Low-Impact Horse Camping
“Leave No Trace”
As we come into ride season, many of us will be setting out on some wonderful horse camping adventures! We found a very useful source of information on the principles for backcountry horse use and would like to share it with you. The excerpts below are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s available at travelingwithhorses.com. Enjoy!
Leave No Trace principles are universal for all regions of the United States. Specific information within each principle may vary from place to place, depending on the local environment and activity pursued. It is important to remember that LNT principles are guidelines, not rules. Consider your surroundings, local regulations, weather concerns, and your skill level when choosing the best way to Leave No Trace. Special considerations specific to a particular region or activity are included in more detailed LNT information.
Leave No Trace, outdoor skills and ethics was developed by The National Outdoor Leadership School and they are teaching practical conservation techniques designed to minimize recreational impact in the backcountry (and the front country) by horse users and other outdoor enthusiasts. The NOLS adapted these techniques from the ones set out for mountaineers.
Protect our access to the back country by practicing Leave-No-Trace Techniques!
Principles of Leave No Trace:
- Plan ahead and prepare before you go
- Minimize horse impact
- In popular areas, concentrate use
- In remote areas, spread use
- Avoid places where impact is just beginning
- Use campfires responsibly
- Pack it in, pack it out
- Properly dispose of what you cannot pack out
- Be considerate of others
- Leave what you find
Plan ahead and prepare before you go
Unnecessary impact in backcountry areas can be avoided by carefully preparing for your trip. For example, if you do not have adequate equipment for grazing restraints, you may be forced to put horses on short picket, perhaps even utilizing live trees as the picket anchor. The potential for overgrazing and girdling live trees is extremely high. Impacts resulting from being unprepared may seem minor, but they are not uncommon and over time result in long-lasting damage.
Minimize horse impact
Horses and mules have great potential for leaving long-lasting impact in the backcountry. Horseshoes intensify those pressures and increase shearing force on soils and vegetation. As grazing animals, they compete with wildlife for available feed and can over utilize a meadow if not properly attended. As large animals reacting to fear, boredom, hunger and discomfort they can do damage very quickly. A frightened horse can girdle a tree within seconds if it is improperly tied.
In Popular Areas, Concentrate Use
Concentrating use on durable surfaces is a simple and effective method of reducing the impact of your backcountry visit. Main travel corridors and popular destinations typically have well-established trails and campsites. Make decisions and choose practices that will cause the least amount of damage and leave only short-term impacts.
In Remote Areas, Spread Use
Remote or pristine areas are quite fragile, and it is easy to create long-lasting damage. A horse party heading off cross-country in mountains or timber will often run into many obstacles. The potential for creating new and unnecessary trails is great. If you do travel cross country, take extreme care to minimize impact by you and your horses.
Avoid Places Where Impact Is Just Beginning
Most campsites can withstand a certain level of use. However, a threshold is eventually reached where the regenerative power of the vegetation cannot keep pace with the amount of trampling. In many forested regions this may occur after only 10 days of use per season. Once this threshold is reached, the site will deteriorate more rapidly with continued use. This results in the development of an established campsite. The threshold for a particular site is affected by many variables including climate, soil type, elevation and aspect. All of these factors determine what species of plants will grow on the site, how durable the site is and to what degree it will be degraded by erosion.
Use Campfires Responsibly
The use of campfires in the backcountry was once a necessity for cooking and heat, but the development of versatile and efficient camp stoves has facilitated a shift away from the traditional fire. With increased use of the backcountry, the natural appearance of many areas has been compromised by overuse of fires and an increasing demand for firewood. Stoves are now almost essential equipment for minimum impact camping. They are fast and flexible and eliminate firewood availability as a concern in campsite selection. If you typically depend on fires for cooking, consider using a stove instead, and build a social fire just one or two nights of your trip.
Pack It In, Pack It Out
Pick up and pack out all of your litter. On the way out, when the panniers are light, try to pick up litter left by others. Reduce litter at the source. When preparing for your trip, repackage food into reusable containers or remove excess unnecessary packaging. This makes less to pack in and less to haul back out.
Trash is the non-food waste brought into the backcountry, usually from packaged products. The best bet is to carry out all trash. Some paper items can be burned in a campfire, but much of the paper packaging used today is lined with non-burnable foil or plastic. These paper products should be packed out with the cans, plastic, foil and glass.
Garbage is the food waste left over from cooking. Careful meal planning can easily reduce this waste and minimize the amount of leftovers. In the event you do have leftovers, they should be eaten later or put into a plastic bag or other container and packed out. Burning food waste requires a very hot fire (see special considerations for bear country) and burying this type of waste is inappropriate because animals will dig it up if it is buried. Animals, from squirrels to bears, habituated to humans as a source of food can become a nuisance or even a threat to humans. Consider the words "Leave No Trace" a challenge to take out everything possible that you brought into the backcountry.
Properly Dispose of What You Cannot Pack Out
As visitors to the backcountry, we create certain types of waste that usually cannot be packed out. These include human waste and wastewater from cooking and washing. Wastes from fishing and hunting are also concerns.
Leave What You Find
Allow others a sense of discovery by leaving rocks, plants, archeological artifacts and other objects of interest as you find them. Avoid damaging live trees and plants.
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