Leave No Trace Conducts a Hot Spot on Turkey Mountain

It’s been a busy and productive past week. A team from the “Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics” based out of Boulder Colorado has been on Turkey Mountain conducting “Leave No Trace Hot Spot” training. A Hot Spot, is an area that is being loved to death and Turkey Mountain fills the bill. What they are trying to do is to teach people how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly to help these areas bounce back.

The Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition applied for, and received approval, for the Hot Spot. The River Parks Authority and the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA also sponsored the training. The Y provided their beautiful new revamped facility as the site for the training.

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The trainers surveyed the mountain and held workshops geared towards local teachers and property managers on how to educate students and park users to be better stewards of the land. It is all data and science driven. Check out their web site. They have a lot of resources available.

I learned a huge amount about how to use a property softly. No more will I throw an apple core into the woods after eating it. Nor will I cut across switchbacks when I am in a hurry. I learned that plastic bottles never decompose, ever. They just break into smaller and smaller pieces and now the average american eats about 44 pounds of microplastics during their lifetime. I also received a great deal of information about peeing and pooping outdoors.

It was also amazing that the Hot Spot training happened the week that the River Parks Authority announced the start of Phase One of the Turkey Mountain Master Plan.

This link has some great ideas to keep in mind when you want to outdoors.

They have a ton of stuff on their Youtube Channel. They have a whole series on “Don’t Be That Guy” Here is the first one.

9 thoughts on “Leave No Trace Conducts a Hot Spot on Turkey Mountain

  1. Amy Franks

    It would be nice to get rid of plastic in today’s world but I think practically in some circumstances there is a requirement for it, pity people aren’t more tidy, lately I’ve been seeing disposable masks just dropped on the ground, makes me mad.

  2. DrillerAA

    Go glad to see the historically neglected Turkey Mountain getting some much needed love. Looking forward to a post on peeing and pooping outdoors. Have a blessed week.

  3. Pat

    What an interesting group with a fantastic mission!

    I’m sure coming from Colorado they have all experienced first hand the way nature is being “loved to death” as sadly we all see many traces left behind, and sadly a lot in the “poop and pee” category. A big problem we have on our neighborhood trails is dogs not on a leash and people leaving dog poop bags on the trails.

    I will check out this group’s website and YouTubes–thanks for introducing them to me.

  4. Ellen M Polyard

    So glad they’re teaching people how to be responsible visitors to the outdoors. We see that Leave No Trace sign at almost every trailhead here in Colorado. You know I’m a big fan of keeping our public lands in a condition that future generations can enjoy. Speaking of pooping and peeing…almost every turnout in Yellowstone is covered with human waste even though vault toilets are located approximately every 8-10 miles in the park. It’s disgusting and it’s a big problem. We all hear about Yellowstone being overcrowded, but we don’t usually think about park resources such as the sewer system and how it’s asked to handle more waste than it can handle. I wish I knew what the answer is.

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