COSA Free Webinar – Effectively Communicating Leave No Trace

In response to the growing impact of users on Colorado’s outdoor spaces within every Community, CPRA is excited to partner with Leave No Trace to offer this important training. We hope that this training will provide your communities with a resource of stewards trained to interact with the public and assist in sharing Leave No Trace principles that, in turn, will help your parks, trails and open space employees better do their day-to-day work.

This 2-hour interactive presentation and discussion will focus on an introduction to the key elements of Leave No Trace and is specifically designed for agency employees, park partners, guide services, outfitters, park hosts, friends groups, volunteers, and other educators who educate the public.

Topics include:

• The Science Behind Leave No Trace: Overview of how science and research underpin and support Leave No Trace recommendations and practices.
• Steps of the Recreation Experience: Understanding the various stages of a visitor’s recreation experience, and where in that process a visitor may be when encountered, can help best frame the conversation from a perspective that is both empathetic and most meaningful.
• Effective Communication: What we say is as important as how we say it and effective communication is key to breaking down barriers to opposition and providing a space for visitors to feel receptive to our message.
• Authority of the Resource: This technique, pioneered by Dr. George Wallace, routinely serves as a proven method of changing visitor behavior through deemphasizing regulation in favor of education about the natural world. Participants will learn ways to generate clear, succinct, and focused social and ecological reasons for visitors to engage in practices that help avoid these impacts.