Leave No Trace for Outdoor Industry Professionals

Module 1

Livestream Event – November 24, 2025 @ 12 PM US MDT

The Livestream replay from November 24, 2025 is available for review. In addition to the selected modules below, the Livestream replay includes an introduction and short Q&A sections following each module.

• 12:00 PM MST / Module 1 – Introduction – Ryan Jordan
• 12:15 PM MST / Module 2 – Best Practices for Off-Trail Travel + Q&A – Jeff Marion
• 1:05 PM MST / Module 3 – Challenges & Opportunities in LNT Education and Communication + Q&A – Sarah Ortiz
• 1:55 PM MST / Module 4 – Best Practices for Backcountry Camping + Q&A – Jeff Marion
• 2:45 PM MST / Module 5 – Stealth Camping + Q&A – Ryan Jordan
• 3:10 PM MST / Wrap-up – Ryan Jordan

Module 2

Best Practices for Off-Trail Travel

This talk introduces recreation ecologist Jeff Marion and his research on how off-trail hiking damages natural areas, especially through the creation of informal (“social”) trails. He explains how different surfaces and plants respond to trampling, why managers worry about off-trail use, and then offers evidence-based Leave No Trace practices for traveling off-trail in ways that minimize long-term impact and avoid turning trailless terrain into de facto trail networks.

Key learning objectives:

1. Understand what informal trails are, why they concern land managers, and how off-trail traffic can fragment habitat, spread invasives, and damage sensitive vegetation.
2. Learn which surfaces and vegetation types are most and least durable (e.g., rock and grasses vs. alpine plants, herbs, wet soils, and cryptobiotic crusts) and how to use dispersed travel and route choices to reduce impact.
3. Learn practical off-trail best practices, including traveling on durable surfaces, using side-hill rather than fall-line alignments, avoiding peak use and vulnerable seasons, and not sharing/following precise GPS tracks to prevent new trail formation.

Module 3

Campsite Selection and Shelter Impacts (Best Practices)

This talk focuses on how camping choices affect natural areas and how to select and use campsites with the least possible impact. Drawing on recreation ecology research, Marion explains that camping damage increases rapidly with the first few nights in a spot, then levels off, which means we should either disperse camping very lightly in pristine areas or intentionally concentrate use on a small number of durable, well-designed sites. He then offers practical best practices for campsite selection (surface, slope, shade/sun, rockiness), low-impact shelter setups (tents, hammocks, tarps, cowboy camping), and water access so we avoid sprawling “mega-sites” and long-term damage.

Key learning objectives:

1. Understand how camping impacts grow with use, and why this leads to two main strategies: dispersed “natural site” camping used very rarely vs. concentrated use on sustainable established or designated campsites.
2. Learn how to recognize and choose durable, resistant campsites (rock, sand, dry grass in sun, deep shade with little vegetation, side-hill/slope and rocky terrain) and avoid fragile vegetation and site expansion.
3. Learn practical low-impact camping techniques, including renaturalizing dispersed sites, careful water access that doesn’t create trails, and using shelters (tents, hammocks, tarps, bivies) in ways that minimize ground and tree damage.

Module 4

Outside the Choir: Communicating Stewardship and LNT Across Cultures and Belief Systems

This talk explains that most people do care about the environment, but may resist Leave No Trace (LNT) because of limited access to nature, different cultural or recreational priorities, skepticism of authority, or histories of exclusion. The speaker emphasizes making LNT more accessible, relevant, and community-led, especially for Indigenous communities, people of color, rural users, motorized recreationists, new outdoor users, and libertarian-minded individuals. The goal is to shift LNT from enforcing rules to building a shared, values-based land ethic that supports both stewardship and belonging.

Key learning objectives:

1. Understand why different communities might resist LNT and how that’s often tied to history, access, and identity rather than a lack of care for the land.
2. Learn three main strategies to reduce resistance: accessibility, relevance (moral reframing), and community leadership.
3. Learn to use Principle 7 (“Be considerate of others”) to integrate cultural respect, equity, and shared outdoor spaces into how we teach and talk about stewardship.

Module 5

Pedagogical Strategies for Leave No Trace Workshops

This module introduces pedagogical strategies for facilitating Leave No Trace workshops with diverse learner groups. It examines discussion-based openings to surface prior beliefs and reduce cognitive dissonance, value-mapping activities grounded in moral reframing theory, and outcome-focused problem-solving scenarios that accommodate multiple stewardship traditions, including Indigenous and rural practices. The module further addresses inclusive representation through universal design for learning and the use of “authority of the resource” framing to connect Leave No Trace practices to observable impacts on natural systems.

Key learning objectives:

1. Explain how discussion before instruction can reduce cognitive dissonance, promote self-persuasion, and support lasting behavioral change in Leave No Trace education.
2. Describe methods for eliciting learners’ existing outdoor ethics and mapping these values onto Leave No Trace principles using moral reframing theory and outcome-focused decision-making.
3. Identify strategies for incorporating diverse examples and applying the authority of the resource concept to foster belonging and to explain the ecological consequences of Leave No Trace practices.

Module 6

Case Studies of Successful Leave No Trace Initiatives for Underrepresented Audiences

This module examines four Leave No Trace–related initiatives that successfully engage underrepresented, urban, motorized, Indigenous, and BIPOC audiences. It characterizes how program accessibility, contextual relevance (including integration of motorized recreation norms and Indigenous knowledge), youth engagement, and community-led leadership structures contribute to participation, stewardship behaviors, and long-term capacity building. The concluding synthesis relates these case studies to broader strategies for framing Leave No Trace around connection rather than compliance and for engaging resistant or skeptical populations.

Key learning objectives:

1. Describe the goals, target audiences, and reported outcomes of the Urban Connections, Moab Trail Ambassador, Indigenous Guardians, and Brown Girls Climb Level 2 Instructor Course initiatives.
2. Explain how accessibility, contextual relevance, and community-led design contribute to the effectiveness of Leave No Trace initiatives with underrepresented or resistant audiences.
3. Articulate how these case studies illustrate broader strategies for broadening the appeal of Leave No Trace by emphasizing connection, cultural context, and leadership development.

Module 7

Stealth Camping: The Art of Not Being Seen

This talk reframes stealth camping not as sneaking around rules, but as a technical Leave No Trace skill focused on “the art of not being seen” while leaving no evidence of your camp. It contrasts crowded, high-visibility “convenience camping” near trails, meadows, lakes, and ridges with truly stealthy camping that uses terrain, timing, shelter choice, and quiet behavior to stay visually and physically low-impact. The goal is to protect fragile landscapes and other visitors’ sense of wildness and solitude, not just to hide from people.

Key learning objectives:

1. Understand stealth camping as LNT-aligned fieldcraft that minimizes both ecological impact and visual/social presence, rather than rule-dodging.
2. Learn how to use terrain and tactics (sightlines, micro-features like rocks/trees, muted shelter colors, low profiles, late-in/early-out timing, quiet and light discipline) to become nearly undetectable.
3. Recognize how true stealth camping can relieve pressure on overused dispersed sites in sensitive alpine and tundra environments while enhancing solitude for everyone.

Module 8

The Nose of a Bear

This module examines the biology of bear olfaction and its implications for food storage and campsite practices in bear habitat. It explains the structure and function of the olfactory system, contrasts human, canine, and bear odor sensitivity, and distinguishes habituation from food conditioning as distinct behavioral processes that influence risk to backpackers and management outcomes. The module then relates odor-dispersion concepts to practical strategies for food packaging, barrier layering, contamination control, and campsite layout to reduce the probability that bears detect and access backcountry food caches.

Key learning objectives:

1. Describe the key anatomical and functional features of bear olfaction, including olfactory receptor density, receptor size, and olfactory bulb function, and explain how these contribute to long-range scent detection and food conditioning.
2. Differentiate habituation from food conditioning in bears and relate these processes to patterns of bear–human conflict, including food-motivated and food-conditioned attacks.
3. Explain how odor-dispersion dynamics, food-packaging barrier materials, and campsite and food-cache placement relative to wind and wildlife travel corridors can be used to minimize bear attraction to backcountry food.