Steve Berardi of Photonaturalist.net tweeted a serendipitous link this evening. I’m still waiting for word back from the good folks over at LNT.org to give me permission to use their material here on my blog; In the mean time, I’ll go ahead and find relevant material for the seven principles of Leave No Trace.

The first principle is “Plan Ahead and Prepare“. One of the surfaces they mention is “cryptobiotic soil”. I’d never heard of it before reading their web page, to be honest, then Steve steps up with a link explaining it.

Rather than quote them wholesale, I’m just going to sum it up, and provide the link Steve offered.

Cryptobiotic means “hidden life”. Cryptobiotic soil is a black crust on the desert floor, comprised of all sorts of flora. One footprint will last longer than we will live before it grows back. Don’t walk on it.

Now, here’s the link to the longer explanation: Cryptobiotic Soil in Arches National Park.

Thanks to the good folks at Gorp.com for providing the information, and to Steve for his oddly timely tweet.

Stay tuned for more on Plan Ahead and Prepare!