Teaching Resources

Accreditation – Annual Requirements

Maintaining Accreditation Status

Once a program has been designated as accredited by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, the accreditation status is valid for four years, conditional that the program complete and submit an Annual Review Report, along with the $100 annual fee**, for the three remaining years in the accreditation cycle. The first of these annual reports will be required during year two of a program’s accreditation cycle.

What’s Included in the Annual Review Report?

The Annual Review Report is an opportunity for a program to demonstrate how it continues to fulfill all eleven accreditation standards. The Annual Review Report materials will be sent out to accredited programs three months in advance of the October due date. Once the report has been submitted, the accreditation review team at Leave No Trace will measure quality and progress against a program’s initial accreditation package or last Annual Review Report, whichever is most recent.

S11 Elective Standards — In preparation for an Annual Review Report, a program may decide to exchange up to two of the elective standards from their original accreditation application and substitute two new elective standards. Programs initiating this exchange will be required to demonstrate full compliance of the newly chosen elective standards (as opposed to the requirements found in the Annual Review Report if the program decides to keep its original elective choices). Full standards requirements may be found in the Standards Guide. Any program planning to initiate this exchange must contact Leave No Trace before the Annual Review is due so as to inform the accreditation team of the update.

**Programs demonstrating financial assistance will pay a reduced, annual fee. For more information, please contact Andrew Leary, National Outreach Manager at [email protected].