Tread Lightly!
Tread Lightly! is a nonprofit organization in the United States with the mission "to empower generations to enjoy the outdoors responsibly through stewardship to further the goals of responsible and ethical recreation."[1] It was started by the United States Forest Service in 1985, but became a nonprofit in 1990. [2][3]
The organization is "managed and financed by companies like Ford Motor and Toyota." It leads awareness workshops and restores trails: "Our mission is to empower people to enjoy the outdoors responsibly," said president Lori Davis.[3] The Washington Times noted in 2001 that "most manufacturers of off-highway vehicles — including Land Rover, Jeep, Subaru, GM, Ford and Toyota are active in this effort."[4]
Tread Lightly! "offers extensive online tips and guidelines on being more responsible in hiking, camping, boating, hunting, horseback riding, ATVs and more," the Deseret News has reported.[6]
Some off-highway enthusiasts, though, according to the New York Times, have been opposed to the concept, with Brad Lark, the publisher of the website extreme4x4.com, calling Tread Lightly! "a veiled form of extreme environmentalism." An anonymous writer on offroad.com was quoted as saying: "I don't Tread Lightly. I trample. From tree-huggers to their totalitarian signage that follows. I trample all in the path of freedom's future."[3] Brad Ullrich, the site's land-use editor, described the column as "tongue in cheek."[7]
See also
- Conservation biology
- Conservation ethic
- Conservation movement
- Ecology
- Ecology movement
- Environmentalism
- Environmental protection
- Habitat conservation
- Leave No Trace
- Natural environment
- Natural capital
- Natural resource
- Renewable resource
- Sustainability
- Trail ethics
References
- ↑ Tread Lightly Official website. Retrieved April 2009.
- ↑ "TreadLightly.org "About Us"". Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jason Tanz, "Driving: Making Tracks, Making Enemies," New York Times, January 2, 2004, website screen 4
- ↑ Christopher Keane, "Learn to Tread Lightly Off-Road," Washington Times, February 16, 2001 Registration required.
- ↑ Gillian Flaccus, "Renegade 'Mud-Boggers' Plague Nation's Public Lands," Poughkeepsie Journal, July 13, 2003, page 1 Registration required.
- ↑ Lynn Arave, "Outback Ethics: Motto in the Wilderness Should Be 'Tread Lightly,' " Deseret News, October 24, 2009. Registration required.
- ↑ Tanz, website screen 5
External links
- The Tread Lightly! official web site
- Phil Howell criticism of TreadLightly! on the extreme4x4.org website.