Evoke's Commitment to Minimal-Impact Wilderness Living

Posted by Kate on October 05, 2022

KateRuteckiIn the field, we do things every day to minimize our impact on the natural surroundings. These routines have both aesthetic and practical reasons: supporting the animals and plants we share our space with, other humans who will use the area after us, and ourselves. Minimal impact camping practices can be similar to the front country chores of cleaning a house.

In each field space we use from morning to night, we bring our personal and group items with us and try to restore the area to its unaltered natural state. We do our best to leave spaces like we find them, if not better than we find them. I believe that the practice of caring for our surroundings in the field or front country can teach us responsibility and instill a sense of pride. It looks and feels nice to know that we can have a positive impact on our environment.

So, what does it look like for us to practice minimal-impact camping in the field? Each morning when we wake up at shelters, we pack up our gear, move any big rocks we used as anchors for our shelters back to where we found them, and pick up “microtrash.” Microtrash are tiny pieces of trash that could go unnoticed without a close look--a strip of a tarp shelter, a mini piece of a foam sleeping pad, or a small piece of cordage, for example. One piece of microtrash doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when there are lots of pieces of microtrash, it’s clear to the next group of people who visit the area that there was not much attention paid to cleaning up.

Later, when we’re done eating breakfast, we do our best to put any stray granola and oats in the trash rather than leaving them on the ground. Even though granola and oats are biodegradable, they can attract animals for whom “G and O” is not part of their natural diet. We also hang our food bags and trash in trees so that these items are out of reach for animals.

When preparing to move sites by “breaking down camp,” we double check that we don’t leave anything behind and that any alterations we have made to the area, like digging a hole for disposing of cooking water, have been “camouflaged,” which is a way of saying that we try to disguise the fact that we have been camping there. The hope is that if others come use this area after us, they’re presented with a site that looks as untouched as possible and can have their own experience of enjoying the appeal of its natural state.

While we’re hiking, we “try to not bust the crust but if we must, we tiptoe through the crypto.” Cryptobiotic soil is a living crust that covers the desert sand. Crypto is a valuable foundation in the desert landscape and takes years to develop. It helps prevent erosion and allows plants to grow.

As part of our program, we harvest supplies from trees, bushes, and the ground in order to do everyday tasks, make our lives easier, and participate in hard skills. An example of this is cutting a tree branch to use as a bow drill. When harvesting, we do our best to only take what we need, not harvesting more than that, and in doing so, affect the tree as little as possible. This helps to cultivate a mindset of respecting the elements around us when using them for our benefit.

Through all of the minimal impact things we practice in the field, students learn how to maintain their physical environment to benefit physical and mental health. They can learn that we are one part of the environment around us and the value of respecting others who also use the space. These tasks require us to work together to succeed in a shared goal, building a sense of camaraderie. I have seen groups have a strong culture of cleaning up the areas they use by picking up trash left by others. It provides a healthy dose of immediate gratification to see the quick physical impact of cleaning up stray plastic bags, lost pens, and other items.

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