A national non-profit outdoor recreation organization is bringing its responsible trail stewardship message to Caribou later this month.
Tread Lightly! has a range of programs designed to keep residents and visitors enjoying Maine’s trails by promoting outdoor recreation responsibility and ethics. The organization’s ads can be seen in such publications as American Snowmobiler, Camping Life, Popular Mechanics or the Northwoods Sporting Journal. Their messages also run on Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, as well as the 2011 North Maine Woods brochure or a trails map from Maine’s Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks & Lands.
Though it began by focusing on trail users on public lands in the U.S. West, the same message of responsible trail use makes just as much sense in the mostly privately-owned Maine forests. In the same way, snowmobilers, 4×4 truck folks and ATV riders may not always agree on where and how everyone should enjoy the trails, but all of us share the goal of continued access to trails. In fact, Tread Lightly! has broadened its message to target mountain bikers, hikers, horseback riders, even boaters, in the hopes of reaching as broad a multiple use audience as possible. After all, everyone who shares Maine’s woods and waterways has the potential to impact both the environment and the landowner or manager.
“In light of the fact that the Maine landscape is changing and many new landowners limit access to what historically has been private land opened to Maine residents and others to enjoy outdoor recreational pursuits and due to the fact that there is a whole new generation of less-than-responsible users, we have joined forces with a Tread Lightly! trainer to offer an all-day training program for recreational users, forest managers and landowners,” said Kathy Mazzuchelli, director of parks and recreation for the city of Caribou.
Maine has 40 Tread Lightly! trained responsible access advocates who learned the Tread Lightly! message through courses held from Buxton in southern Maine westward and north to Millinocket. The next Maine “Tread Trainer” course will be at the Caribou Recreation and Wellness Center on Bennett Drive on Sunday, Oct. 23. This course will be conducted by Tread Lightly! Master Tread Trainer Steve Salisbury, a University of Maine forest management graduate. Salisbury is now deeply involved in trail issues as an enthusiast, on a professional level for his employer and as a volunteer for a local club, the State of Maine, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection. He has just completed a five-article series for Trail Rider Magazine as the “Practical Access Advocate.”
Tread Lightly! was begun by the U.S. Forest Service in 1985 as an educational program with the goal of minimizing trail damage within National Forests. When off-road products manufacturers recognized the potential benefits of running this type of positive pro-recreation and pro-landowner program, they offered to buy it outright. Preferring a combined public and private ownership, Tread Lightly! became a nonprofit funded jointly by industry and the federal government. Today, major sponsors include Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Polaris, Suzuki, Nissan, Land Rover, the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Highway Administration and a long list of others who fund the organization’s programs and advertising. In fiscal 2010 alone Tread Lightly! reached over 10 million readers, received $1.6 million in public service announcement space and trained more than 30,000 outdoor receptionists face-to-face.
For more information on the Oct. 23 course, contact Salisbury at 841-8434 or ssalisburyktm@hotmail.com or the Caribou Recreation Department at 493-4224. Or go to www.treadlightly.org.
