Why Give to Leave No Trace?

9 out of 10 people who visit the outdoors are uninformed about outdoor ethics. With over 13 billion trips into the outdoors in the U.S. every year, people are causing too much preventable damage, and that damage is adding up. You can be on the forefront of changing this troubling trend—the trashed parks and damaged trails, the formidable impacts of fire, polluted waterways and serious wildlife issues.

Now, more than ever, your role is critical. Consider this:

• Americans pay over $2.1 billion annually to fight fires in parks and forests, 90% of which are caused by humans due to incidents such as campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, or negligently discarded cigarettes.
• Wildlife in our parks are routinely relocated or euthanized due to conflicts with humans. The National Park Service cites human garbage as the origin of many of these unfortunate and unnecessary conflicts.
• Grand Canyon National Park has $11 million in trail maintenance needs and more than $5 million in critical trail work is needed at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Your involvement with Leave No Trace generates solutions to these serious issues, and more. Protecting wildlife, appropriate use of fire, clean water, healthy parks and trails—all a reality when people are learning about and practicing Leave No Trace. Costly and irreversible damage to nature is eliminated or substantially reduced through Leave No Trace education, training, and outreach. We can’t do it without you.