Here are a few off-the-hip ideas for "reaching the public." As I thought about about this topic, I thought I should remind myself that honey catches more flies than vinegar, that I should assume everyone who visits the Park wants to do the right thing and needs only educating and reminding.
This past summer I gave a voluntary one hour talk and demonstration to elementary and junior high kids to try to teach them some basic canoe camping skills. I presented them with my two young nieces, whom I named something like Loretta Light Pack and Kathy Kitchen Sink. As I presented each piece of equipment and talked about its use and passed it around, I gave a cumbersome, heavy version to Loretta and a compact leightweight version to Kathy. Loretta's pile grew bigger and bigger. I actually used a kitchen sink for comic relief and contrasted it with a small fold up camp kitchen. And, of course, Loretta had a big cooler and Kathy had a small soft one that could be collapsed after it was empty and could fit inside a pack hung from a tree (I have a great, very small, two-to-one mechanical advantage rope and pulley system). In the food department I contrasted tomato paste in a tube with the can and bottle versions. At the end, we packed all of Kathy's gear into a backpack that she shouldered. I even set up a lightweight tent and had a tandem kevlar canoe for them to carry either one person at a time or in two's and the various ways to lift and carry. That was a huge hit.
A video could be made showing the same process, to be played at numerous locations, including the Visitor's Centre and access offices, where it could be in a DVD player that visitors could play for themselves and be recommended to everyone getting an interior permit.
The poster idea is a good one. Posters could have a bright diagonal line separating two images, one showing, for instance, a tree with a nail in it and a tree wrapped with a bungee.
Educating children is critical. Create a board game in which good behaviour is rewarded and unwanted behaviour penalized.
Signs at the busiest portages explaining good etiquette would be great.
Everyone likes to be rewarded for good behaviour. How about a photo contest with many levels getting prizes (e.g., a t-shirt) for documenting good and bad camping (no faces, please).
