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Teaching Leave No Trace

Activity Plan

Plan Ahead and Prepare: A Leave No Trace Activity Exploring Pre-Trip Planning

 

What Your Group Will Learn

After participating in an activity designed to study backcountry travel, individuals will be capable of:

  1. identifying at least three reasons why trip planning is important.
  2. describing the key elements included in successful planning and preparation.
  3. creating a planning and preparation checklist to use in making future travel decisions.

 

Your group will participate in three activities. Are You Ready will demonstrate the importance of trip planning. Next, Will You Make It? reveals the key elements to concerns when trip planning. Finally, participants create a Planning and Preparation Checklist as a focal point for wrap up questions and discussion.

Materials:

Pictures depicting a local or regional environment (high alpine, desert, river) for the Are You Ready? game. A collage of pictures works well.

One photocopy of the Will You Make It? out for each participant.

One photocopy set of Will You Make It? travel cards per group of 3-5 people (pages 35 and 36).

 

Preparation:

Read the entire lesson plan and Back ground Information thoroughly. This activity will take approximately 65 minutes to complete.

Ask participants to bring a pack packed for a day hike to the meeting (don t reveal a destination or suggest contents explain it is a practice drill).

Photocopy and laminate (optional) handouts and cards.

Cut the Will You Make It? Travel Cards into in al sets.

For best results, pick a meeting place that allows small groups to spread out to work.

Consider practicing the activities be hand with family or friends.

Grabbing Your Group's Attention 15 minutes

Are You Ready? Break participants into groups of three to five. Explain that you are going on an imaginary day hike. Build suspense by asking participants to guess the destination. Show the destination pictures and describe the location you have selected (weather, terrain, etc.). Explain the goal of the trip for example, wildlife viewing or fishing. Ask the groups to unpack their packs and discuss answers to the following questions (the leader must read the back ground information in order to facilitate discussion.).

 

Do the contents of your pack properly prepare you for this trip?

Do the contents ensure your safety?

Check for proper clothing, maps, compass, small flashlight, water filter, first aid kit...

Do the contents ensure you will Leave No Trace that you will not dam age natural resources?

Check for stove, repackaged food, cathole trowel, no hatchet, plastic jug for water...

Do the contents ensure your trip will meet your goal for example, wildlife viewing or fish safely and enjoyably?

Check for binoculars, camera, bird book...

 

Note: Because participants packed their packs without proper information, it is unlikely they will be adequately prepared. Are You Ready? will demonstrate the importance of planning before packing.

 

Time Out For Discussion: Facilitate a discussion with all participants about the results of the activity. Ask the small groups to briefly share the answers to the above questions. Key facilitator discussion points:

How would the contents of your pack differ with different destinations? The equipment, clothing, and food chosen would change to suit the intended destination.

What other information do you need to pack properly for a trip? There are at least seven elements described in the Background Information and handout.

What is the value of knowing these pieces of information before packing? Helps ensure the safety of the traveler, helps accomplish trip goals safely and enjoyably, and minimizes impact to resources.  

Will You Make It? You will identify events which can interfere with a successful trip. These are real life scenarios contributed by experienced field rangers who see poorly prepared groups suffer be cause they do not plan ahead. This activity shows the need to plan solutions to potential problems before a trip.

 Why is Trip Planning Important

  1. It prepares you to Leave No Trace
  2. It helps ensure the safety of groups and individuals
  3. It contributes to accomplishing trip goals
  4. It increases self confidence and opportunities for learning

Elements to Consider when Trip Planning!

  1. Identify the goals (expectations) of your trip
  2. Identify the Skill and Ability of trip participants
  3. Select destinations to match goals, skills and abilities
  4. Gain knowledge of the area you plan to visit
  5. Choose proper equipment and clothing
  6. Plan trip activates to match goals, skills, abilities
  7. Evaluate your trip upon return - note needed changes

 

Directions

  1. Match events and solutions. Evenly distribute event and solution cards. Some group members may need to share cards if the group is larger than 16. The goal is to have people find the group member with the corresponding event or solution card and form a pair. The leader may have to use the key to ensure correct pairing.
  2. Plan a presentation. Once all solutions are matched to the corresponding event, have each pair plan some way to teach their plan-ahead concept. Allow group members to be as imaginative as they like. Some ideas include: pantomime, acting out, lecture, drawing, or...
  3. Give a presentation. Have each pair teach their concept to the rest of the group using their chosen preparation method.

Travel Card Key

Event Card Solution Card
12 1
2 9
15 3
4 11
14 5
6 13
10 7
8 16

 

Event Travel Card 12 Solution Travel Card 1
Blister! You have a nasty blister and can no longer carry your pack. You are not even sure you can walk to your campsite. An Adhesive felt-like material acts like a second skin and can be applied to the feet or other areas of human skin to prevent rubbing. Always carry this with you and break in new footwear before a trip.
Event Travel Card 2 Solution Travel Card 9
Lightning! A storm is quickly blowing into your area. From your vantage point high on the trail you can see lots of lightning. You estimate you have about five minutes before the storm reaches you. Before you left on your trip, you researched safety. You remember that lightning is attracted to the highest point and water and metal conduct the electrical charge. You take off your metal frame pack, stay away from puddles of water and choose a low spot in which to crouch away from the tallest trees.
Event Travel Card 15 Solution Travel Card 3
Pack Weight! Your pack did not feel heavy when you left, but now you can hardly move. You are so tired you would just as soon sit right down and not walk another step! Too Bad. Your heavy pack made it impossible for you to hike very fast. You find a campsite for the night, but you never made it to your destination. The weight of the pack should generally be no more than 1/4 your body weight. Pack your backpack before you leave and weight it on a scale. Some things like cook kits, may be shared by several people and the contents divided among several packs.
Event Travel Card 4 Solution Travel Card 11
Steep Trail! You kick is three miles long and gains 1000 feet of elevation for every mile. This is steep. You must reach camp before dark. Everyone is walking very slowly because it is so steep. You believe in planning ahead. You looked at a map and talked to the agency that manages the trail, so you were aware that it was steep. Realizing that people hike about two miles per hour on flat terrain, you figured flat terrain hiking time of 1 1/2 hours for a three mile trail, and doubled it to account for the steep elevation gain. You have plenty of time to reach camp before dark.
Event Travel Card 14 Solution Travel Card 5
Private Property! Your group is walking along a trail when suddenly in front of you there is a fence with a "No Trespassing" sign. Your group leader pulls out a statement signed by the owner of the private property who posted "no trespassing" giving the group permission to cross the private land. A review of maps reveled this private property, and a couple of phone calls resulted in a signed statement.
Event Travel Card 6 Solution Travel Card 13
Water! Your group brought two quarts of water per person, but your hike has been very hot and now everyone is low on water. You can't boil water to drink because there is a fir ban in effect and you don't have a stove because you were going on a hike. After another hour of an uncomfortably dry hike, you run across a prepared hiker who pulls out a water filter designed to remove bacteria from wild water sources. After taking a break on the rocky shore of a small pond and filtering water, you have enough water to finish the hike.
Event Travel Card 10 Solution Travel Card 7
Campfire Ban! You have no stove and the area you came to visit has been heavily used and does not permit comprise. It's dinner and everyone in the group is very hungry. Because this was only an overnight camping trip, someone suggested you bring prepared food for dinner. As the sun begins to set, everyone gathers on a rock outcrop near camp and pulls out a sandwich, piece of fruit, and a snack for desert. As darkness falls the group watches the stars appear and tells stories about shadows in the night
Event Travel Card 8 Solution Travel Card 16
Campsite! When you arrive at your destination you find that both of the campsites recommend to you by friends are being used. It will be dark soon and their is little time to search for another site. You are tempted to set up camp right where you are on the trail, even though you know that does not follow good Leave No Trace Ethics. You group leader hiked to this areas two weeks ago in anticipation of your trip and found three perfect campsite options. After following your leader for another ten minutes, you move off the trail to a campsite with bit flat rocks to sit on and a great view of the canyon.

 

Time Out For Discussion: Facilitate learning by distributing the scenario after they are presented. Make sure each event is discussed. Emphasize the key elements of trip planning prepared in the Will You Make It handout and the Background Information. Tie these key elements to the importance of good preparation. 

Wrapping Up the Activity: 20 Minutes Your group has participated in two activities; one identifies reasons trip planning is important, the other identifies key elements to consider when planning a trip. How well has your group learned the importance of trip planning?

Create a "Planning and Preparation Checklist" you can use to plan your next trip. Use the answers to these questions in creating the checklist.

  • Can your group identify at least three reasons why trip planning is important?
  • Can your group describe seven key elements included in successful planning and preparation (Handout and Background Information)?
  • Do Solutions to planning elements change depending on the environment visited, i.e desert vs. high alpine areas? Reflect back on conversation that resulted from the imaginary day hike to the desert and alpine environment.

 

Congratulations on conducting a well-organized meeting for your group!

 

Additional Activities

  • Create new event and solution cards as you learn new leave No Trace concepts
  • Expand discussions with these topics
    • Ask participants if they have seen resource damage that may have resulted from poor planning
    • Ask participants to recall safety concerns they have experienced or witnessed as a result of poor planning
  • Share the planning process with your family and use it to plan a family vacation or birthday party

 

 

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Last Updated: January 10, 1998

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