Traveling with a Nature First Mindset

Best practices for vacation and holiday planning

• Research the areas that you will be visiting – protected areas, national parks and monuments, private land conservation areas, World Heritage sites, etc.
• Contact parks or protected areas for information on current conditions and reducing impact. Many of the places we travel to have very detailed and helpful information on their websites including tips for visiting at off-peak times.
• Educate yourself about the type of environments you will visit – environmentally sensitive areas such as alpine tundra, fragile coastline or wetland, geothermal areas and features – how can you make sure that you don’t create a negative impact?
• Call ahead and talk to rangers and protected area management – ask how to be responsible photographers in your travels.  Local management will understand where photographers are having an impact and will have tips on how to best access certain locations.  If you cannot talk to someone ahead of time, stop by the headquarters and visitor centers when you arrive.
• Determine if permits are needed for parks, parking, camping etc. With Covid came a rise in tourism to outdoor places and many national parks and public lands now use permit systems for entering and/or for specific locations within a park. Different places around the globe will have different permitting systems in place to protect nature and lessen crowds. Researching prior to your arrival will help prevent/minimize delays and identify alternatives to closed locations. 
• Don’t just follow the crowd – research new and different places for photography.   The areas surrounding many well-known parks are just as beautiful, far less crowded, and offer opportunities for more creative photography.  Instead of taking the same picture that everyone else has, be unique and create your own memories. People are more likely to remember a creative image of a new location than another copy of an over-photographed location.
• Look into volunteer opportunities to give back to places you visit – you can do this on your trip or before/after travel in some situations as well. 
• Treat the destination as if it were your home – pack reusable bags and water bottles to avoid using disposable plastic items. We often prioritize convenience and have different behavior on trips, but by planning ahead, it really is easier (and less expensive) to include reusable items in your suitcase or car. 

Once you arrive at your destination, do your best to keep Nature First and Leave No Trace principles in your mind throughout your travels. Be an example to others while out exploring and help educate others when you can. This is more important than ever as we have seen an increase in harmful behavior since Covid’s arrival last spring. There have been dramatic increases in littering, parking in undesignated places, crushing wildflowers, disregarding trail boundaries and entering posted restoration areas. A good portion of this is related to people simply not knowing the negative impact they’re having, but some know and engage in harmful behavior anyway. When we lead by example and teach others, we create visible standards that will influence others’ behaviors and we will start to see an overall positive change. It may be a long process based on what we are currently seeing in nature, but we know that the more of us who commit to leading by example, the more we can impact others and protect our treasured lands. 

Another way to put Nature First is to check out visitor centers, nature centers and local gear shops when you arrive at your destination to ask questions related to your plans. The local community will have the best knowledge and can often give you advice on where to go that may be different from main attractions. You can ask about sensitive areas to avoid and how you can help take care of their area. Imagine if we all did this as photographers – it would give us such a great reputation among the communities we visit. 

While we continue to see so much harmful behavior in the outdoors, there are so many simple steps we can take to counteract this, such as the following: