If you want to feel awestruck, step outside on a clear, cold winter’s night in the Northern Wilds and look up. Behold a glorious multitude of stars set in a sky that’s as black as the one somebody had in mind when the phrase "black as night" was first spoken. It’s enough to make anyone think deep thoughts: maybe about ones’ place in the universe. Maybe about how much it means to you to be breathing crystal clear air in a place free of light pollution. Maybe you’ll ask yourself whether your children will have the same experience.
If you want to feel awestruck, step outside on a clear, cold winter’s night in the Northern Wilds and look up. Behold a glorious multitude of stars set in a sky that’s as black as the one somebody had in mind when the phrase "black as night" was first spoken. It’s enough to make anyone think deep thoughts: maybe about ones’ place in the universe. Maybe about how much it means to you to be breathing crystal clear air in a place free of light pollution. Maybe you’ll ask yourself whether your children will have the same experience.
That’s a reasonable question. Since this nation marked the population milestone of 300 million on October 17, our numbers have grown by many times the numbers of stars you can see even on the darkest of nights.
(Although you may think your star count is nearing infinity, it’s likely around 5,000. By Thanksgiving, the U.S. population had reached 300,260,000.)
For each new person added to our population, some estimate we lose roughly an acre of wildlands. That translates into a simple equation: more people equals less wild country. Meanwhile, winter recreational use of public lands is growing fast. What can we do to make this work? We can use our remaining wildlands very carefully.Leave No Trace is an outdoor ethics program designed to help us do just that.
Leave no trace is
…as straightforward as a chickadee opening up a sunflower seed. It looks at everything people do when we’re recreating outdoors. It considers all the ills that befall wildlands when people use them. Finally it applies everything we have learned about what works and what doesn’t in the worlds of outdoor ethics and land management, and sums it all up in seven user-friendly guiding principles.
…as powerful as a moose surging through deep snow. It empowers all of us, by giving us useful techniques so that we can go ahead and make our own choices and act in ways that are good for the land.
…as reliable as the winter solstice. When you leave no trace, you can count on this: it’s good for the land, you’ll have a better time, and it’s good for other people.
…as elegant as a sleek otter slipping between frosted edges of a break in the ice to disappear into dark waters. First here, then gone, leaving no trace behind.
Leave No Traceis all about using your best judgment to apply seven principles in a way that’s good for the land and makes sense in the situation at hand. Here is a quick look at LNT in winter. Think of a way you can apply each of these principles to your winter fun, whether it’s skiing, snowmobiling, fishing, snowshoeing, or stargazing. For more, check out the LNT Center for Outdoor Ethics at LNT.org.
Leave No Trace Principles
1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
What might be a minor mishap in the summer can lead to tragedy in the winter. Be prepared for seriously bad weather. Know where you are and where you’re going even if you’ll be using a groomed trail. Tell someone your plans.
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Ride snow machines on designated trails or legal roadsides. Off-trail riding compacts snow so that its insulating value is lost for plants and animals that live beneath the snow. It snaps off young trees.
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
Human waste should end up at least 150 feet from lakes or streams, off trails and campsites, and where others won’t see it. Pack out or burn all toilet paper–never leave it behind. Pack out all trash.
4. Minimize Campfire Impacts
Using a firepan is the easiest way for you to do a good job. Burn wood that’s dead and down.
5. Leave What You Find
The deep silence you may find in the winter woods is a rare thing, and best left unbroken.
6. Respect Wildlife
In winter, animals can’t afford to waste precious energy avoiding people. Give them space.
7. Be Considerate of Others
You’re going to cross paths with people who have different ways of enjoying the Northern Wilds. Share trails with courtesy. Yield to downhill and faster traffic. When taking rest breaks, move off the trail to allow others to easily pass by.