Editing Bigfoot (section)

===In advocacy===
[[File:Bigfoot leave no trace USFS.jpeg|thumb|right|upright|A post shared on [[Twitter]] in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that depicts Bigfoot and a [[UFO]] to promote responsible conduct in [[National forest (United States)|national forests]].]] 
Bigfoot has been used for [[environmental protection]] and [[nature conservation]] campaigns and advocacy. Bigfoot was used in an environmental protection campaign, albeit comedically, by the U.S. Forest Service in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Holloway |first1=Tiffany |title=Loss of space threatening North American Sasquatch |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/loss-space-threatening-north-american-sasquatch |website=fs.usda.gov |publisher=[[U.S. Department of Agriculture]] |access-date=April 9, 2021 |date=April 1, 2015 |archive-date=June 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620233807/https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/loss-space-threatening-north-american-sasquatch |url-status=live }}</ref> Bigfoot is a mascot for the [[U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]]'s "Leave No Trace Principles", a national educational program to inform the public about reducing the damage caused by [[outdoor activities]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Leave No Trace Principles |url=https://www.fws.gov/project/leave-no-trace-principles |website=fws.gov |date=October 11, 2022 |publisher=U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref> The 360 mile "Bigfoot Trail" in Oregon, is named for the creature.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bigfoot Trail |url=https://www.bigfoottrail.org/ |website=bigfoottrail.org |publisher=The Bigfoot Trail Alliance |access-date=11 March 2024}}</ref> Environmental organization [[Oregon Wild]] also uses Bigfoot to promote its nature advocacy, stating, "If there really is a Sasquatch out there, there is definitely more than one, and in order to maintain a healthy breeding population a species of hominid (as Sasquatch is assumed to be) would need extremely vast expanses of uninterrupted forest. Remote Wilderness areas would be prime habitat for Sasquatch, so if there are any out there to protect, making sure Oregon's forests get the protections they need to stay untrammeled is of the utmost importance".<ref>{{cite web |title=Sasquatch |url=https://oregonwild.org/resource/sasquatch/ |website=oregonwild.org |publisher=[[Oregon Wild]] |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref> In 2024, Bigfoot was used as a mascot for a government [[recycling]] campaign in [[Whitfield County, Georgia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Recycle & Reuse: Bigfoot believes in recycling, do you? |url=https://www.dailycitizen.news/news/lifestyles/recycle-reuse-bigfoot-believes-in-recycling-do-you/article_f936e3c8-a69a-11ef-b834-d3e4623ded5e.html |website=dailycitizen.news |publisher=[[The Daily Citizen (Dalton, Georgia)]] |access-date=22 November 2024 |date=19 November 2024}}</ref>

In the 2018 podcast ''[[Wild Thing (podcast)|Wild Thing]]'', creator and journalist [[Laura Krantz]] argues that the concept of Bigfoot can be an important part of environmental interest and protection, stating, "If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn't left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn't that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kuta |first1=Sarah |title=Searching for Bigfoot. Former CU Boulder Journalism Fellow Laura Krantz explores all things Bigfoot in Wild Thing, which the Atlantic named one of 2018's Best Podcasts. |url=https://www.colorado.edu/coloradan/bigfoot-best-podcasts-Laura-Krantz |website=colorado.edu |publisher=[[University of Colorado Boulder]] |access-date=March 23, 2021 |date=2019 |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414192806/https://www.colorado.edu/coloradan/bigfoot-best-podcasts-Laura-Krantz |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Wild Thing|url=https://www.foxtopus.ink/wildthing-bigfoot|access-date=January 4, 2022|website=Foxtopus Ink|language=en-US|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104173606/https://www.foxtopus.ink/wildthing-bigfoot|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the onset of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] in 2020, Bigfoot became a part of many North American [[social distancing]] advocacy campaigns, with the creature being referred to as the "Social Distancing Champion" and as the subject of various [[internet meme]]s related to the pandemic.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Austin |title=North Carolina town declares Bigfoot 'world's social distancing champion' |url=https://www.fox29.com/news/north-carolina-town-declares-bigfoot-worlds-social-distancing-champion |access-date=March 18, 2021 |work=[[Fox News]] |agency= |date=September 18, 2020 |archive-date=March 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320025054/https://www.fox29.com/news/north-carolina-town-declares-bigfoot-worlds-social-distancing-champion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hay |first1=Mark |title=The Weird Culture War Over Bigfoot as a COVID-19 Icon |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-weird-culture-war-over-bigfoot-as-a-covid-19-icon |access-date=March 18, 2021 |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |agency= |date=October 25, 2020 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312225120/https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-weird-culture-war-over-bigfoot-as-a-covid-19-icon |url-status=live }}</ref>