"Pack It Out" --"Leave Only Footprints"

Years ago, during the "Welcome Talk" on the dock, the ranger giving the presentation made two interesting points. He stated:

1. Isle Royale has approximately 20,000 visitors each year. Imagine if (on average), each visitor left behind just one pound of trash. That is 10 tons of trash that the Park Service has to transport off of the Island each year. (If each visitor leaves behind 2 lbs of trash, that is 20 tons of trash that we need to have removed from Isle Royale). If you can each personally haul your own trash back to the mainland with you (and dispose of it properly there) you would save the park service a considerable amount of money in the area of trash removal. It is pretty costly to bring things to and from an Island in Lake Superior.
   
   
2. Try to leave everything here that you find here. Taking one rock home with you (or one moose antler, or one small historic artifact) probably doesn't seem like very much. However, going back to the concept of 20,000 visitors each year ... If each visitor takes home just one Isle Royale rock (moose antler, or small artifact)--that is 20,000 items leaving Isle Royale each year and 100,000 items being removed from the Island every five years. It starts to add up. Take only photographs, leave behind only footprints.