Why not bury food scraps?

[morganfam7]

When I took a Master Composter class, they encouraged us to bury our food scraps because it quickly enriches the soil. My 1969 BSA Fieldbook says you can bury your food scraps in the latrine area. Is it now reccomended to never bury food scraps?

 

Thanks for all the great information that I'm reading on these forums!

 

Marcy

[eisely]

"Leave no trace" camping also means no digging other than possibly shallow cat holes for latrines. To bury scraps effectively would require a very deep hole. There is of course a big difference between car camping and back packing. If you are car camping in established developed camp grounds you usually have immediate access to trash cans and dumpsters.

 

Food scraps is usually not a problem in backpacking because you usually eat everything you prepare, if the menus and portions are well planned, the kind of food you are preparing usually has no scraps in the form of bones, peels, or other inedible components.

 

Digging a deep hole for burial might make sense if you were occupying the same site for several days, which in itself is a violation of LNT camping. Varmits will dig up shallow holes. This really is a non problem if you are following LNT principles.

[eisely]

This is one of those times when I wish I knew how to edit a post. My grammer was terrible in the previous post. Oh well.

[Mike Long]

Buring food scraps is great for composting but bad for wild areas.

 

The real issue is animals. Critters will dig up anything that remotely smells like food. Once a wild animal finds rich human food they will begin to frequent that area looking for more. If you happen to dump scrap near a frequently used camping area chances are that others have done the same too. The local critters will begin to associate the campsite and by extension humans with food. With that happening we cause the creatures to depend on humans for food and disrupting their natural cycle. Some human food is very bad for animals and will cause sickness in those that consume it. This habituation is also dangerous for humans. When animals get habituated they lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive towards humans. This can lead to life threatening situations when animals get really hungrey. Once habituated the only solution is to destroy problem animals. If you intentionaly or otherwise feed a wild animal you have killed it.

 

Most folks only think of bear encounters in this instance but ANY animal thus habituated can cause problems.

 

For example:

In the Bob Marshall Wilderness Mt. and few years back deer were stealing hikers sweaty clothes for the salt.

 

On the AT in the Roan Highlands section of NC I know of a guy that a deer chased him away from his open pack. The deer grabbed his food bag (full of a weeks worth of food, it was day one) and took off.

 

On Cumberland Island Ga. I saw three racoons steal a full cooler of food. One on each side pulling by the handles and one in the middle pushing the cooler down the trail. I just walked up on them while night hiking, I wish I had a camera.

 

Just recently here in Florida a lady ended up with 12 stitches from being repeatedly bitten by an aggressive squirrel.

 

Animals have a MUCH better sense of smell than us and are infinitly more motivated than we would think to dig up scraps. Burning food scraps also infuses the whole area with food smell that also attracts animals. Pack it all out.

[FScouter]

Don't like to pack out food scraps?? Finish your meal so there are no scraps to pack out.

[sctmom]

Last year I got into a "discussion" with some other parents about not throwing apple cores and orange peelings down in the woods at the Scout camp. We don't live in an area where oranges and apples grow naturally. I know the critters or insects would eat them but is it a good idea to throw them on the ground, even away from the campsite?

 

[Mike Long]

That's right FScouter, eat it all. If I pack in food only to throw it out that's wasted effort.

 

No, don't do it.

Animals will begin to identify that area with food and will come back to look for more. Once again, habituating wild creatures to human food (or any food they can't get by themselves in their own habitat) is a bad thing.

[eisely]

Orange peels are particularly bad. They do not compost very well compared to other materials. It really gets bad in an arid climate where things just dry out and never go away.