Hi friend,

As a lifelong East Coaster, former Boy Scout, and current environmentalist, I have always been drawn to the Appalachian Trail (or the AT for short), one of the oldest and longest hiking trails in the world. Last summer, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks backpacking along it, going through the famed 100-Mile Wilderness, arguably the most wild and remote section of the AT.

I wore my LCV bandana last year on the trail, and I can't wait to try out our new Nature For All bandana on the same 100% cotton material. Check it out »



As I hiked through this rugged terrain, I was awed by the beauty of the varying terrain, all of it accessible only by this tiny winding footpath carved into the countryside some eighty years ago. Beyond the sheer beauty of the AT, I was also continually struck that almost everyone I encountered on the trail looked just like me: White.

Despite notable growing popularity, hiking remains overwhelmingly white. Annual surveys conducted by thetrek.co, a popular hiking web resource, show over 95% of thru-hikers are white. This belies my own observations; Of the 110 hikers I came across, 109 appeared to be white. Such stark racial disparities are not limited to long trails and thru-hikers. A 2014 National Park Service report analyzing attendance demographics found 95% of visitors to NPS sites were white despite comprising only 72% of the population.

Limited socioeconomic resources — a key contributor to people's ability to engage in any leisure activity — is often offered as an explanation. Low-income people are three times less likely to visit national parks than affluent people, and black people earn far less than white people even after controlling for education level.

But wealth inequality is only part of the story. This implicit exclusion created by affluence has deep roots in our country's long and insidious history of explicit exclusion of non-white people from public lands (lands, it must be noted, stolen from Indigenous communities yet often still bearing Indigenous names). The result is undoubtedly an outdoor culture established and molded by a white worldview and unwelcoming, in myriad ways, to people who do not look like me.

Why does this matter? It matters because public lands should be exactly that — open to everyone — and we have failed, in the past and still today, to ensure that promised access to our outdoor spaces.

More critically, it matters because the weeks I spent on trail were the hottest in Maine's history. Because even in this most remote corner I often heard the buzz of chainsaws and roar of semi-trucks. Our treasured public lands are under threat, both immediately from this administration that prioritizes the bottom line of polluters and existentially from climate change. To protect these spaces for generations to come, we need to fight to make sure these spaces are inclusive and equitably accessible for communities across the nation, so that all may revel in their splendor.

Nature For All is not a platitude. It's a reality we need to fight for by protecting nature AND creating equal access for everyone. The LCV Shop's new Nature For All bandana supports our work and spreads this important message. Get yours today »

I don't have any easy answers. But I am learning — sometimes awkwardly, almost always with a side of guilt — about privilege, microaggressions, and the ways in which many of my views are subtly but undoubtedly racialized. I am learning to speak out and to challenge that status quo. And I will continue to explore and acknowledge the pivotal role of race in our society, even in its wildest corners. Because once your eyes are opened, it's hard not to see the forest for the trees.

Kevin O'Brien
Legal and Compliance Coordinator
League of Conservation Voters