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The Keweenaw Land Trust and the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers Host Special Events August 21-28, 2017 to Help Citizens Learn To Protect and Steward Hungarian Falls for Generations to Come
Leave No Trace Selected the Hungarian Falls Gorge as a ‘Hot Spot’ to Help Raise Awareness Among Local Patrons about Outdoor Recreation Ethics in Natural Areas
August 1, 2017 (Boulder, Colo.) The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and its Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers team are partnering with the Keweenaw Land Trust to host community events and educational activities from August 21-28, 2017. The scenic and popular Hungarian Falls has experienced an increase in excessive trash, damage to vegetation, vandalism, and trail erosion over the recent years.
The Hot Spot Program, a key component of the Leave No Trace In Every Park initiative, raises community awareness and brings solutions and prevention measures to popular natural areas around the country facing heavy recreational use and consequently, the misuse of trails, parks and open space areas.
The Traveling Trainers travel throughout the country providing the public with education about how to reduce impacts in the outdoors and improve the trail user experience. Simple Leave No Trace tips visitors in the Keweenaw can use to protect the area include:
1. Trash your Trash
Put litter—even crumbs, peels and cores— in garbage bags and carry it home. Extra food, even apple cores and banana peels can do great damage to wildlife. Did you know it takes up to two years for orange or banana peels to decompose in nature, more than 10 years for plastic bags, and more than 80 years for aluminum cans to decompose?
2. Keep to the Trail
Hiking or driving off-trail can damage native vegetation, negatively impacting wildlife habitat and allowing invasive species to move in. A loss of plant cover can also increase erosion. Increased sediment loads in our streams and rivers can choke out fish or eliminate spawning grounds. By traveling on durable surfaces, we can keep our rivers healthy and forests beautiful.
3. Take Only Pictures. Leave Only Footprints
According to U.S. state and national park services, Americans logged 11 billion visits to public lands last year. If we all took a memento from nature during those visits, the landscape would change. Fill the memory card on your camera rather than your pockets and leave nature as you found it for others to enjoy.
4. Manage your Campfires
We all love to hang around a roaring campfire, but it is easy to go overboard and make a fire larger than is needed. Large fires can sterilize the soil and leave ugly scars that take years to recover. Never leave a campfire unattended, and always remember to put it out before you leave. Use existing fire rings (if available) to minimize your impact. Finally, don’t burn your trash!
“The cumulative impact of so many people enjoying the beautiful scenery at Hungarian Falls can have a negative effect,” according to Amanda Jameson, Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer. “In most cases, the land impact isn’t due to a malicious intent to harm nature and wildlife. Instead, it’s simply a lack of Leave No Trace education and practices.”
“We are thrilled to work with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics to help educate our community and raise awareness for the future enjoyment and conservation of our beautiful landscape,” said Nathan Miller, KLT Project Coordinator.
Please visit www.KeweenawLandTrust.org to learn more about the upcoming events planned with the Keweenaw Land Trust and the Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers.
About Leave No Trace
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in a national nonprofit organization that protects the outdoors by teaching people how to enjoy it responsibly. Their Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers are mobile teams of educators that visit 48 states every year delivering Leave No Trace programs such as Hot Spots to over 15 million people. For more information, visit: www.LNT.org.
About the Keweenaw Land Trust:
The Keweenaw Land Trust (KLT) is a community partner protecting land, water, and quality of life through conservation, stewardship and education. We strive to create opportunities for public access and low-impact recreation and to balance protection of natural resources, quality of life, and sustainable local economies across the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. KLT works with partners to offer outdoor activities and learning experiences with a goal of strengthening connections between people and the natural world. KLT currently protects over 7,000 acres across the 6 western counties of the Upper Peninsula, 73% of which are open to the public.
