Protect Our Trails (POT)

Each year the amount of land available for hiking is decreasing while the numbers of hikers are increasing. Politics aside, there is a failure at the senior legislative level in local, state, and federal agencies responsible for protecting our trails. The recent federal administration is the first to decrease lands in Federal Reserve while the last President's beginning with Lincoln all added to the Federal Reserve of land during their administration.

Logging, commercial and real estate development, mineral, and oil exploration has run unabated in the last few years. As the population rises, the housing community has spread out rather than up. The flight to the suburbs, and the increasing population has encroached upon the outlying rural areas of cities.

Highland Hiking is in direct alliance with the American Hiking Society, a nonprofit organization formed by dedicated hikers. Their website, www.americanhikingsociety.com is very comprehensive detailing trail conservation policies, volunteer opportunities, alliances with other hiking organizations, with news and resources for you to find out and get actively involved conserving our hiking trails.

Highland Hiking will report on current and proposed legislation impacting their hiking trails, upcoming events that bring notice and assistance to our hiking trails, and provide links to these excellent organizations out there fighting the battle of preserving our land. The most effective way to preserve these trails are to use them. Politicians do not fight popular causes recognizing each voter controls their destiny.

A very important preservation group has emerged in the 1970s. Leave No Trace is a nationwide program aimed at educating the hiker and backpacker on the proper use of our hiking trails. Simply, leave no trace of your presence on our hiking trails. This sounds simple but in practice it is hard to achieve given the disparate behavior of humans. Highland Hiking fully recognize that our outdoors are limited natural resources. Most hikers are extremely considerate and naturally follow the principles of Leave No Trace.

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