Leave No Trace Principles for Your Family

Leave No Trace for your enjoyment and for future generations.

I'm a Leave No Trace Trainer, and this ethic shows up in nearly everything we write here, usually in passing, or just as a given. Maybe we mention “packing it out,” staying on trail, or camping on intended, established sites. I've never actually given a formal overview, so here it is: the seven principles as I would tell them to a family new to this!

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare

This is the strategy and logistics that help us build a solid foundation to avoid or prevent most of the other problems. Know the regulations and special concerns for the location you’re visiting, check weather, pack appropriately, and travel in small groups when possible. A well-prepared trip creates less impact almost automatically, because prepared people make fewer panicked, high-impact decisions.

2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Stick to established trails and designated campsites. Walking around a mud puddle instead of through it seems considerate, but it widens the trail over time and damages surrounding vegetation. In truly pristine backcountry areas (bushwhacking), spread out to avoid creating new social trails. In popular areas, concentrate use on already-established paths. The rule flips depending on how developed the area already is, which surprises people the first time they hear it. Remember: your boots were made to be muddy and they’ll recover if that’s the trail condition that day.

3. Dispose of Waste Properly

Pack it in, pack it out… including things like fruit peels, which are not native compostables everywhere and take much longer to break down than people assume. Seriously. That orange peel will be there for months. For human waste in the backcountry, that means either using a cathole dug 6-8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water, trails, and campsites, or packing it out entirely where required (yes, this is a real requirement in some heavily used areas, and it's not as bad as it sounds with the right kit). Plan to pack out toilet paper regardless: a Ziploc bag in a non-see-through dry-bag, sealed up and clipped on the outside of a backpack is the way to go. Throw away the Ziploc when you get back to civilization.

4. Leave What You Find

Rocks, plants, artifacts, antlers: it can be hard, but leave them where they are. This one carries extra weight in places like Bears Ears, Mesa Verde, and Grand Staircase-Escalante, where "what you find" can include genuinely irreplaceable cultural artifacts and rock art that belong to the ongoing story of Indigenous nations, not to whoever picks them up first. And because of the Migratory Bird Act, you’re better off leaving those feathers alone, too - it’s a federal offense if the feather comes from a bird that’s protected.

5. Minimize Campfire Impact

Use existing fire rings rather than building new ones, keep fires small, burn only small sticks that can be broken by hand, and make sure a fire is completely, coldly out before leaving it (drown it). Check fire restriction and burn bans everywhere you go. In many increasingly fire-prone regions, a camp stove is simply the better choice over an open fire, and it's worth checking current fire restrictions before assuming a campfire is even an option. Anymore, so many places across the US are experiencing drought conditions, we forego any fire if we’re not in an established campground and, even then, we’re going to use something like a Solo Stove.

6. Respect Wildlife

Observe from a distance, never feed wild animals, store food securely, and control pets at all times. Feeding wildlife, even accidentally through careless food storage, changes animal behavior in ways that often end badly for the animal, not just the person. This is the principle we lean on most in our injured wildlife guide: distance and restraint protect animals better than direct interaction almost every time.

7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Yield appropriately on trail, keep noise levels reasonable, and let nature's sounds be the soundtrack rather than a speaker. This one seems minor compared to the others, but it's a huge part of why shared public land actually stays enjoyable and welcoming for everyone using it.

Why this matters more than a rulebook

None of these principles are really about rules for their own sake. They're about a mindset: that the outdoors isn't a resource to consume, it's a shared space to move through gently, whether you're there once or every weekend. Teaching kids these seven principles early (even in simplified form, even just in a backyard) builds the instinct before it ever needs to be a rule they're told to follow.

If you only remember one thing from this whole list: leave a place as good as or better than you found it, and you'll naturally be doing most of this right already.