Think your trusty dog is no match for a ferocious grizzly bear? Turns out the simple presence of a听livestock guardian dog can reduce visits from grizzly bears by 87.8 percent, according to . That result should be encouraging to anyone who lives near expanding grizzly populations in the Northern Rockies or, according to the researcher responsible for the study, those of us recreating in grizzly habitat, too.

鈥淗umans have relied on dogs for protection from wild animals for thousands of years for a reason,鈥� says Julie Young, the Utah State University wildlife scientist who conducted the research alongside Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. 鈥淭hey work.鈥�

Young鈥檚 study placed five livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) at four farmsteads in northern Montana with 鈥渁 chronic history of bears accessing grains and other attractants next to their homes,鈥� and kept dogs away from five similar farmsteads as a control.

When I talk about using my dogs to ward off or potentially fight a bear, I鈥檓 often met with skepticism. Surely even a 125-pound ancient livestock guardian dog like Teddy couldn鈥檛 take on a 500-pound-plus griz, right? So I also asked Young to explain that dynamic. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like watching two frat boys shout 鈥楬old me back, bro,鈥欌�� she illustrates. Both species avoid physical altercations through instinct. A dog鈥檚 scents, barking, and presence are enough to force most bears to turn tail.

Since grizzly populations in the lower 48 states gained Endangered Species Act protections in the seventies, their number has grown to Bear populations are largely split between the ecosystems surrounding Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. As the bears go looking for new habitat, they鈥檙e traveling east, onto the prairies where they historically thrived before the arrival of European settlers. That鈥檚 bringing the species into conflict with humans in new areas, threatening both their survival, and the safety of human families in places that, until a few years ago, never had to think about coexisting with large apex predators.

The result? 鈥淭here were 58-fold fewer camera-trap detections of bears visiting farmsteads with LGDs and an increase in behaviors suggesting bear discomfort compared to paired [control farmsteads],鈥� the study found. 鈥淎fter LGDs were deployed, there was an 87.8 percent听reduction in GPS-collar locations of bears within 300听meters of farmsteads relative to before.鈥�

Most importantly, no bears, humans, or dogs had to be harmed to achieve those results. 鈥淭he bears simply avoided the farms with dogs,鈥� Young explains.

Young believes this revelation could impact the safety of humans as well.听She鈥檚 studied interactions between LGDs and large predators before. But that research focused on the ability of livestock guardian dogs to protect herds. To her, the big question here was whether or not the same behaviors and result could be applied to families and their physical property鈥攏ot just sheep and goats.

鈥淭he farmers were worried that the dogs might be aggressive toward their children,鈥� says Young.

Young selected the canine breed Kangals for the study. These dogs are a purebred line of the Anatolian Shepherd, an ancient livestock guardian breed from Turkey. Kangals are the most athletic of the giant breeds, and reportedly highly听aggressive.

Young explains that she chose the Kangal because, it 鈥渋s an ancient breed specifically bred to guard against large predators.鈥� Great Pyrenees and Akbash, which are common on western farms, are not. The researcher says that contrasts the strengths of what she calls, 鈥渢he generic white dog,鈥� which is more commonly used to protect against smaller predators like coyotes.

This is where the study becomes relevant to me and my family. Six years ago, we adopted a rescue puppy that we thought was a mutt, but turned out to be a pure-bred Kangal. We split time between Bozeman, in southwest Montana, and a family cabin in northern Montana. Grizzly bears are an ever-present fact of life at that cabin. We frequently come across their tracks and signs elsewhere. In addition to a layered security protocol runs from limiting attractants to heavy-caliber firearms, we rely on our dogs to keep us safe.

I want to shoot a bear even less than I want to get my face torn off by one, and Teddy, our Kangal, is an important part of preventing either event from occurring.

鈥淲e know that Kangals can bond with shepherds,鈥� says Young. And now, with evidence from this new research, we also know that they not only bond with families, their farms, and children, but that those farmers like having the dogs around as well.

鈥淎ll four farms chose to keep the Kangals, and are recommending them, too,鈥� says Young. 鈥淔amers in the control group are also now seeking out the dogs.鈥�

The study鈥檚 results builds on the findings of other research. Young compared the effectiveness of Kangals to other livestock guardian dog breeds , while found the breed reduced livestock losses to big cats by 91 percent. indicated that Kangals bonded more strongly with humans than sheep.

I asked Young if these results could be applied听to our cabin and our camping trips. 鈥淧aired with other measures, dogs can be a successful tool at deterring bears in any setting,鈥� she said. Young went on to explain that the study will give wildlife officials working in the field the evidence they need to bring dogs along with them for grizzly protection.

So there you have it: Scientific evidence that, unlike bear spray, a dog with significant guarding instincts is effective at deterring the largest land predator in the world. That should help reduce conflicts with humans as the species continues to expand into its historic habitat. If you do everything else right, a dog can be an additional tool for avoiding grizzly bears the next time you recreate in the places they call home.

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Gather 鈥檙ound children, and let me tell you about my best-ever high-altitude dump. I was climbing the Grand Teton with and we paused for dinner on the Lower Saddle. Mac n鈥� cheese has consequences, as do nervous bowels. So I grabbed my TP and headed for the ridge-top latrine, where I dropped trou, admired the view of Idaho to the west, and released my burden. Sweet relief! Soon my crap was out of sight and out of mind, if not out of nose.

Want to take a dump like I did? Forget it. The Park Service , citing the high cost of hauling out waste by helicopter. Ever since, hikers have been responsible for their own Tetonic piles of crap. Which they should be: Even when waste leaves your body, it鈥檚 still yours. (That who really can鈥檛 be expected to take care of his own turds, now can he?)

What鈥檚 a responsible hiker to do-do?

I called Jeffrey Marion to discuss this shitty situation. Marion teaches recreation ecology at Virginia Tech, and he , literally, on Leave No Trace. It turned out, to my surprise and bowel relief, that there is some good news where #1 and #2 are concerned.

鈥淚n the grand scheme of things, human waste isn鈥檛 a huge problem in the backcountry,鈥� says Marion. 鈥淚t can be a problem in localized areas that get a lot of use, like on Mt. Whitney. Also in extremely cold places, or dry places, or anywhere you can鈥檛 dig a cathole. Otherwise it isn鈥檛 usually a big deal, because it鈥檒l decompose within a year.鈥�

Not that he鈥檚 letting you off the fecal hook, entirely. Here鈥檚 everything Marion would like you to know about dropping your load responsibly in the woods.

Cat Holes Rule

Marion is a firm believer in digging our way out of the human waste problem. Just grab , hurry 200 feet away from your campsite or a trail, dig a 6- to 8-inch hole, do your business, and then backfill. That much you knew, right? According to Marion, about 80 percent of backcountry visitors comply with those guidelines. But the tricky bit comes with the toilet paper, which seems to erupt from catholes like tulips from warm soil in springtime.

鈥淲e find a lot of toilet paper around popular campsites,鈥� Marion notes, 鈥渆ither because people don鈥檛 care, or because toilet paper is the last thing into the hole, and it鈥檚 only covered by leaf litter.鈥� His trick: After you wipe, use a stick to push the TP to the bottom of the pile, then refill the hole. In the right climate, it鈥檒l all decompose in about a year.

Crap and Leak Creatively

When you emerge from your tent with elimination on your agenda, take a fresh look at the landscape. 鈥淧eople tend to spot the same big bush or a rock near the campsite and think, 鈥業鈥檒l go there,鈥欌�� says Marion. 鈥淚t leads to a concentration of waste that can smell bad and be dangerous.鈥�

All those #1s and #2s add up to big numbers, and attract flies. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how diseases are transmitted,鈥� says Marion. 鈥淭hey land on your waste and your dinner.鈥� The 200-foot-rule will probably force you out of the flies鈥� flight path. Better yet, plan on taking a nice crap break en route to your next destination, away from campsites and drinking water.

Urinalysis

Urine is in fact sterile, so spraying it around won鈥檛 harm the environment. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an aesthetic concern,鈥� says Mr. LNT, 鈥渘ot a health hazard.鈥� He advises aiming at (or squatting over) a rock, rather than peeing all over the underbrush, which large ungulates will mow down for the salts and nutrients you piss away.

Pack Out Menstrual Products, Period

Backpackers who menstruate can鈥檛 always plan their adventures around their cycles, so they have two choices: learn to use (and clean) a menstrual cup, or pack out used pads or tampons. Most menstrual hygiene products contain perfumes and plastic liners, which attract critters and resist decomposition. So you鈥檒l need to pack them out in a sealable baggie or water bottle (cover it with duct tape, if you don鈥檛 want to see red). Dropping crushed aspirin or a tea bag into the menses will cut the smell. Of course, users of The Pill can to put off their flow until they return to civilization.

Up High, and Down Low, It鈥檚 Gotta Go

In the desert, waste won鈥檛 decompose. In frigid temperatures and on rocky peaks, there鈥檚 no diggable soil, so no catholes. You鈥檒l have to

Which brings us back to the summits of the Grand Teton and Mt. Whitney. Marion misses their high-altitude johns.

鈥淚n a high-use area, that鈥檚 really the way to go,鈥� he says. 鈥淎fter they removed the latrines on Mt. Whitney, rangers gave out toilet kits to hikers, but animals would get into the bags and they would leak and smell. People said 鈥業鈥檓 not packing that out,鈥� so we found them near the campsites.鈥�

With the zeal of a poop prophet, he extols the seven above-ground 鈥溾�� Vermont鈥檚 Green Mountain Club installed along the Long and Appalachian Trails in Vermont, and . Those loos are sweet-smelling because the waste decomposes aerobically, becoming fertilizer that maintenance crews can scatter in the woods. Just the way bears do it.

For high-use, high-altitude areas, latrines and helicopter evacuations of honey buckets are the way to go, says Marion. 鈥淚t鈥檚 expensive, but that can be built into the cost of wilderness permits.鈥�

And as my Grand memories tell me, paying for a scenic latrine is anything but money down the drain.

The post Confused About Pooping in the Woods? This LNT Expert Has Tips. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When visiting a National Park鈥攐r any wilderness area, for that matter鈥攜ou鈥檙e not supposed to take anything home with you. The much-repeated mantra Leave No Trace means you don鈥檛 pick wildflowers, capture any critters to keep as pets, or tuck any shiny stones into your pockets.

Alas, visitors to Hawaii鈥檚 Haleakala and Volcanoes National Parks have, for decades, disregarded this simple request and have stolen lava rocks. The pilfering of these stones has then caused a听bizarre dynamic involving a mythical lore and and the U.S. Postal Service.

Christine Hitt at听SFGate that every year, hundreds of people mail their 鈥渂orrowed鈥� lava rocks back to both parks. In 2013 alone, officials at Haleakala received 1,275 rocks in the mail. Park officials are sick of it.

鈥淲e would love for people just to stop taking stuff and then also please just stop mailing us stuff,鈥� Heather Whitesides, a public affairs officer for Haleakala National Park, told SFGate.

I wish it were people鈥檚 guilt over LNT that pushed them to mail the rocks back, but many seem to be motivated by an entirely different emotion: fear. Specifically, they are afraid of a supposed听curse involving the Hawaiian goddess Pele. According to cultural history, Pele is the creator of the Hawaiian Islands, and is , black sand beaches, and yes, lava rocks. As , anyone who steals a rock from Hawaii will suffer back luck. Yep鈥攊t鈥檚 been , so it must be true鈥攔ight?

Scared tourists have mailed rocks back to Hawaii for decades, and the practice causes a real headache for the staffers at Hawaii鈥檚 two national parks. Foreign stones may carry bacteria and diseases, and officials are wary of contaminating flora and fauna by just tossing them back into the park. In a , park officials at Haleakala said they place returned rocks in a freezer for up to a month to kill microbes鈥攁 costly and annoying practice. Then, there鈥檚 the question of where to put the stones. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 return rocks to the crater because doing so confuses the geological story鈥攚e don鈥檛 know what part of the volcano the rocks came from,鈥� they wrote.

The whole mess has inspired an impressive of . There鈥檚 even a book about it: , which was published in 1994. In the book, writers Linda Ching and Robin Stephens publish copies of letters that rock senders included with their mailed stones.

鈥淚 am now asking Pele for forgiveness,鈥� reads one letter. 鈥淚 will never doubt a superstition again, and the next time I am advised against doing something, believe me, I will not do it.鈥� Other letters detail the bad luck suffered by the rock thief in question. I have to assume that a few New York Jets fans have mailed rocks and letters and perhaps a Vinny Testaverde jersey or two back to Hawaii.

Does the curse have any real connection to Hawaiian culture? It depends who you ask. Powerstones traces the story back to 1946, when a ranger circulated the story as a way to prevent visitors from stealing items from open space. In 2016 Vice went so far as to on the matter, and discovered an internal memo from the NPS that seems to dispel its connection to the native Hawaiians. 鈥淭here is NO 鈥楥urse of the Rocks,鈥欌�� a cultural interpreter for the National Park Service had written in the confidential document. 鈥淢any believe that the idea of lava rocks being cursed gained traction in the 1940s or 1950s when tour guides grew tired of cleaning their vehicles of lava and/or black sand after tours to Kalapana.鈥�

But the connection may not be entirely fabricated. In 2015, writer for Pacific Standard and interviewed Lilikala Kame-eleihiwa, the director of the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the Univeresity of Hawaii at Manoa. Kame-eleihiwa said that, in Hawaiian culture, rocks do have their own personalities. 鈥淩ocks from the volcano are made by Pele and they are kapu, that is they have a kind of sanctity, and it is definitely bad luck to take them away from the volcano,鈥� she said.

Curse or no curse, it鈥檚 long past time for tourists to stop pocketing rocks from Hawaii. Taking rocks contributes to erosion, which can destroy sensitive ecosystems. At Haleakala National Park, there鈥檚 also the possibility that rocks are actually part of archaeological sites. Pre-colonial Hawaiian societies used stone to build their tools, houses, and other structures, many of which can by found in the park鈥攁nd not all of which are clearly apparent to the untrained eye.

Yep, Hawaiian rock thieves are on the same list as Yellowstone鈥檚 overzealous selfie-seekers, the Grand Canyon鈥檚 misfit golfer, and all of those goofballs who sail frisbees or kick footballs off of Colorado鈥檚 fourteeners. Should you visit Haleakala or Volcanoes National Park and witness someone stealing a cool stone, it鈥檚 worth tapping the person on the shoulder and giving them a polite explainer about this whole ordeal involving microbes, cultural history, and the environment. And if the person continues pilfering rocks, just tell them that Pele will absolutely and without a doubt pay them a visit.

The post Let鈥檚 All Agree to Stop Stealing Hawaii鈥檚 Lava Rocks appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Camping in the winter? We love it. But the activity needs to be enjoyed in a responsible and sustainable way. Watch ‘s lesson on Leave No Trace principles, and learn how to apply them to your next winter adventure. Leven is a Master of Warmth, and we brought six of them together to share their passion, advice, and favorite winter destinations. Find all of their tips for winter exploration听here.

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Long-standing rules for how we do our business in the wilderness are changing in a very big way鈥攁nd it鈥檚 about time. For decades we鈥檝e been taught standardized methods to ensure proper disposal of our waste, most notably burying it in a cathole far away from water sources. But now, with exploding numbers of people recreating on public lands, those approaches aren鈥檛 viable. Simply put: the land can鈥檛 handle all our poop. This has scientists and land managers saying it鈥檚 time to take drastic measures that you might not like.

This episode was brought to you by Avocado, maker of eco-friendly and affordable products to support your rest and recovery. Shop for them now at at .

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When I hear about outdoor diversity campaigns, my knee-jerk, gut reaction is fear.

The issue isn鈥檛 the newcomers. As someone who makes her living writing about the outdoors and sharing it with new audiences, I want to see our numbers grow.

The issue is that I have an environmental science degree. I鈥檝e spent seasons doing biological field research. I鈥檝e edited a Leave No Trace column for Backpacker, a magazine that sells solitude on every other cover. I鈥檝e been trained to value staying on trail, keeping group sizes small and respectful (as per Leave No Trace鈥檚 recommendation), and limiting impact.

When I read about diversity in the outdoors, I seem to hear that new groups are getting outside, but often in different ways鈥攂ig group hikes, Quincea帽era celebrations, or family reunions, for example.

On their own, I love those things. But听over 300 million people visit national parks each year鈥攄ouble the number from 60 years ago, when most infrastructure was last updated.

Environmentalism Gone Wrong

Many environmentalists share my fears of rising impact. But a growing number of reports indicate that, if left unchecked, that personal nervousness can manifest as something far nastier: xenophobia and racism, masked by a self-proclaimed dedication to Leave No Trace ethics.

In reporting this story, I heard plenty of examples of so-called 鈥淟NT policing鈥�: A Latino family told to stop talking at a campground. A family of Luise帽o Indians shamed by passersby for their annual, traditional harvest of poppies during the California superbloom. A group of black hikers chewed out by a white woman, who claimed the dried bamboo and palm fronds the group had brought for their children to play with might be invasive species. And, of course, plenty of white hikers shaming other white folks for stepping off-trail.

鈥淧eople feel unjustly entitled,鈥� said Nadia Mercado, an Osprey hiking athlete and outdoor diversity advocate of Dominican descent, of many longtime outdoorists. 鈥淭hey forget the land is public.鈥� That mix of entitlement and fear for the environment can leave veteran hikers extra-sensitive to new groups of people on trails, especially those using the outdoors in ways white hikers might be unaccustomed to.

The more I learned about these instances and ingrained biases, the more I started to ask myself an uncomfortable question: Am I afraid to share the places that I love?

But What About the Environment?

鈥淭here鈥檚 a perception, particularly in the white hiker community, that there鈥檚 a specific way to behave on-trail,鈥� said Jackie Ostfield, director of the Sierra Club鈥檚 Outdoors For All program. That perception traces back to the fanatical reverence for self-reliance and solitude espoused by 19th-century conservation icons like John Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. 鈥淕oing into wilderness for solitude is fine,鈥� said Ostfield. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 also fine to have a community experience.鈥�

Those transcendentalist values appear in the scientific community as well. A common tenant of Western ecological theory is that, in order to be protected, conservation lands must be restored to their pre-settled state. (That鈥檚 one reason indigenous communities were forcibly removed from early national parks, like Yosemite.) But in many cases, turning the land into a museum isn鈥檛 practical, or even necessary.

鈥淣ative people have been managing land sustainably for a long time,鈥� said Lydia Jennings, a PhD candidate in soil microbiology with a concentration in American Indian policy. She argues that, for centuries, scattered bands of human beings have been part of a place鈥檚 native fauna.

Leave No Trace executive director Dana Watts agrees. She says LNT derives its guidelines from scientific research and input from land management agencies. She acknowledges that the organization could do more to loop in indigenous land stewards as well as people of color, and emphasizes that LNT guidelines are just guidelines. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nuance to everything,鈥� she said. That includes geotagging, plant harvesting, group size, and off-trail hiking.

The takeaway: you can love the outdoors and want to enjoy it with groups of people.

The Real Meaning of LNT

It鈥檚 easy to point fingers at the hikers around us, but there鈥檚 another, bigger culprit for the degradation of public land: lack of government funding.

The only way to change that is to vote for it, and people only vote for the things they love, says Outdoor Afro Founder Rue Mapp. 鈥淲e have to put our hands on the land,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what instills an environmental or conservation ethic.鈥�

Outdoor Afro is a good example. What started as a recreational hiking group has since become a nationwide network of outdoor leaders who have begun leveraging their numbers to enact political change. In 2019, Outdoor Afro dispatched 20 of its leaders to lobby with local congressional representatives, which helped bring about the reauthorizing of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Outdoor Afro demonstrates that new groups of hikers aren鈥檛 the problem: They鈥檙e a force for change. American public lands are under threat, but I鈥檓 starting to realize that the solution, ironically, isn鈥檛 to shut the gates. It鈥檚 to open them a little wider.

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