Re: [pct-l] LNT and individual responsibility

[charliethorpe@worldnet.att.net (Charlie Thorpe)]

Hello Joanne -

I have waited a bit to answer your last message in this thread.  Your
attitude has surprised me and I wanted to do a little thinking before I got
up on my soapbox <g>.  I have enjoyed reading about your organized and
disciplined approach to getting ready for your thru-hike.

First off, let me apologize for mixing Scouting into the LNT thread.  I
just sent you the "Scout version" of my LNT email series because I had it
handy.  I am sorry that you haven't yet run into some of the fine
outdoorswomen that both the Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs have
trained/inspired.  I am not as familiar with the Girl Scout outdoor
training (my daughter chose to participate in the Boy Scout Sea Explorer
program), but I have shared the trail with quite a few of their graduates.
I am familiar with the programs within Boy Scouting that have included 10's
of thousands of young and adult women among those encouraged to love the
backcountry...two of the graduates have shared my household...and my
canoeing/backpacking gear <g>.

I developed the LNT series because I became concerned that there was NOT a
very high level of understanding of (or concern for) the damage that we
distance hikers are doing to the backcountry that we all love to visit.
After posting the series on a number of email lists related to distance
hiking a few years ago, I got so many responses from folks who were
concerned that Scouts (Boy and Girl) needed this type of info that I did up
a set of messages that were slanted toward Scout leaders (I am a volunteer
Scout trainer).

Presenting LNT training to Scouting audiences takes up a lot of my training
time.  As I hope I make clear in my "LNT 1- Why me?" message, I am
heartsick at the realization that Scout groups no longer enjoy the
universal reputation of being expert and caring outdoorsmen.  BTW, this
isn't just my personal observation...it comes from a LOT of conversation
with a LOT of managing agency folks.

Sonofagun...I have reason to feel almost the same way about the distance
hiking community <f>.  I don't have quite the same emotional attachment to
distance hikers as a whole as I have to the Scouting movement...the former
is a very loose collection of a great bunch of people, but I feel that the
latter can be (if done right) a significant positive part of providing
quality growth for our young.  BIG difference.

I do, however, hold distance hikers to a pretty high standard...I do think
that we are (and should be) a group "with significance" <g>.  Our influence
often seems to go beyond our own interests...the very nature of a distance
hikers quest strikes a responsive chord in many outdoor folks and often it
is assumed that we have somehow come to learn all those neat "outdoor
secrets" that surely must exist out there <g>.  Like it or not, distance
hikers set a role model for a lot of backcountry users.

As happened with Scout groups, I was very disappointed to discover that
distance hikers are not considered to be very expert minimum-impact
backcountry users at all.  Especially thru-hikers.  Major bummer.

The LNT series is an effort to get folks thinking about us each taking
individual responsibility for our own actions in the backcountry.  I really
like the whole LNT educational program because of its very simplicity...we
do the damage...we learn how NOT to do the damage.  My personal approach to
LNT training (in whatever venue) has been:

help folks understand how we unavoidably do damage each and every time we
visit any backcountry ecosystem;
help start (nudge) the process of reflection that might someday lead to
development of a personal "wilderness ethic" that would lead to a desire by
each of us to NOT do that damage;
help provide some simple practical tips on how to help minimize our impacts
(continuously updated by current research results from the recreation
ecologists); and to
help encourage all of us to share what we have learned about how to care
for the backcountry with other users...in the hope that we CAN reach that
threshhold where we can truly start to make a difference.

If you are already there, GREAT!  If you ain't...read the messages.  If you
don't like the messages or the approach, help me fix them.  Don't give up
on the chance to have significant help come from us backcountry
users...instead of being forced by the always caring (but sometimes
hamhanded <g>) managing agencies...or of everybody just giving up.

Are we talking "environmental political correctness", here?  Interesting
idea.  I sure hope not...I have been taken for a bigtime fool if it is!  To
me it's mud simple:

we are impacting the backcountry beyond its ability to recover at an
accelerating rate;
the managing agencies have not been able to turn it around with all their
rules and restrictions;
there can be no question that our "wild" areas are very finite (we ain't
making any more!);
and, ABSOLUTELY most important for me,
my own personal actions are the only thing that I have total control over!

Wow...kinda puts the monkey on my personal back!  I can't blame ignorance
(I read the messages <g>), I can't blame those green-shirt bureaucrats, I
can't blame the permit systems, I can't blame the hoss-folks, I can't blame
anybody else...it's MY damage that I am responsible for...

That is all that LNT is.  It ain't religion, it ain't the way to undo all
the damage that has been done, and it ain't "eco pc".  Sorry, it is a
little too important and a little harder to ignore than that.

So...YES, this list is exactly the right place to talk LNT!  I do truly
believe that the PCT is a fantastic national treasure.  I have had the
pleasure of meeting some outstanding PCT outdoorsmen/women...both on the
trail and on this list.  I have also seen a very fragile trail (MUCH more
fragile than the AT, for example) that will be seeing vastly increasing
useage...by many who have nowhere near the minimum-impact skills needed to
protect the PCT.

From what I have observed so far (only 400 miles <g>), the CDT is even more
vulnerable.

Sounds to me like we better get started with LNT...unless you have a better
way to solve the problem.

Trace No Leaves,

- Charlie II  AT (MEGA'93)
             PCT (Mex@Can'95)
        Chipping away at the CDT


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