How You Can Help
People have been asking what they can do to help. Let me break it down into three simple steps:
1. Don't be part of the problem!
Educate yourself before you visit our public lands. Going somewhere new and don't know the rules? Look them up, with the internet, the world is at your fingertips and there is no excuse not to know what the rules are. You wouldn't go to a foreign country without at least learning the basics of the native language and culture, right? Treat our public lands the same way. Learn what to do, what not to do, and how to act before you go there. Don't know what behaving responsibly entails? Below are the seven Leave No Trace Principles from the Leave No Trace Center
2. Be part of the solution!
Make contact with people/companies who you see breaking the rules, whether it be in person or on social networks, and let them know in a polite way that what they are doing isn't cool. Provide them with information about why what they are doing is wrong, and the potential impact their actions will have on the environment and the ability of other people to enjoy that environment in the future. All of this NEEDS to be done in a polite and educational way. Don't insult peoples IQ, gender, race, mother, hair style, yoga pose, or anything else. Focus on the harmful behavior. Telling people they are idiots for going off trail isn't going to get you anywhere, except maybe a trip to the grocery store for a bag of peas to put on your new black eye. If you run across people or a company that isn't receptive, politely decline to engage further, and see #3.
3. Send flagrantly abusive or belligerent behavior to us!
Chances are you have seen behavior that is just so flagrantly abusive toward nature that it should be common sense not to do it. Or that you've run across someone who responded to your polite educational comments by telling you to pound sand. Well, that's were we come in. Take some screenshots of the behavior and send it our way. We will take a look at it, and if we deem the offense/behavior atrocious enough, we would be happy to let those people know what WE think, in our own way.