>>The Wildlife Center of Virginia is one of the world's leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine, providing state-of-the-art veterinary care for more than 3000 wild animals each year.

The Center draws on lessons learned from each patient admitted, to the teach the world to care about and care for wildlife and the environment.

>>[Female Announcer] Funding for Untamed is made possible by, (water trickling) (birds chirping) (dramatic music) >>I've always considered myself to be extremely fortunate, to live and work in a place where I can enjoy the great outdoors, anytime I want.

Simply by walking out the front door of my house or out the back door of my office.

I'm in nature, and being here is good for the body, with the exercise and the fresh air, submerging yourself in nature helps you clear your mind and refill your spirit, and it's truly just good for the soul.

As humans though, when we go into the natural world we have a special responsibility to protect the places we're visiting, and to defend the wildlife and wild creatures that live there.

When we are in the great outdoors, we are guests in the home of wild creatures.

And we have a responsibility, a duty to show the same good manners as guests in their homes as we would expect of the guests in our own homes.

Good manners is just so simple.

But in the outdoor setting, we characterize it as an outdoor ethic.

That is a code of behavior that makes us responsible for the behavior we exhibit, and the decisions we make.

We would not tolerate rude, disruptive, loud and just generally disrespectful guests in our own homes.

And we can't behave that way in the homes of wild creatures, if we expect to be welcomed there.

Outdoor ethics and a code of conduct is just too easy to develop, but it's absolutely essential when we visit the great outdoors.

(gentle music) >>One day a man was walking along the beach, when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy he asked, "What are you doing?"

The youth replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean.

The surf is up and the tide is going out, if I don't throw them back, they'll die."

"Son," the man said, "Don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?

You can't make a difference."

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the surf.

Then smiling at the man he said, "I made a difference for that one."

>>Leave No Trace is a set of outdoor principles designed to promote conservation in the outdoors.

They've been adapted for different environments, different ecosystems and different types of activities.

The Leave No Trace Center has what we call hang tags, which are the seven principles of Leave No Trace adapted for different activities, different organizations, different types of environments.

We have a standard card, a kid-friendly card, a card for mountain biking, a card for fishing, hunting, that type of thing.

So there are seven principles of Leave No Trace.

Plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on a durable surface, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize your campfire impacts, respect wildlife, and be considerate of other visitors.

Five things that you can do to become more involved with Leave No Trace.

The first one is, think about planning ahead and preparing your day.

Think about how you can minimize the things that you use.

Plastic water bottles versus reusable water bottles, reusable containers versus Ziploc bags, plastic bags versus reusable bags, when you go to the grocery store that's really a big thing to help reduce your waste.

Consider the amount of stuff that you dispose of every day.

Plastic bottles, garbage, all these things that you use, what can you do to reduce your impact?

Try to reuse things, and then of course always recycle.

A third thing that you can do to become more involved with Leave No Trace is to respect plants and animals and wildlife when you're outdoors.

Number four on my list is if you have an animal, dog or a cat, and you need to make sure you're concerned about its poop.

Animal poop has millions and millions of coliform bacteria that can contaminate our waterway.

So very important that you scoop that poop and put it away and don't let it get into our outdoor.

And number five is, if you're walking around and you see somebody that may be doing something that's not so Leave No Trace, there's a correct way of approaching them to correct them.

It's called the Authority of the Resource.

So it's important when you approach somebody, you approach them with a friendly attitude, construct up a conversation and try to get them to understand what they're doing may or may not be correct.

(cheerful music) >>My name is Jim Northup, and I enjoyed a 36 year long career with the National Park Service working in 10 different national parks around the country.

And my last assignment was as the Superintendent of Shenandoah National Park.

I'm now retired from the National Park Service.

So as you can see national parks are very special places.

And some people say the national parks are the best idea that America ever had.

But I would say this applies to all of our public lands.

Aren't we fortunate as Americans that we have these special places that have been set aside for all of us to enjoy, that provide amazing opportunities for education, recreation, physical challenge, even spiritual renewal?

But these places have been set aside in perpetuity, and we all have a responsibility to be good stewards of these places, so they can continue to be enjoyed by future generations.

The first point I would make about visiting a park is to plan your visit well in advance.

Go to the park website, every national park has a website of its own.

You can go to that website, there is a plan your visit button where you can access good maps and good information about the trails and the campgrounds.

So go to that website and really plan your visit in advance.

The second point I would make about visiting a park is to just make sure you have the right equipment and the right clothing for whatever experience you're going to be engaged in.

Over the course of my ranger career, I've seen some pretty funny things particularly in back country areas of parks.

I've seen people hiking deep into the back country in high heels, I've seen people taking baby strollers down the Bright Angel Trail into the Grand Canyon.

I've seen people dragging full-size coolers deep into the back country.

And so you really wanna make sure that you have the right equipment and the right clothing for whatever experience you're going to be pursuing.

The third point I would make about visiting any public lands is to just have a strong conservation ethic, to care deeply about these places.

As I mentioned earlier, know the rules and regulations which are designed to keep you safe and have an enjoyable visit, but also to protect park resources.

Recognize that you're a visitor in these places and respect the wildlife as well as the other visitors, and follow those principles that we've all heard about.

Leave no trace, take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints, pack it in, pack it out.

These are not just saying, these are things that are really important for all of us to practice to be good stewards of our public lands.

Most people who visit national parks appreciate the significance of national parks and what makes them so special.

But there are some people who just didn't grow up visiting national parks.

They don't completely understand what makes them so special and that they have been set aside, not only for their uniqueness, but again, in perpetuity for the benefit of future generations as well.

That's why we all have that stewardship responsibility to plan our visits in advance, know what the rules and regulations are and abide by those.

Because we owe it not only to our fellow visitors, but to the future generations.

There are some people who don't fully appreciate that every living thing in a national park is protected by law.

So occasionally we will see people picking plants for example, which is prohibited in national parks.

It's not uncommon at all to see people feeding wildlife which is prohibited in national parks and actually very bad for the wildlife because not only is human food bad for wildlife, but they become habituated to that human food.

And in a park like Shenandoah, when bears become habituated to human food, that's a real problem.

And in almost every case that bear eventually has to be removed from the population.

So many of those impacts are inadvertent 'cause people just aren't thinking or they don't know the rules and regulations.

That's why it's really important to familiarize yourself with those rules and regulations before you visit a park or go to the park visitor center and ask.

These places, not only national parks but all public lands, are fragile places.

And there are many many people visiting these places.

And as long as we are good stewards, we can continue to enjoy these places.

But if we have unacceptable impacts on these fragile and very special places, we may not be able to continue to enjoy them or visit them in the future.

So it's not only in our interest but in the interest of future generations.

(upbeat music) >>The opportunity to see wildlife in the wild behaving normally is a great privilege.

Wonderful opportunity to see nature as it really should be seen.

Those who have learned to visit the great outdoors and do so without disrupting the routine, enjoy the best the outdoor world has to offer.

For whatever reason, some people seem to believe that a certain group of outdoor users don't have the same respect or love for wildlife and nature as they do.

And anglers and hunters typically fall into that criticized category by those that don't understand their relationship with the natural world.

I can tell you that I am both an angler and a hunter and have been for almost all of my life.

And that has given me a very special relationship with the natural world.

Now, just because I try to catch a fish or harvest a game animal does not mean that I don't love them and respect them and cherish the opportunity to interact with them.

In my experience, hunters and anglers and others who enjoy the outdoors as sportsmen, are sometimes the greatest stewards of the natural world.

(upbeat music) >>Trout Unlimited is a national organization that's focused on cold water resources for trout and salmon, and restoring and reconnecting those resources so that our brook trout, our brown trout salmon, native and non-native species of trout all have great habitat for the future.

Mainly it's a grassroots organization with a very strong national presence where the local chapters will do on the ground project work for habitat, restoration.

A lot of our rivers have been channelized and floodplains have been disturbed, and just working to reconnect that habitat and make it more viable for our trout species.

Ethical angling can really mean a lot of things.

My favorite kind of saying regarding that is, "Don't catch your limit, limit your catch."

Limit your catch to what you're going to use.

And if you're not going to use it enjoy the resource responsibly with catch and release fishing.

Or in situations where there may be some issues with consuming fish, makes a perfect opportunity for a catch and release recreational fishery.

As a long time since a childhood angler, yeah I've always felt that, we should limit our catch, consume what we catch and keep.

But I also, believe in being involved.

And organizations like Trout Unlimited, and they're certainly not the only one, there's plenty of organizations out there that are working to make our streams and our forest better.

I really think you should be involved in those things, help out with projects as much as possible.

I've personally been involved in a lot of the habitat work here on the river.

But also in some policy work, and reaching out to make better policies for our environment, and for our fisheries and for our wildlife, making good informed decisions about how we regulate fishing and hunting and use of our forest and our streams.

So our fishing license purchases are very important to supporting the Department of Wildlife Resources here in Virginia.

They really fund a lot of the back office stuff.

Our trout license sales help fund the trout programs like most other special use licenses, they go directly to that use.

So there's kind of a two part equation there.

Law enforcement for recreational users, fishermen and hunters is different from law enforcement under the state police.

They don't get funded the same way and they need that license revenue to keep that going.

They need that revenue to have good biologists working for the department, men technicians in the field working on our streams and on our forest.

To me being a steward is not just being someone who goes out fishing, takes a few or just has a good time catch and release fishing and goes home.

To me being a steward is being a voice for the river.

If there's a problem, some pollution going into the river, or a environmental concern of some sort happening on the river, whether that be habitat or other things that are maybe less controllable, that we're speaking out in favor of fixing those problems.

And I'm not a big fan of being against stuff.

Personally I'm not a big fan of being against things.

I'm more in favor of what can we do to fix it?

And let's get boots on the ground and get it fixed.

And I'm afraid we're more inclined as a society today, to yell about the things we don't like than to put our boots on and go fix them.

(calm music) >>Birding is a hobby that has been popular in the last century or so.

It's been made more and more popular as folks are able to get out, and enjoy birds, and looking for a relaxing time outdoors.

Birdwatching became easier as automobiles became the preferred method of travel.

And today we can use binoculars and scopes and fancy cameras, but really all you need are your eyes and your ears to go out and enjoy birds out in the wild.

The Birding Code of Ethics was developed by the American Birding Association.

And it really encompasses three main concepts.

Respect and promote the birds and their environment, respect and promote the birding community and each other, respect and promote the law and the rights of others.

So really what that means is that we want to respect the birds not bother them whenever they're out doing their own bird thing, not bother birds on the nest or baby birds in a nest or on the ground.

Also not trashing their environment and their home.

And then we also want to respect the birding community.

Always be honest in our reporting whenever we say that we see a certain species, reporting that accurately and being kind to other birdwatchers who are out and might not have the same level of expertise as each other.

And then we also want to respect the law as well.

So no trespassing, no infringing on any rules for public or private land.

Disturbing wildlife can have serious consequences for those animals.

So for example if there is a small bird that someone is watching and he's on the ground and he's flitting around, he's always mindful of his surroundings.

So a small bird is always looking out for predators, always looking out to make sure that he's safe where he's feeding.

But if a person comes along and is getting closer and closer, maybe they're snapping photos maybe they're just trying to get a very close look at that bird, that can distract that bird from paying attention to his surroundings.

And if he flushes then flies away trying to get away from the person, he could fly right into the clutches of a cat or of a Coopers hawk.

Calorie intake is also very important for birds.

So if a bird, maybe a migrant is flying through and that has been made known to the birding community and folks are looking for that bird and looking for an opportunity to see it, if they get too close or infringe too close to where that bird doesn't feel safe to come out to feed, it actually might not come out to feed.

And those calories that are very valuable in finishing its migration, it might not get those and that could be very detrimental to its health.

It's very important to show respect to wild animals that are out just trying to live their lives.

For one thing that sets an example for others and for future generations, as we have to coexist with wildlife.

There have been some really unfortunate examples shown on social media, where folks have gotten too close to maybe a baby moose, and the mother moose has taken the opportunity to show her stress and kick them away.

But also we just wanna be mindful not to cause a lot of stress to those animals, and just to enjoy their presence without infringing upon them.

(bright music) >>If you aspire to be a good steward of the great outdoors, and a welcome guest in the natural world, you need to do one important thing.

And that is keep in mind the consequences of your personal decisions and personal behavior, the impact you have on the natural world.

You are a guest in the great outdoors and you need to have the same good manners in the great outdoors that you would display in the home of a friend or a family member.

Now one of the very first things you can do, is a little bit of research.

Take some time and find out what wildlife species live in a certain area, or what sensitive habitats might exist where you're planning to go.

And if you need to have any special behavior or special avoidance of sensitive areas and sensitive creatures, in order not to intrude or harm or destroy them.

Now the second thing you should do before you visit public lands in particular is learn the rules.

Learn the laws, regulations and policies for management of those areas because they differ from place to place.

A national park has rules that are very different from a national forest to give but one example.

And private property, the rules are up to the land owner.

When you visit another person's land, be a welcome guest by following the ground rules.

Finally, if you'd like to exchange information or share experiences with like-minded people, look for an organization that is set up to facilitate your type of outdoor activity.

For hikers, groups like the Appalachian Trail Conference or the Sierra Club, often have chapters in your community that you can join, attend their meetings, meet their members and share information.

For birders, the Audubon Society is certainly the most well-known national group, but almost every community has a local birding group.

Birders that share information on rare species that are found or seen or documented and where you can go to experience those.

And even for sportsman, the hunters and the anglers, there are many groups like Trout Unlimited for the anglers or many of the species associations for the hunters, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Quail Forever.

There are so many more out there.

With a little bit of effort, you can find them and join their activities because every one of this organizations not only enjoys the natural world, they give something back.

As you contemplate your time outdoors, just keep in mind you're a guest.

Show the same good manners you would in your friend's home, and you'll always be welcome.

>>[Female Announcer] Funding for Untamed is made possible by, (water trickling) (birds chirping) (dramatic music)