to recognize that Leave No Trace isn’t about perfection, but rather about action. It’s about constantly learning how to take care of our environment so that places can maintain sustainable access for everyone to enjoy. It’s about doing things within our power to minimize our impact on the ground and on the surfaces we interact with while outdoors. It is about encouraging people to use and enjoy the outdoors, but to do so in a responsible and safe way that will lead to greater appreciation for our public lands. It is also about educating ourselves and others in a kind way that encourages continued learning and preservation of the outdoors — i.e. no public shaming!
What Is Leave No Trace?
LNT consists of a set of 7 principles to guide us on how to use our public lands in a more responsible and considerate way. It is important to note that LNT isn’t a set of black-and-white rules that you have to follow in a specific place, but rather a set of ethics that we can implement into our everyday interactions with the outdoors, no matter where we are. LNT isn’t about discouraging people from getting outdoors and experiencing nature; conversely, it’s about encouraging and educating people on how to experience the outdoors responsibly, so that we all have a greater appreciation for it and truly want to preserve it to keep it pristine and beautiful.
1) Plan ahead and Prepare
Doing research into the area we’re thinking of visiting and perhaps even staying overnight at is imperative to Leaving No Trace, while also ensuring that we have a safe and amazing experience outdoors.
Planning ahead and preparing involves:
Securing the correct and proper permits required to use a space, especially when it comes to having your elopement or wedding
Familiarizing ourselves with the rules of the place
Being prepared for extreme weather conditions and emergencies
Researching a place’s visitation volume and planning around crowds
Finally, venturing out into the backcountry (i.e. places that are more remote, aren’t easily accessible by a vehicle, and have less amenities) requires much more preparation than just visiting the more populated frontcountry areas, so if you aren’t very familiar with backcountries, it is extremely important to make sure to do your research and ample preparations beforehand to avoid finding yourself in a position of having to be rescued.
2) Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Durable surfaces include rock, gravel, sand, dry grasses or snow.
Make sure to stay on designated trails and campsites and avoid stepping off trail.
Camp at least 200ft from lakes, rivers and streams to protect the vegetation and habitats in the riparian area (i.e. the interface between land and river/stream/lake).
3) Dispose of Waste Properly
Learn how to go to the bathroom on the trail, and how to dispose of your own and pet waste properly.
Make sure to pack out toilet paper, food scraps/packaging, flower petals, etc.
Don’t throw confetti!
4) Leave What You Find
Take only photographs!
Don’t remove plants, rocks, etc and leave them in their original place to keep the space in its original condition as much as possible.
Don’t carve, hack or peel into plants - treat them as living beings!
5) Minimize Campfire Impacts
Use a camp stove for cooking as opposed to cooking over a fire as much as possible.
Avoid open flames and anything that may spark a fire as much as possible. This includes smoke bombs, sparklers and lighters - believe it or not, a small spark from any of these could start a wildfire that burns down hundreds or thousands of acres, killing wildlife and possibly destroying homes!
Before starting a campfire, be aware of any fire bans in the area and consider the weather conditions. High winds and dry conditions do not mix well with fires!
Only build fires in designated areas - use existing fire rings to protect the ground from heat.
Use firewood bought from a local vendor or gather them on-site if possible. Bringing untreated firewood from home or from another area can introduce tree-killing insects and diseases.
Fully extinguish fires (make sure there aren’t any embers left!) and disperse cooled ashes.
6) Respect Wildlife & Their Habitat
Recognize that we are the visitors, visiting wildlife and their home
Never approach, feed or follow wildlife, always observe from a distance
Make sure to secure your food and trash - this protects both yourself and wildlife!
Know bear spray rules. Some places require it while others forbid it, so make sure to do your research!
7) Be considerate of other visitors
Be aware of popular areas - this may affect your own experience of the place and your day if you choose to go to a very populated and well-known area.
Don’t hog a space, recognize that we are in a public place and others have just as much right to be there as we do. (Having your wedding there doesn’t give you exclusive use of the space!)
Select locations and spots that won’t hamper others’ enjoyment of the area
Why is LNT important?
This likely isn’t the first time you’ve heard that it’s important to conserve and protect the outdoors. You may have heard this so many times that you feel jaded even just thinking about it. But understanding why it’s important will help us all become more aware of the impact we leave and consequently take actions to become better, more responsible, stewards of our public lands.
Knowing how to Leave No Trace is incredibly important to ensure continued enjoyment of the outdoors. Even if it’s difficult to think about others, think about yourselves. Wouldn’t you want to come back to this beautiful place and find it just as beautiful as the first time you were there? Wouldn’t you want to still, at the very least, be able to access it? How awful would it be if this beautiful place you love so much became restricted or even banned from access?
It’s important to realize that LNT starts with us as individuals recognizing that our actions have a cumulative impact on our environment over time. It’s easy to think that we are just one person or one couple stepping off trail for just the one time, however, think about the tens, maybe even hundreds or thousands of people, who may come after us, see that someone else had stepped off trail, and use that as a sign that it’s also okay to do so. How many times have we been part of those tens or hundreds or thousands of people that saw a spot off the designated trail that looked like others have also been to, and therefore decide that there’s no harm in us stepping off the path as well? Being aware that we aren’t the only ones to use this space is an important part of LNT, and taking continued, conscious actions to make sure that we and others use it responsibly will help to preserve places in their original condition for everyone, including ourselves, to come back to and enjoy.
How does LNT translate to elopements and weddings?
As more and more people, photographers and couples alike, become more aware of adventure elopements and want to use our beautiful outdoor spaces as the backdrop for our photos, it is becoming increasingly important to be aware of LNT ethics and principles when we use public lands for our elopements and weddings. LNT starts before we even arrive at the place itself - it starts from the planning stages, and thinking ahead to make sure we prepare well for the place we’re going to. For example, securing the required permits through proper channels, making sure we don’t bring floral arrangements and bouquets to places where these plants aren’t native to, not throwing confetti on the ground, and bringing ceremony setups that A) leave little to no impact on the ground, and B) are easy to pack up and out, are some ways where LNT can be practiced when it comes to elopements and weddings on public lands.
As a photographer who uses the outdoors,
I see it as my responsibility to integrate LNT practices into my business, to maintain sustainable access for myself, other photographers and couples overtime. Photographers tend to get a bad rap for doing things just to get “the shot”, with little regard for how we do it. It might mean treading on wildflowers to get into the middle of a meadow for a pretty photo, or plucking flowers off the side of a trail to use as a prop. It is hard to imagine that these places will stay open and beautiful for continued access over time if everyone does this, leaving no time for nature to heal and replenish itself. Oftentimes, the easiest thing for parks to do when they get overwhelmed with visitors who don’t know how to use a space responsibly is just to shut it down, rather than building infrastructure to support the increasing volume of visitors, which they may not have the resources to do. We all want the same thing — to be able to continually use these public lands and scenery as the backdrop for our photos and provide couples with amazing experiences outdoors on their wedding day, and it is important to recognize that if we don’t take the steps to ensure continued access of these areas, they will eventually be closed off from use entirely. Especially since I am oftentimes the one suggesting locations to couples, it is imperative that LNT starts with me. It is not an afterthought to be dealt with on a couple’s elopement day itself, but rather integrated into every step of my workflow. Preparing couples on how to Leave No Trace way before their actual elopement or wedding day, making sure to get proper permission to use the space for an elopement, making sure to stay on designated trails and areas, and geotagging places responsibly when sharing images on social media, are some of the ways LNT is infused into my business.
As a couple who wants to elope outdoors,
Keep in mind the above LNT principles and be conscious of Leaving No Trace when making decisions about your special day. Leave No Trace isn’t meant to discourage you from enjoying the outdoors. As mentioned above, Leave No Trace is meant to encourage use of the outdoors in a responsible way so that you can come back to it days, months, and maybe even years later and find it in the same or even better condition. This might mean not popping confetti after your ceremony, but hey, there are plenty of ways to celebrate with a bang! Popping some champagne (and making sure to pick up the cork) is a fun alternative that helps to Leave No Trace, and makes for amazing photos as well!
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To read and learn more about LNT efforts, the Leave No Trace Center’s website contains a ton of valuable resources and information on how to share and take care of our world better, so be sure to check them out!