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WHAT IS LEAVE NO TRACE?

Our community respects the sacred spaces and the wild places that make up the campgrounds and festival areas. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them. Use the garbage bags provided and bring out what you bring in, including garbage.

We encourage all participants to consider the following Leave No Trace Principles:

1) Plan Ahead and Prepare

  • Repackage food to minimize waste. 75% of all garbage is food packaging.

  • Plan Your Meals

  • Buy local, Waste less, Share the Rest. Meals are another element to trip planning that can have a profound effect on the impact a group has on a backcountry area.

One-Pot Meals and Food Repackaging:

  • Planning for one-pot meals and light weight snacks requires a minimum of packing and preparation time, lightens loads and decreases garbage. One-pot meals require minimal cooking utensils and eliminate the need for a campfire. Two backpack stoves can be used to cook all meals for large groups if you have two large pots (one large pot can be balanced on two stoves when quick heating is desired). Remember, a stove Leaves No Trace.

  • Most food should be removed from its commercial packing and placed in sealable bags before packing your backpacks. Sealable bags secure food and reduce bulk and garbage.

  • Bring natural or biodegradable soap, toothpaste, cleaners.

**Use the Garbage bags and recycling bags provided and pack it out with you.**


2) Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces:

  • Durable surfaces include established trails and campsites, rock, gravel, dry grasses or snow.

  • Good campsites are found, not made. Altering a site is not necessary.

  • Concentrate use on existing trails and campsites.

  • Keep campsites small. Focus activity in areas where vegetation is absent.


3) Dispose of Waste Properly:

  • Pack it in, pack it out. Inspect your campsite and rest areas for trash or spilled foods. Pack out all trash, leftover food, and litter.

  • To wash yourself or your dishes, carry water 70 meters away from streams or lakes and use small amounts of biodegradable soap. Scatter strained dishwater.


4) Leave What You Find:

  • Preserve the past: examine, but do not touch, cultural or historic structures and artifacts.

  • Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them.

  • Avoid introducing or transporting non-native species.


5) Minimize Campfire Impacts:

  • Do not move fire rings

  • Campfires can cause lasting impacts to the backcountry. Use a lightweight stove for cooking and enjoy a candle lantern for light.

  • Where fires are permitted, use established fire rings, fire pans, or mound fires.

  • Keep fires small. Only use sticks from the ground that can be broken by hand.

  • Burn all wood and coals to ash, put out campfires completely, then scatter cool ashes.


6) Respect Wildlife (The Community of Life)

  • Observe wildlife from a distance. Do not follow or approach them.

  • Never feed animals. Feeding wildlife damages their health, alters natural behaviors, and exposes them to predators and other dangers.

  • Protect wildlife and your food by storing rations and trash securely.

  • Control pets at all times, or leave them at home.

  • Avoid wildlife during sensitive times: mating, nesting, raising young.


7) Be Considerate of Others

  • Respect other festival goers and the quality of their experience.

  • Please be mindful of late night and early morning noise

 

With that, 'Leave No Trace' becomes 'Leave it Better, Leave it Beautiful'.