https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/respon...&ICID=ref_fark
I'm having trouble imbedding the link into text for some reason.
Anyway, I learned something.
Printable View
https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/respon...&ICID=ref_fark
I'm having trouble imbedding the link into text for some reason.
Anyway, I learned something.
I feed wild (and domestic) birds in my yard. In addition to suet feeders, my free range mixed flock of ducks, chickens, and guineas share their food with an assortment of wild turkeys, bluejays, cardinals, crows, pigeons, and whatever else, including squirrels. (At night, we've seen skunk, possum, and raccoon eating our cat/dog food, though not recently.) I buy 50-lb bags of cracked corn for the birds, and also give them food waste tossed from the porch. What the birds don't eat is eventually cooked by the sun and eaten by the mower. Until then, it's laying there. But I don't live in town, my neighbors are far away, and I don't care what they think about my yard. However, I never throw banana or orange peels. Nothing eats them, and they don't decay well. I don't toss paper or plastic either.
On the trail, things are different. I still don't toss banana/orange peels or paper/plastic. And I don't haul extra food to feed the animals. But I don't see an issue with tossing an apple core off trail (the sticky label goes in my trash bag). How is an apple core that I toss different from an apple or apple core in an old orchard where the trail passes? How is an apple core different from a black walnut or an acorn or hickory nut that might still be there a year from now? I don't toss crackers or noodles into the bushes, but if I brought spinach leaves, and they were too wilty to eat, I'll toss them in a heartbeat - no different from a gazillion other leaves from weeds, bushes, and trees.
I don't toss anything out of a car.
Yes. Aim for those discarding Vienna sausage cans into fire rings.
Yep, I think the difference is one's backyard, vs. a trail or roadside used by thousands. It's no big deal if a banana peel, or grapefruit rind takes two years to decompose in my inefficient backyard off the porch compost pile, that I only turn a few times per summer.
Litter is litter, organic or not. Spinach and bananas don't grow in the woods. You're potentially introducing foreign food into the diet of wildlife. What if someone took all their unwanted fruit and vegetables and threw it into your yard? Leaving no trace is leaving no trace. If your trace has to decompose for up to a year, you've left a trace. Somethings to think about.
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...tains-scotland
https://www.outsideonline.com/237130...%20the%20Trail
I'm eco-conscious and all that but I don't get too anal about discarding apple peels/cores in the woods on my long treks. If I'm lucky I'll start a backpacking trip with some fresh items---rarely bananas as they do not pack well---or tomatoes---but oranges and apples and avocados and grapes and cabbage and cantaloupe etc. If I'm really paranoid about the Vegan-Only Thought Police I'll bury my avocado pits and orange peels etc.
The much bigger problem are folks who leave sardine tins and beer cans and batteries and liquor bottles and tarps and fresh big piles of human defecations surrounded by wads of stained toilet paper. I won't start out 2019 with pics of these Piles.
Last year I watched a large group of HS kids pack up at a popular spot---Naked Ground Gap in Slickrock wilderness---and once they left I pulled "butt patrol"---looking for litter. Wow, due to laziness one of them poured out a big pot of pasta RIGHT IN CAMP. And then ran like hell. Oops. Pic below---
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpack-...3%20338-XL.jpg
I used to toss organic matter, thinking it is no big deal. I don't do it anymore.
Worms like banana peels. The special kind of worms that are for vermicomposting bins. The peels take a while to decompose even so, but seem to attract the worms who then proceed to make additional worms.
That said, obviously the trail isn't a vermicomposting bin. But if you wanted to start one or grow your population of wriggles or if you have a backyard you sometimes discard produce in to as some have admitted upthread ... Don't count [emoji529]s out!
Orange peels, though? The dry ones make great fire starters with all that orange oil and fiber.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
I hide them inside cairns.
Apple cores, no problem. Banana and orange peels, no way.
i've left peanut shells scattered from georgia to maine and maine to georgia. hurts nothing
love how people respond to a thread like this by first tsk tsking what others do, then proceed to justify what they themselves throw away.
if you packed it in you can damn well pack it out.
How many hikers are packing apples and bananas?
Yeah the occasional insane person packs a watermelon or 2, but that's okay.
Nobody would complain finding a wild watermelon patch on top of a bald.
In 2016 I ran into a very friendly and light-hearted flip-flopper who happened to be carrying a KA-BAR. Since he didn’t seem like the type I’d expect to see carrying a combat knife, I politely asked him what it was for. Without missing a beat he remarked “to cut up the pineapple!” and pulled a full size pineapple out of his bag which he proceeded to cut up and share with everyone at the shelter. Apparently he bought one in every town and always shared it a day or two later on trail. Made him fairly popular. :)
The one that bothers me more than any other is pistachio shells for some reason.
I get your vehemence so here's a question---Do you therefore pack out all your urine and feces???
I've discarded my share of watermelon rinds---and only a Select Few can join the exclusive Backpacker's Watermelon Club---
Attachment 44407
Years ago I started a thread that challenged people to come up with a working deffinition of what it means to LNT. There was a lot of thoughtful discussion. What I took away from it all was that trying to apply a strict and literal deffinition of leaving no trace is futile. Instead, I was drawn to the principle that one should try to enjoy nature in a way that does not diminish others' ability to enjoy nature now and in the future. By that standard I would say that tossing an apple core may or may not be appropriate, depending on how it is done.
This is a confessional, not a prescription to others:
Apple Cores: I toss them where no one is going to see them. Honestly, after a day on the trail I get hungry enough that I can gnaw those things down to a sliver anyway.
Banana Peels: Don't bring them, would not toss them if I did.
Orange Peels: Take them home, they do not belong in the Northeast woods
Sunflower Seed Husks: Errrr, you guys have not noticed what I have been doing with those, have you?
Some people naively think the shortest answer is always the only answer. "Pack it in. Pack it out." But those people don't pack out their poop. They bury it because 1) Poop decomposes and actually adds nutrients, and 2) When buried and 200+ feet from the trail it rarely impacts anyone.
The same applies to plant life you carried, such as that being discussed in this thread. It's unsightly, so don't throw it on the ground as you hike. When you go 200 feet from the trail with your trowel you aren't going to harm the environment by making the hole a bit bigger for your organge peels. That orange peel, like the other decaying vegetation on the forest floor, creates rich top soil. You RECYCLE responsibly this way. Don't throw it in the next garbage can so someone can pay to take it to a big hole (landfill) they paid someone else to dig.
Someone asked how we might feel if others dumped all their fruit peelings in my front yard. Bring it! Finding good compost material is time consuming. Please, bring me truck loads of that stuff.
This ^^^
Apples are part of a natural diet for many wild animals. Apples (although not Golden Delicious etc) are found in the natural environment, they degrade quickly or are eaten. Bananas are not natural (here) and the skins take forever to break down, as do orange peels, and they are not eaten. My only thought with apple cores is to make sure they are discarded far away from view and from the trail/water source/camp. I have thrown the occasional one into large patches of brush.
I think trash ends up on the ground because we don't forward think about where some items would go if uneaten, like extra pasta, or orange rind, etc. Not everything can or should go into a fire. Guess we should all be taking the equivalent of doggie poop bags to account for whatever trash we have that needs a proper home somewhere down the line?
Some people subscribe to a more rigid code of LNT than others. Strict interpretation suggests anything one brings discarded into the woods is in conflict with LNT tenets. The degrees of interpretation cascades all the way down being ok to toss aside food remnants or grind cigarette butts into the dirt since they "eventually break down".
It can be surprising how long "perishable" food waste like orange rinds and banana peels last in the open environment. It can also be surprising what type of wildlife are attracted by casual disposal of food remains, the chief reason rodents cluster around camping areas. On a more broad scale, tossing food remnants alongside a trail corridor will encourage wide ranging foraging animals like bears to walk the trail for ease of movement and some treats along the way.
Buried, these items tend to break down much faster, which is the best solution if packing that stuff out is an inconvenience.
So the answer to the question if it's OK to toss food remains into the woods comes down to where one's interpretation of LNT tenets are.
So if you had a banana peel or orange peel, is it OK to bury it, or should you pack it out and put it in the trash (and thus, landfill)?
[QUOTE=Tipi Walter;2233205]I get your vehemence so here's a question---Do you therefore pack out all your urine and feces???
Urine is more than 95% (sterile) water (unless you have UTI). Feces is already a decomposed matter. :D
I leave them in the backyard out of the way. This creates microhabitat for different species, in particular some pollinators. I've got a branch pile next to my compost bin for that purpose. I toss small branches into the compost bin after trimming trees and bushes then pull them out once the leaves drop off. I used to burn the branches and an occasional Christmas tree in the garden but I have raised beds now.
I so wish I had taken a picture of the sign or knew exactly how far north on the AT I was; but I saw a LNT sign that referred to this thread. It started with the typical, “Don’t feed the Wildlife” sign showing a Black Bear. However, this one went on to explain that “Wildlife” included much more than one species and had pictures of birds, squirrels and Chipmunks. It specifically addressed Orange peels and processed nuts. The biggest issue is that it provides easy non naturally obtained food that isn’t part of that areas specific ballanced ecosystem. I must admit I had occasionally thrown Cutie Orange peels far into the woods because I hated seeing them dropped right on the trail; which was way to common of an occurrence. After this sign I tightened my LNT definition. I also noticed that the chipmunks were worse than mice when eating at Northern shelters. I wondered how they would fair when easy dropped human food became scarce. I tend now to believe that “if you pack it in, pack it out”.
Generally NO.
People have been disqualified from trail running events in the Western USA for dropping a banana peel. When they objected the RD answered "Do you see any banana trees around here?"
So go ahead and drop them under apple and banana trees, but nowhere else please.
Pistachio shells make great starting tinder for a nice fire. Then burn the apple core and banana peel. Problem solved. Although I'm sure the anti-campfire crowd will disapprove.
We live on the edge of a deciduous hardwood swamp. We have LOTS of branch pile habitat, and lots of cute little critters wandering through the yard. We have a wonderful time early in the morning, out on the porch with a thermos of coffee, watching the little fellas play. Since the evergreen is a foreign species, and only once a year, I figure the "torch" isn't going to hurt anything. Love what you're doing, though! You're creating for yourself what nature created for me!