Minimal Impact Code

The Minimal Impact Code is the practice of decreasing by as much as possible the amount of damage one does to the environment. This includes many factors, the foremost being education. Here are 10 things you can do to put the Minimal Impact Code into force and reduce your level of personal damage on the mountain environment:

1) Stay on established trails and do not enter preservation areas

2) If you are in a group, travel in single file to avoid making existing trails wider. Widening trails spreads erosion

3) Stay away from delicate ecological regions such as meadows, marshes, and wetlands

4) Tread lightly and be careful not to destroy endemic plants or animals and insects as you hike

5) Properly dispose of bodily waste by burying it in a shallow hole. Fill the hole with the soil that was removed and cover it with nearby leaves or rocks. Be sure to relieve yourself a far distance from natural water sources, trails, and campsites (at least 50 meters). Don’t leave toilet paper behind! Pack it out! Don’t dig up the ground for any other reason.

6) If you are so lucky as to observe wildlife, be quiet and do not disturb the animal. Let it pass freely. Do not feed it and do not call out to it. Remember, you are a quest in its home.

7) Take out everything that you bring in. Don’t burn or bury trash in the mountains

8) Avoid changing the natural surroundings of the trail. Don’t move rocks or fallen trees even if they cross the trail. Leave the trail as you found it

9) Avoid the common practice of yelling “YAHOO!” while in the mountains. It has been proven to harm bird populations by scaring birds into not procreating. It is also not courteous to your fellow hikers.

10) Practice trail etiquette. Be courteous to others who wish to use the trails. The mountains are places of solitude. Noise has no home in the highlands.

When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.

- Aldo Leopold

Minimal Impact Code

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