LNT Fourth Principle: Leave what you find

Every year, the headquarters of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is flooded with mail containing sand, rocks, and other artifacts tourists collected from the park. The volcanic rocks are interesting and tempting to take, but according to the mythology of "Pele's Curse", bad luck will befall anyone who removes objects from the island. Hapless tourists have been hit with strings of bad luck after chancing removing a rock, and many try to break the curse by returning what they took via the US mail system.

Not every place has a curse, but it's important to always keep in mind Leave No Trace's fourth principle: Leave what you find. The scope of this principle is interesting and isn't exactly what you think, so let's take a closer look.

What are we finding and leaving?

There is a certain about of judgement we need to use with this principle. What we want to do is leave the natural environment more or less how we found it. This means no digging trenches around tent sites, no hammering nails into trees to hang your hammock, no picking delicate trillium flowers, etc.

However, it also means we need to leave some impacts. A fire ring at a dispersed campsite is not a natural phenomenon, but if we dismantle it, it will just be rebuilt, so it's better to use it and leave it. Cairns should not be randomly built just for the glee of it, but we also should be leaving pre-established trailmarker cairns so other hikers can locate and stay on the trail.

Cultural artifacts also should be left alone. The Archaeological Resources and Protection Act protect these artifacts and removing items like pot shards or arrowheads is actually illegal. Plus, if you take them then other visitors won't be able to enjoy them.

We don't want to add anything either.

I was recently in Lave River Cave near Bend, OR, and I had to plan my outfit carefully to avoid introducing a fungus that causes White-Noise Syndrome to the local bat population. Everything I wore into that cave could not have been used in another cave, and now I can never take that gear into a different cave again, as the fungus has a 100% mortality rate.

Part of leaving the environment the way you found it means not introducing any invasive species or pests. Make sure you regularly clean your hiking boots to avoid spreading seeds, be very aware of caves and what gear you're bringing into which cave, and don't move firewood beyond local regions are all methods to avoid adding unwanted contaminants to wild areas.

Exploring a cave, but being mindful of the health of the bats while doing it

Are we really not allowed to take anything at all?

"But what about people who forage for berries?" you might be protesting. "What about the mushroomers?" Be cool, man. There are cases where we can forage on public lands. These include foraging for berries, mushrooms, rockhounding, and even firewood or Christmas trees. Typically, it's illegal in national parks and wilderness areas but allowed on BLM or national forest lands. Often, there are foraging limits and/or special permits needed, so check with the land manager before you head out.

The most important thing is to consider the impact you are having, and make sure that while foraging you are minimizing your impact and only taking what you need. Will you have to trample delicate alpine grasses to get to that huckleberry patch, or is there another more accessible patch you can forage from with less impact? Foraging is fine as long as you're responsible and conscientious about it!