leave no trace

present singular third person leaves no trace · participle present leaving no trace · participle past left no trace · past left no trace

1. To follow certain outdoor ethical guidelines while camping, etc., so thoroughly that it would appear as though one had never previously been there, for the sake of nature conservation.

   "Although people don't think it, the traveller ethos at free festivals was "leave no trace"—you went there, you had a party you cleaned up.

   2017 May 22, Jerry Chester, “Castlemorton Common: The rave that changed the law”, in BBC News

   2 more examples

   Camping in a pristine area is the ultimate Leave No Trace challenge because it is imperative that you literally leave no trace—and that is very hard to do.

   2003, Annette McGivney, Leave No Trace: A Guide to the New Wilderness Ethic, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 43

   These fences catch any MOOP (“matter out of place”) that blows out of peoples' camps, where it can be harvested and packed out—leave no trace—and all that.

   2013, Cory Doctorow, Homeland, Tor Books, →ISBN

   Synonyms: LNT

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave, no, trace.