2002 Leave No Trace - Train the Trainer Trip

Burning Man History - LNT 2002

For the first time in Burning Man history, the annual Leave No Trace (LNT) Back Packing Trip was led by Burning Man staff and volunteers! Previous trips had all been lead by the BLM, however, in 2001, we lost out BLM Leave No Trace Master (Mike Bilbo) and decided to forge new paths.

One member of the Burning Man Senior Staff (Harley) and three Earth Guardian volunteers (Karina O'Connor, Tony Guerra and Larry Breed) all became LNT Masters. We took the NOLs masters training in March, and proceeded to plan our first trip right away for May 2002.

The Trip - The Basics

This year's trip was located in the Calicos, located on the west side of the Black Rock Playa. We had great weather, warm enough to be comfortable, often with a light breeze to keep us cool. We started at the work ranch, with introductions, a LNT video and a talk by LNT master Harley on Plan Ahead and Prepare. After driving across the playa, we bumped our way up to Bucket Road and the Calicos. After parking and loading up, we walked about 1 mile, took a break for our first LNT principle class (Camp and Travel on Durable Surfaces), then proceeded another half mile to a great campsite.

After lunch we set up our tents then and had another class (Dispose of Waste Properly), before leaving for a hike. We were treated with an a class (respect Wildlife) which required all our participation. and got our blood flowing. Upon returning to camp we were treated to a great surprise. Margaritas, chips with salsa and guacamole and brie and cheese! Woohoo, it's Happy Hour!

That night was too windy for a campfire, but we still enjoyed poi, drumming and great conversation. The next morning, after a beautiful sunrise and breakfast with a view, we rekindled the group around the flames of an LNT campfire. We had a class on how to build a campfire to create no impacts and got into a great discussion of fire at Burning Man. After this we did a tour of our campsite to ensure that we left no traces and talked about naturalization techniques. After this it seemed natural to move into a discussion of the LNT principle 'Be Considerate of Other Visitors'. As you can imagine, this topic is particularly relevant for Black Rock City. After this we headed down the trail to visit a cave, site for our last class on Leave What You Find, then headed down the trail for the cars and frothy beverages.

The Students - Creativity and Fun

Along the hike route, each of the students present a class or activity on part or all of a Leave No Trace Principle (7 Principles).

• Plan Ahead and Prepare
• Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
• Dispose of Waste Properly
• Respect Wildlife
• Minimize Campfire Impacts
• Be Considerate of Other Visitors
• Leave What You Find

We all got to play in most of the classes. We pretended to be obnoxious campers, animals, soil , hunters, arguing campers, etc. There was no end to finding ways to break the principles. It was interesting to find out how role play gave us new respect for items often unconsidered (e.g. rocks).

Next Steps for the New LNT Trainers

What's next for our new LNT Trainers? Well, I suspect that many of them will take their new knowledge and pass it on to other Burning Man volunteer groups and theme camps. Rip Cord has offered to help spread the LNT word to the Rangers. Sara, who's active in Space Cowgirls, has offered to help the Earth Guardian crusaders at the event this year. Blue is in charge of Recycle camp - a great way to help LNT. Swami, our own Volunteer Coordinator has ideas to help spread the word to rangers (coupled with foot massage) in additional to his focus in EG's.