The Weekly - June 2, 2020 - 12

Resources and Education
CHANGING COURSE
In lieu of traditional fundraising tactics, Grand Canyon
Conservancy will be hosting digital hikes.
When Grand Canyon National Park's official nonprofit partner,
Grand Canyon Conservancy (GCC), had to cancel its annual
Grand Gathering fundraiser event due to COVID-19, it got creative. Simply waiting to reschedule wasn't an option, as GCC
relies on this event to fund ongoing conservation and education
work. "We have to raise money," says Mindy Riesenberg, GCC's
director of marketing and communications. "We've had to try
new things."
So, on June 13, GGC is hosting its first Grand Canyon Trailblazer Virtual Hike to coincide with National Get Outdoors Day.
GCC's goal is to raise $50,000 through participant pledges
around the globe, and it encourages everyone to participate.
The premise is simple: Walk, jog, or hike, and pledge a donation
to GCC that coincides with the distance. Another option: Sponsor a GCC executive team member to hike open portions of the
Grand Canyon's Rim Trail with direct donations. "Moving through
the COVID-19 situation gave us a much larger online presence,"
Riesenberg says. Capitalizing on that can help conservation projects move forward without pause. -Emma Athena
Dana Watts, Leave
No Trace's executive director, shows
off her mask style.

Leave No Trace worked alongside Pennsylvania
State University to conduct COVID-19-related
research to help define a safe and environmentally sound future for outdoor recreation.
By Ben Lawhon and Dana Watts
THE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE

made it startlingly clear to the outdoor industry and beyond just how
valuable time spent in nature truly
is. Since the global pandemic was
declared in March, people across
the world have begun interacting with the outdoors in different
ways-whether local trail hikes,
neighborhood runs and dog walks,
local park excursions with family,
or under restrictions at home.

These impacts were felt almost
instantly, and the Leave No Trace
Center for Outdoor Ethics moved
quickly to launch a study to gather
relevant and timely data about
people's swiftly shifting recreation
habits.
Working alongside its research
partner, Pennsylvania State University, Leave No Trace launched
a three-part rapid assessment
study of outdoor recreation trends

12 THE WEEKLY / OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020

during the COVID-19 pandemic
to offer guidance to land managers, recreation providers, and
outdoor enthusiasts across the
country. Although the future for
both the outdoor industry and
outdoor recreation feels uncertain
at the moment, gathering this information as the situation evolves
will help us all more clearly understand what people need when
spending time outside and what
guidance they would like to have

in place to feel safe and protect
the environment.
Research Phase 1
Between April 9 to 11, over 1,000
outdoor recreationists from the
Leave No Trace community
were surveyed. According to Ben
Lawhon, education director at
the Leave No Trace Center and
one of the principal investigators,
this type of data is critical to land
managers across the country as

F R O M TO P ; CO U R T E SY L E AV E N O T R AC E , CO U R T E SY N P S/ M I C H A E L Q U I N N

Providing
Guidance

https://www.grandcanyon.org/ https://lnt.org/

The Weekly - June 2, 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Weekly - June 2, 2020