How to Best Practice Low-Impact Camping

Video Transcript

" Hi, this is Bruce Lessels from Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com, talking about low impact camping methods. So it’s great to go exploring in the woods and to find interesting things around your campsite but it’s really important that you leave them the way you found them, especially things that are naturally occurring. Now these antler rubs on this tree for instance, I really need to find and they indicate that a deer has been here and has used this as a way to kind of scratch their antlers. But if you find these or you find the antlers, leave them the way they are, don’t put your initials on the tree, if you find the antlers leave them where they are, they’re an important source of calcium for small rodents. A rotting stump like this might be the home to a lot of fungus and moss and things like that and if you kick this stump and kind of you know tread around there a lot, you’re going to damage the stump and you’re going to possibly get rid of that environment that’s supporting those fungus and those moss. So there’s lots of things you might find in the woods, lots of interesting things, you might find artifacts, old artifacts out west. Often in canyons out west you’ll find old dwellings and other artifacts, again leave those the way you found them, they may be even regulations in the area where you are. On Nation Forest, National Parks require that you not take anything out and they often have requirements about the artifacts and about the area where you are and they require that you either not go into dwellings or that you not go within a certain distance of them. So respect those regulations, respect the area and leave what you find the way it was."