Great example! Do we perhaps need to introduce "situational ethics" into LNT? It may already be there - I thought I rememebered reading something about taking where you're hiking into account as you apply LNT principles.

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't stayed current on the ins and outs of LNT over the years. (I re-read them from time to time, but never spend a huge amount of time deliberating over it.) When I first learned the concept, it was expressed as "Take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time." And, backpacking only in the lush vegetation of the eastern US with its relatively quick recovery times, that works. It isn't as critical if you made a small mistake (I'm talking about one night of camping on vegetation, not about indiscriminate scattering of food or hacking on growing trees.) Since I haven't lit a fire in 25 years myself (resembles a chore too much), since I splash through the muddy trail instead of going around (and have the wet socks to prove it), and since I don't cut switchbacks (easy - they don't believe in them in Ohio), it's just never been much of a problem to comply substantially. If I ever go somewhere less resilient, I'll definitely need to put in some study time. (My last thorough reading was about 5 years ago, before a trip to Isle Royale.)

It would only seem logical, though, that you adapt the principles to fit your area - more strictly applied where damage occurs more easily and takes longer to heal, routinely applied elsewhere. It would also seem that, in your case, you have justification (in the form of regulation) that trumps some LNT principles for a circumscribed case.