Tread Lightly!

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.

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



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

Tread Lightly!

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...adtrainer.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!

Tread Lightly!

Well... if it just hasn't been a busy couple of months.

Where have we been?
Denver St. Patricks Day Parade (Guest appearance by LightFoot, with Stay The Trail) - March 17 in Denver, Colorado
National OHV Safety and Education Conference - March 26 and 27 in Sacramento, California
Easter Jeep Safari - April 4 to 8 in Moab, Utah
Stewardship Day @ The Capital - April 19 in Denver, Colorado
Scout-O-Rama - May 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Overland Expo - May 18 to 20 in Flagstaff, Arizona
Master Tread Trainer Course - May 26 in Portland, Oregon
Colorado State Parks Seasonal Training - May 30 at Sylvan Lake State Park, Colorado
Grand Mesa Jeep Club Show - June 2 in Grand Junction, Colorado
Colorado State Parks Seasonal Training - June 6 at Mueller State Park, Colorado
National Get Outdoors Day - June 9 in Salt Lake City, Utah
National Get Outdoors Day - June 9 in Denver, CO (Celebrating our mascot's 10th birthday!)

And on the heels of that, where are we going?
Master Tread Trainer Course for Stay The Trail - June 18th in Denver, Colorado
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports / Higher Ground Week - July 2 to July 6 in Sun Valley, Idaho area
FJ Summit (Including stewardship trail run day!) - July 18 to July 21 in Ouray, Colorado
Master Tread Trainer Course - August 28 to August 29 at Camp Sol R Crown in Wilmont, Wisconsin
National Order of the Arrow Conference (Boy Scouts of America) - August 1 to August 4 in East Lansing, Michigan
Master Tread Trainer Course (NOHVCC Conference) - August 21 in Great Falls, Montana
NOHVCC Conference - August 21 to August 25 in Great Falls, Montana

That sort of covers it... Please pay attention to our Tread Trainer Course listings for additional courses if you're interested in helping us promote the Tread Lightly! message throughout your area.

Tread Lightly! has also instituted a blog to give weekly updates on our goings-on. Have a look! http://treadlightlyoutdoors.wordpress.com/



Jason, Lori, and Justin with the mobile billboards sponsored by Drive Off-Road in Moab during EJS


Justin doing a workshop with seasonal employees from Colorado State Parks


Lightfoot with Woodsy and Smokey, at National Get Outdoors Day in Denver


Hanging out with Del from BRC and Matt from Stay The Trail Ambassadors, at the Grand Mesa Jeep Club Show

In addition to the stewardship grants program ( http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php/stewardshipgrants/ ), we are also about ready to start round 2 of our interpretive panel program. Over 2000 of these panels were placed last year on public lands throughout the country, promoting responsible use under our Ride On (motorized) and Respected Access (recreational shooting) campaigns. We are looking to place at least that number out again this year, so keep your eyes peeled.

http://www.respectedaccess.org/resources/kiosk-program/

We have some really big things coming down the trail at Tread Lightly!. Our memberships are up, our exposure is increasing through numerous outlets and partnerships, and we've had a huge response for donations for our annual eBay charity auction coming up later this year. We would like to say THANK YOU to all of our supporters, members, member clubs, and partners. Without your help, this wouldn't be possible.

Please consider joining Tread Lightly! and helping us continue to proactively maintain responsible access through ethics and stewardship. The list of benefits is long, but most importantly, you're helping to protect America's public lands and waterways for continued future use.

Tread Lightly!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to August!

We've been busy, yet again... What's that? You'd like a quick run-down? Absolutely... Here goes:

Where we've been-
Master Trainer Course (hosted by Stay The Trail Colorado) - June 18 in Denver, CO
Awareness Workshop for Cheyenne Mountain State Park - June 28 in Colorado Springs, CO
Tread Trainer Course (hosted by Sun Valley Adaptive Sports) - July 2 in Sun Valley, ID
Mountain Bike Nationals at Sun Valley - July 4-6 in Sun Valley, ID
FJ Summit - July 19-21 in Ouray, CO
Master Trainer Course at Camp Sol R Crown (hosted by the Boy Scouts of America) - July 28 and 29 in Wilmot, WI
National Order of the Arrow Conference - July 31 to August 4 in East Lansing, MI

Where are we headed?
Bass Pro Shops Land and Wildlife Expo - August 10-11 in Nashville, TN (Tread Trainers staffing)
CAST for Kids - August 11 at Strawberry Res, UT
NOHVCC Conference - August 21-25 in Great Falls, MT
Tread Trainer Course (hosted by Northeast Ohio 4x4) - September 31 in Windham, OH
Master Trainer Course (hosted by Rausch Creek Off-Road Park) - October 6-7 in Tremont, PA
BSA Outdoor Ethics Conference - October 24-27 in Hot Springs, AR
SEMA - October 30 to November 2 in Las Vegas, NV
Master Trainer Course (hosted by Uwharrie Off Road Training Center) - November 16-17 in Uwharrie, NC

If you are interested in participating or hosting a Master Trainer or Tread Trainer course in your area, please check the website. We will be getting the 2013 schedule running soon - http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php...adtrainer.html


Our educational posters program is up and running, including making these posters available for purchase by land managers and partner organizations. These can be fully customized to address the needs of the area. For more information on this program - http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php/programs-rapanels/




A few pics for you all:


Jason covering learning styles with a Master Trainer course in Sun Valley, ID


Our new Master Trainers with the Boy Scouts


Justin teaching awareness courses at the National Order of the Arrow Conference in East Lansing, MI


Our Stewardship run group at FJ Summit in Ouray, CO


And because they're fun... A friendly "tip of the day"

Under the principle of "Do Your Part", as we move into the later days of Summer, there is still plenty of time to be involved outdoors. Keep your eye out for stewardship opportunities in your area and lend a hand. Taking even a tiny bit of time out of your day to pick up trash or fix a trail issue helps to promote the positive side of our community. A recent blog post from our Education and Stewardship Programs Manager going into a little more detail on the topic - http://treadlightlyoutdoors.wordpres...little-things/


Happy trails...!

Tread Lightly!

Good evening all!

We hope that you've all been having a great trail season, and especially hope that everyone got a chance to see the fantastic changing of the colors going on throughout the country.

As the season winds down, and gear and your trail machine are getting stowed for the season, we'd like to encourage everyone to take that few extra minutes during the pre-storage maintenance to put in a little cleaning time. As with our riding season recommendation of cleaning your bike/quad/4x4 to help stop the spread of invasive species, the pre-storage cleaning provides a perfect time to take a fine-toothed brush to it and really clean out those wheel-wells, skid plates and undercarriage, floorboards, and the like to get rid of any unwanted hitchhikers. As our mothers always told us... "Your room will be easier to clean if you just KEEP it clean". Well thanks Mom, we get it now. Keeping our trail vehicles clean after our adventures makes it easier to clean up next time, and helps us all by keeping native plants where they belong.

And for the family haulers, tow-rigs and 4x4's, here's a great solution to containing the dirt, grass, and anything else your shoes may pick up on the trail once you've gotten that rig all spotless... New floormats! And since you're getting new floormats... Maybe some that say "Tread Lightly!" like these from our proud partners at Drive OffRoad.com???

So. Once that snow falls, and the trail rig goes to sleep for the winter (unless you're like us and don't mind a little snow-bashing here and there) please consider taking that extra step. Your gear will thank you, and so will we. Have a great upcoming weekend everyone!

Tread Lightly!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Just wanted to pass on a little update with a couple big items...

First, as you've all probably seen with prior posts, we have been steadily increasing our involvement with the Boy Scouts of America and their Outdoor Ethics programming since we signed our agreement with them in 2010. Complimenting the human-powered backcountry ethics provided by Leave No Trace, Tread Lightly! has been asked to directly provide responsible use training and education concerning the mechanized, motorized, and shooting programs within the BSA. Over the last week, we attended the Outdoor Ethics Conference in Arkansas, providing a Tread Trainer course specifically tailored to those programs for over 60 council educators from across the country, as well as other coursework and sitting on an ethics panel in cooperation with LNT. This is sparking a huge opportunity for Tread Lightly! as we move towards further integration into those specific programs in the Nation's largest youth serving organization. For Scouts and leaders, stay tuned to the BSA Outdoor Ethics page for further information, including the soon-to-be announced new award structure for Outdoor Ethics. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/...oorEthics.aspx



Second... For those of you heading to Las Vegas for the SEMA show this coming week, please make sure to visit Tread Lightly! and meet the staff in cooperation with our friends at Omix-ADA. We'll be meeting with our partners, developing new partners, and looking to increase the resources and support that help us provide quality, relevant resources as we strive to increase the balanced protection of natural resources and continued access. More info- http://semashow.com/

Last but certainly not least... Don't forget that our annual eBay charity auction will open early on November 1st. Get those bids in on products for your outdoor adventures, taking advantage of bidding that begins well below retail value. http://www.treadlightly.org/page.php.../auction!.html

And until next time...
Happy Trails.