Obviously I am not concerned about this in a survival situation, but a guy’s got to practice.

Many of the primitive skills this previously high-tech newbie to those skills reads about call for use of many tree and brush limbs, leaves, rocks, etc. I wonder what are the best practices to do this while minimizing the visual and ecological effects?

I can see other outdoor users in California finding extensive gathering and modification of plant life offensive. In many parks such activities would be illegal.

So, short of finding a sympathetic private property owner or going so far off the beaten path your activities are unlikely to be detected [while avoiding the marijuana “farmers”], what are the best practices?

[Yeah, yeah, I know: move out of California…]

Thanks.

The 'leave no trace' movement is gaining more support every day. I'm all for conservation and preservation but I have the same issues here especially since I enjoy going to national and provincial parks. The only thing which has worked for me is finding pubic land...what's known as 'crown land' here. You have to share with potential hunters, ATV riders, etc. but it works. Not sure if California law works with that suggestion.

depending on the skills your looking to practice, howbout your back yard. You can practice most of the primitive skills in your back yard except maybe for the debris shelters and stuff of this nature. Starting fires, building snares, and other skills can be done in most places. If you get the fire started you can immeadiatly put it out once you get the hang os getting it going. Snares can be tripped removed after they are set. While you are looking for places to try out your new skills you can alreadt have the basics down.

+1 to Raydarkhorse. Keep your eyes open for materials such as tree branches after storms or if a neighbor is trimming their trees.

-Blast

I like the scrounge and bring to the backyard idea. I have my eye on some birch trees down in the neighborhood ....

But what I am trying to think through is best practices in the preverved wilds of our park systems. I suppose you should:

use dead material

scatter the stuff after you use it

dirty up cut marks before scattering to avoid attention

keep to undeveloped, low traffic areas where camping is permitted


What other guidelines suggest themselves to you?

Thanks.

THIS is the result of trying out primitive skills!!!!!



this "tomahawk" shelter was made in a campsite at Quetico
Park in Canada..there are very few rules in using this
wilderness canoe park--BUT--one of them is --"no cutting
live trees"--at the ranger station where you pick up your
permit the ranger runs down the list and your expected to
follow them----whoever did this had a brain the size of a
match head and the ego as big as a moose--that Cedar was
a nice size and would have grown to be a wonderful tree
graceing that campsite--now it's just a pile of brush and
a fire hazard--IF this person wanted to try that kind of
shelter he could have paddled around and found a area of
windfall and picked a tree that was already down and made
a shelter--BUT being the lazy nitwit he was he picked a
great camp on a island with a good view and turned it into
a brush dump...--i have posted this on a canoe camping
site for people that use that park--i hope someone will
put the finger on this joker..

CANOEDOGS post is a perfect example of what we don't want to do when we go into the field, I mean come on if your gonna build a shelter like that in a heavily traveled area try to build one that at least looks like it may work, so you don't look like a complete fool.

RAY--at first i thought it was just a brush pile..but then i saw the sawed off stump--just out of the photo..i think it may
of had the end propped up--inside were some junk left behind..
twist ties --match ends--empty handi wipe packets---

I don't kow what people are thinking when they do things like that. We go out to places like that to get away from all the trash and junk from our everyday lives. I was wrong on my last post the least you can do is take home your trash, and preferably without looking like a complete idiot

Hey,

Here is an interesting Ontario case where some people playing "Survivor" did end up in court.

http://www.ocoa.ca/Pages_MNRnews/index.htm follow the Court Date down to February 7th, 2007

Also an interesting Quetico Park Vandalism story on June 12 and another one on Maple Mountain on February 28th.

Mike