Poster Contest: Planting Seeds of Stewardship Around Lake Tahoe

Planting Seeds of Stewardship Around Lake Tahoe

While outdoor spaces in the Tahoe Basin seemed to be the only safe-escape for many residents and visitors during the 2020 trail season, the Tahoe Rim Trail Association faced impassable hurdles to ensure the safety of participants, staff, and the community for our Youth Backcountry Camp program. To send a van packed full of children and instructors into the backcountry for four days at a time did not align with the TRTA’s high safety standards given the rise of COVID-19. Despite the heartbreaking cancelation of our signature youth program in 2020, we got creative and stayed true to our mission to inspire stewardship.

This spring, the Association launched a poster contest designed to educate kids on Leave No Trace ethics while providing them the opportunity to make a positive impact on the communities around the Tahoe Basin. Youth were encouraged to tap into their creative side and depict the Seven Leave No Trace Principles in an eye-catching way to educate residents and visitors on how to care for wildlife, the natural landscape, and other trail users when recreating in the outdoors. While we received a plethora of fabulous submissions, we chose Maile Green’s creative depiction of the principles. Maile’s poster spent the trail season hanging at the South Lake Tahoe Public Library and TRT trailheads to plant seeds of stewardship in the minds of residents and visitors to Lake Tahoe.

Maile Green

Maile’s creation reflected her artistic skills, inspirations, and key takeaways from the seven Leave No Trace Principles. “I knew about cleaning up after yourself, putting out fires, and making sure other people have a good time too. I didn’t know to travel and camp on durable surfaces, so I put it in the middle of the poster to highlight what I most learned from this contest.” Her unique design incorporates an anime-style adopted from her 5 years of living in Japan and artistic principles learned from her mom’s expertise. This wise teen stresses that stewardship ethics are vital to the safety of humans, plants, and animals in the Tahoe backcountry because ignoring these principles can cause negative impacts on the environment. “I think it’s super important to follow the Seven Leave No Trace Principles because other people want to enjoy the trails just like you and we want to keep our wildlife and nature safe.”

From the wildfires to the significant increase in trail-users and the abundance of trash and microplastics left behind in outdoor spaces this summer, our trails took a hard hit this year. We are so thankful for all of the participants who created Leave No Trace posters to help us spread awareness about stewardship ethics. While looking for creativity, we found even more: leaders, stewards, and inspiration. Maile said it best: “Nature’s for everyone. We want to leave it just like we found it.”

Created by TRTA Poster Contest Winner, Maile Green, 13 yrs. Learn more about how you can minimize impact on the trail at tahoerimtrail.org/leave-no-trace.