Treading Lightly is one of the best practices that we as public land users can do to make sure that we can not only continue to use our public lands in a variety of recreational manners, but also make sure that the natural resources and experiences remain intact for future generations. Its not about restriction, but rather about responsibility for our public lands and to ourselves, our friends and families, other visitors, and future generations.

So what does it mean to "Tread Lightly"? Well, we've developed our 5 Principles to break it down to basics:

Tread Lightly! Principles

Travel Responsibly on land by staying on designated roads, trails and areas. Go over, not around, obstacles to avoid widening the trails. Cross streams only at designated crossings. When possible avoid wet, muddy trails. On water, stay on designated waterways and launch your watercraft in designated areas.

Respect the Rights of Others including private property owners, all recreational trail users, campers and others so they can enjoy their recreational activities undisturbed. Leave gates as you found them. Yield right of way to those passing you or going uphill. On water, respect anglers, swimmers, skiers, boaters, divers and those on or near shore.

Educate Yourself prior to your trip by obtaining travel maps and regulations from public agencies. Plan for your trip, take recreation skills classes and know how to operate your equipment safely.

Avoid Sensitive Areas on land such as meadows, lakeshores, wetlands and streams. Stay on designated routes. This protects wildlife habitats and sensitive soils from damage. Don’t disturb historical, archeological or paleontological sites. On water, avoid operating your watercraft in shallow waters or near shorelines at high speeds.

Do Your Part by modeling appropriate behavior, leaving the area better than you found it, properly disposing of waste, minimizing the use of fire, avoiding the spread of invasive species and repairing degraded areas.


We gain a lot by Treading Lightly as a community. Please help us by promoting the Tread Lightly! ethics whenever you can. :D

For more information: www.treadlightly.org

Also, you can follow us with social media!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TLoutdoorethics
Twitter: twitter.com/#!/tread_lightly
Myspace: www.myspace.com/treadlightlypage

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Thanks for the support!! And please, feel free to ask here if you have any questions or desire for clarification, at all.

Tip of the week:

With many areas in western states still receiving snow (the year of the endless winter?) and high snowpack levels throughout, it is important to take a few things into consideration before heading out.

1) Check with local land managers to see if seasonal opening dates on gated trails have been extended.
2) Minimize use of extremely wet trails to avoid the creation of ruts.
3) Go through patches of snow, not around. Chains were not invented so that we could drive around snow-bashing opportunities :D
4) Be prepared in case the weather changes on you. Think extra clothing, water, food, and gear to spend the night if things get real bad.

Most of all... have fun and be safe out there!

Tip of the week:

Now that summer has officially begun (by our definition, not the calendar's)... lets talk sharing and courteous use.

1) Be aware that with very few exceptions, almost all motorized areas are open to the vast majority of other uses. This could mean hikers, equestrians, and of course other riders/drivers in the area. Slow down in tighter areas and where visibility is reduced.
2) Motorized users yield to everyone, everyone yields to equestrians. Stop and say hello to other users if given the opportunity.
3) Use caution around equestrians. While many trail horses are getting more accustomed to vehicular travel, they can still be easily spooked. Stop well ahead of them, and turn off your engine unless waived by. On quads and dirt bikes, stop on the downhill side of the trail, as a horse's instinct with uphill movement is to anticipate a predator.
4) In general, yield to uphill traffic. This is not a rule, it's a guideline. Use common sense please, and most of all be patient. We've all been in situations where its in the best interest of all parties to yield to downhill traffic.

shout out to gonemoab (alpine spirit / casperx / etc...) who did an awesome job at raising awareness of the treadlightly principles down in Moab. Didn't even have a clue what cryptobiotic soil was before and I would have probably walked or driven all over it if I were out there by myself.

shout out to gonemoab (alpine spirit / casperx / etc...) who did an awesome job at raising awareness of the treadlightly principles down in Moab. Didn't even have a clue what cryptobiotic soil was before and I would have probably walked or driven all over it if I were out there by myself.

That is what I was telling Scott, if we had gone out there alone we would have no clue.

shout out to gonemoab (alpine spirit / casperx / etc...) who did an awesome job at raising awareness of the treadlightly principles down in Moab. Didn't even have a clue what cryptobiotic soil was before and I would have probably walked or driven all over it if I were out there by myself.

Awesome. Yeah, I know Kevin and those guys pretty well. Last year, they used a set of graphics in the book from one of our partners, Stay The Trail (Colorado). Not sure if they did that again... but I sure hope so.

That is what I was telling Scott, if we had gone out there alone we would have no clue.

Super-glad that information got to you guys/gals. The cryptobiotic crusts are extremely fragile, and even a footprint can disturb them. While I normally hate using the "it can take hundreds of years to grow back" line, this is one of those cases where it can easily take decades to repair itself, if the sands underneath are not washed/blown away in the meantime.

Hope you all enjoyed Moab!

A nice video to distract you from your day, and get everyone in the mindset to wheel this weekend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Z9_k4SJkE&feature=player_embedded

Produced through Tread Lightly and the Toyota Trail Teams. :D

(don't worry... I won't tell anyone you folks watched something from Toyota... haha)

Happy Monday everyone! (Yes, I know... its a crime to be excited for a Monday, but still.)

Today's Tip of the Week takes on a different form... More of a discussion of the week.

Under the "Do Your Part" principle, we encourage all OHV enthusiasts to be ambassadors to not only the general public, but also within our community. This includes holding our peers accountable and promoting the Tread Lightly! ethic to those who may be unaware or uninterested... So here's the question:

Have you ever approached someone on the trail who was where they shouldn't have been, or doing something that could be considered irresponsible recreation? How did you handle that situation? What was the outcome?

Hope everyone is enjoying the start to the weekend!

Tip of the week:

Again, as part of both the "Educate Yourself" and "Do Your Part" principles, this week I am encouraging everyone to take a small amount of time out of your evening and complete our Online Awareness Course.

This online activity covers the basics of the Tread Lightly! principles and is a wonderful way to quiz your knowledge of what responsible recreation means to us as a community.

Enjoy: http://treadlightly.org/page.php/education-onlinecourse/Online-Awareness-Course

Also, everyone who completes the course is entered into a drawing for a free hat, courtesy of Cabelas.

Good afternoon everyone!!

Tip of the week:

With the 4th of July holiday weekend rapidly approaching, we hope that you and your friends and families are making plans to head outdoors to enjoy some responsible fun and celebration. Since we figure (and hope) that many of you will be camping, we wanted to toss out a few reminders about campsite ethics.

- Look for previously-used campsites, and camp on durable surfaces.
- Campsites should be at least 200ft from water sources, other campsites, and trails. Pay attention to local regulations (MVUMs, etc) concerning how far your vehicle can be off the trail for camping.
- Keep a clean camp. Place food and other products with odors in animal-proof containers or back in vehicles.
- Follow the pack it in, pack it out guidelines. Police your camp before you leave to leave it in better condition than you found it.
- Campfires are not for waste disposal. Please do not leave trash in campfire rings, especially glass.

All that said, lets all cross our fingers for beautiful weather and get back to planning that perfect trip!

:D

Good evening friends!

Decided to step it into a new direction this week. Instead of a tip of the week, we'd like to know the answer to a simple (potentially) question.

Why do you ride or wheel? Lets hear it. Where did you start? Who hooked you? Etc, etc.

:D

Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July weekend!!

Anyone have any awesome-fun trail stories to share from the holiday?

I can't really explain why I like it but there is just something about heading for an incline that you think your vehicle will not climb, even better feeling when it does. I love trail riding through wooded areas that have ups and downs and turns but I also like a little crazy off cambered areas too. Not to much into mudding but have done it a few times just to have a little fun. I have just always wanted to do this since I was a kid but never got too, now that im older I have went through a couple of phases of life from sport bikes to a couple of different sports cars and finally 4 wheeling that I think I will continue for years to come hopefully, it is more family friendly and when you take your kids they think their just having fun but when they get older they will one day realize that we were also making memories that will last a lifetime.

I can't really explain why I like it but there is just something about heading for an incline that you think your vehicle will not climb, even better feeling when it does. I love trail riding through wooded areas that have ups and downs and turns but I also like a little crazy off cambered areas too. Not to much into mudding but have done it a few times just to have a little fun. I have just always wanted to do this since I was a kid but never got too, now that im older I have went through a couple of phases of life from sport bikes to a couple of different sports cars and finally 4 wheeling that I think I will continue for years to come hopefully, it is more family friendly and when you take your kids they think their just having fun but when they get older they will one day realize that we were also making memories that will last a lifetime.

Awesome!

Glad to hear you enjoy going out with the family and explore the public lands we are all fortunate to share. Taking the kids out is a perfect time as well to teach them good wheeling/camping practices, such as games for "who can collect the most trash" and similar activities, which can be fun and help develop their sense of stewardship on public lands. :)

Wow... how the summer flies!!!

Quick tip of the week:

Spill kits! Despite the fact that oil comes from the earth, it is very important that we work to keep oil and other fluids from contaminating our trails. Breakage happens. Seals go bad. Its part of the deal... So what can we do?

- Inspect your vehicle regularly and before each trip for leaks, and fix them as soon as you can. As if you were looking for another excuse to get into the garage and out of domestic duties...
- Either purchase a pre-made spill kit, or make your own. This includes durable large-capacity garbage bags, absorbent material, etc
- If you have a fluid spill on the trail, please scoop up any contaminated soil and bag it, disposing of it at an appropriate location (not your pesky neighbor's garden.)
- On rock (think Utah), use absorbent materials to wipe and clean up the spill as best as you can.

The dinosaur unions who protect their exclusive placement of oil in the earth thank you. As do we. Have a great weekend everyone! :D

Time for a long over-due tip of the week...

Labor Day is coming up here in a couple weeks. I'm sure everyone is excited, and hopefully has some plans to hit the trails!! :D

Labor Day also happens to be one of the busiest weekends on public lands, so with that in mind... We would like to make a couple recommendations, if we may.

-Play it respectful. There will be thousands of people out enjoying the public lands. Please keep that in mind, and slow down around high-traffic areas and areas of low visibility. You never know what could be around that blind corner...

-Play it safe. Use all the proper safety gear, and seat belts on vehicles designed to use them. We want you all to be around to talk trash about how "insane that obstacle was" or how "great that trail is". For the more visual learners... A video from our friends at Stay The Trail in Colorado: http://www.youtube.com/user/StayTheTrail#p/u/8/GyJk37z0yLs

-Play it sober. Beers are best enjoyed in camp after the tires have stopped turning. A gentle reminder that you can still get a DUI in many areas, even on the trail.

-Play it fun. Get out there and hit the trails. The forum should be VACANT over the weekend...! :D

Good afternoon everyone! Just wanted to toss out a quick hello to let you know what Tread Lightly! has been up to recently, and where we're headed...

Past Events:
Phoenix International Sportsmens Expo - Phoenix, AZ
Salt Lake City International Sportsmens Expo - Salt Lake City, UT
Scouting University - Greenville, NC

Upcoming Events:
Denver St. Patricks Day Parade (Guest appearance by LightFoot, with Stay The Trail) - March 17 in Denver, CO
National OHV Safety and Education Conference - March 26 and 27 in Sacramento, CA
Easter Jeep Safari - April 4 to 8 in Moab, UT
Stewardship Day @ The Capital - April 19 in Denver, CO
Scout-O-Rama - May 5 in Salt Lake City, UT
Overland Expo - May 18 to 20 in Flagstaff, AZ

We are scheduling Tread Trainer and Master Trainer courses coming up, so if your organization, club, business, school, or agency is interested in hosting a course, please visit our Tread Trainer page: http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php/programs-treadtrainer/treadtrainer.html

Stewardship Grants application deadline has been extended back to April 1, so if your member club is interested in some money for projects, please visit the page here for details: http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php/stewardshipgrants/

We've also recently added a $60 dollar, three year option for our members, and with over 90% of your donation going directly towards our education, outreach, and stewardship programs your contributions are being put to good use!

Tread Lightly! leads a national effort to protect recreation access by promoting ethics education and stewardship programs nationwide.
Get involved, and Do your part to support responsible enjoyment of America's lands and waterways.

And in case spring comes in like a lion and keeps you off the trail, entertain and educate yourself for an hour or so by taking our online awareness course!

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