Editing Leave No Trace (section)

==History==
By the 1960s and 1970s, outdoor recreation was becoming more popular, following the creation of equipment such as synthetic tents and sleeping pads. A commercial interest in the outdoors increased the number of visitors to national parks, with the [[National Park Service]] seeing a five-fold increase between 1950 and 1970, from 33 million to 172 million.<ref name="Turner">{{cite journal |last=Turner |first=J.M. |date=July 2002 |title=From Woodcraft to 'Leave No Trace':Wilderness, Consumerism, and Environmentalism in Twentieth-Century America |url=http://environmentalhistory.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/7-3_Turner.pdf |journal=Environmental History |publisher=Environmental History, Vol. 7, No. 3 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=462–484 |doi=10.2307/3985918 |jstor=3985918|bibcode=2002EnvH....7..462M |s2cid=237549403 }}</ref><ref name="lnthist">{{cite web|url=http://lnt.org/about/history.html |title=In Depth History of Leave No Trace |publisher=Leave No Trace |access-date=2006-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718233839/http://www.lnt.org/about/history.html |archive-date=2006-07-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Articles were written about the wild being “loved to death,” problems with overcrowding and ecological damage, and the need for management.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1966-05-01 |title=Forestry News |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jof/64.5.345 |journal=Journal of Forestry |volume=64 |issue=5 |pages=345–349 |doi=10.1093/jof/64.5.345 |issn=0022-1201|url-access=subscription }}</ref> To solve this, regulations were imposed, including limits on group sizes and where camping was allowed. This was met negatively, with people writing that it took the joy and spontaneity out of wilderness recreation.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1982-06-01 |title=Section News/Nouvelles des sections |journal=The Forestry Chronicle |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=147–151 |doi=10.5558/tfc58147-3 |issn=0015-7546|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bradley, J |date=1979 |title=A human approach to reducing wildland impacts. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. |url=http://npshistory.com/series/symposia/wildlands/proceedings.pdf |journal=Recreational Impact on Wildlands, ed. R. Ittner et Al. |pages=222–226}}</ref>

The focus was shifted towards education, with the [[National Park Service]] (NPS), [[United States Forest Service]] (USFS), and the [[Bureau of Land Management]] (BLM) training Wilderness Informational Specialists to teach visitors about minimal impact camping. In 1987, the three departments cooperatively developed a pamphlet titled "Leave No Trace Land Ethics".<ref name="USFSLNThist">{{cite web | last = Marion | first = Jeffrey L. |author2=Scott E. Reid  | year = 2001 | url = http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_038125.pdf | title = Development of the U.S. Leave No Trace Program: An Historical Perspective | publisher = U.S. Forest Service | access-date = 2012-11-09 }}</ref>

At the same time, there was a cultural shift in outdoor ethics from [[woodcraft]], where travelers prided themselves on their ability to use available [[natural resource]]s, to having a minimal [[environmental impact|impact on the environment]] by traveling through wilderness as visitors.<ref name="Turner" /> Groups such as the [[Sierra Club]], the [[National Outdoor Leadership School]] (NOLS), and the [[Boy Scouts of America]] were advocating minimum impact camping techniques, and companies like [[REI]] and [[The North Face]] began sharing the movement.

In 1990, the national education program of Leave No Trace was developed by the USFS in conjunction with NOLS, alongside [[Smokey Bear]], [[Woodsy Owl]], and programs like [[Tread Lightly!]] geared towards motorized recreation. The Bureau of Land Management joined the program in 1993 followed by the National Park Service and [[U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]] in 1994.<ref name="USFSLNThist" />

The number of LNT principles varied widely during the 1990s, starting from 75 and dropping to 6 as more people had input and principles were condensed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawrence) |first=Marion, Jeffrey L. (Jeffrey |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/886540355 |title=Leave no trace in the outdoors |date=15 July 2014 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0-8117-6051-5 |oclc=886540355}}</ref> However, by 1999, the list was finalized as seven principles and has remained unchanged.