Leave No Trace: A Practical Guide to the New Wilderness Etiquette

by Annette; McGiveny McGivney

The old ways are out. No longer is it acceptable to build fire rings, dig trenches around tents, cut tree boughs for sleeping mats and firewood, or nail pegs in trees as lantern hooks. Today's overused wilderness areas require much gentler treatment with methods that will ensure the next visitor, indeed the next generation, will find them as we found them. Using a straightforward, practical approach, author McGivney offers simple LNT techniques for hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, climbers, paddlers, and skiers, demonstrating how easy it really is to take care of our outdoor resources. With tips on everything from choosing a campsite to food and garbage handling to personal hygiene, this is the definitive guide on the subject for all outdoor enthusiasts.

Genres: Outdoors, Nonfiction, Environment, Reference, Nature

190 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly readable. Didn't think reading over 100 pages of preaching about cleanliness and especially waste handling and removing would be this enjoyable. There was just enough personal accounts and supporting research, documentation, and official essays to accompany the main text. Plus it was laid out very nicely grouping it by travel type and also by environment.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 rounded down. A little dated as there are 7 principles now for LNT. Despite that, very informative with helpful amd practical info to use in the outdoors.

[Nathanael Coyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-organised approach to describing the environmental and social impacts of our behaviour and decisions in wilderness areas and how we can minimise our impact on plants, animals, soils, rocks and waterways. I appreciated the non-preachy pragmatic tone of the book ... do what you can, just be mindful of what you and those in your group are doing; if you can follow all the advice that's really good, but really anything is better than nothing. All the examples are of regions in North America and refer to The Wilderness Act 1964 and land management practices in the United States, but it's relevant anywhere in the world. We all gotta shit in the woods, we try and avoid muddy sections of trail, climb boulders and want to explore off-trail.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are an outdoors type of person, if you spend any time camping,hiking,fishing,hunting,trail running or even walking through parks in your hometown, if you do ANYTHING in the outdoors, you should know about Leave No Trace,and how to implement it. If you do any of these things, you need this book.

[John Weibull · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book about how to enjoy the outdoors and leave no trace for the other outdoor enthusiasts.

[Lisa]

history of wilderness land management; did not know they did not have it all together so recently and that we are still evolving

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

First hiking/back-camping book I've read. Mcgivney made the book pretty clear and easy to read, even for a novice like myself. Hopefully I'll put all her tips to good use out in the wild someday :)