USA: Environmentalists partnering with recreationalists can be dangerous to biodiversity

Environmental activists have long discussed the importance of
enlisting the recreation industry to our causes. But if we choose to
consider recreation a blight on the land, this goal will be
impossible. Clearly recreation has environmental impacts. So do most
human activities. The important considerations are the scale and
degree, and to what ends. We need to maintain perspective on these
problems.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://www.hccaonline.org/page.cfm?pageid=2070

Some contend that trails, like roads, fragment roadless lands; that
trails degrade soil, plants and water; that trails act as conduits for
weeds and opportunistic animals. A recent study in City of Boulder
open space indicates that birds avoid trails. But we need to maintain
perspective. A narrow, natural pathway seems far less impact than a
road. While there may be similarities in the impacts, the degree is
much different. The impacts of trails come with a benefit. They keep
travelers off of sensitive soils and plants, concentrating use into a
narrow corridor, leaving the remainder less trammeled.

Some environmentalists focus on mechanized recreation as particularly
damaging to the environment. Motors do allow humans to go further, and
faster, than non-mechanized recreation. Certainly motorized recreation
has caused great damage to some ecosystems, such as the California
desert. But motorized recreationists are not alone in having impacts;
hikers and horses also impact the environment. Hikers and equestrians
are more likely to leave the trail than cyclists, and horses often
introduce invasive weeds. That Boulder study looked at a hiking trail,
where bicycles and motors are banned. We need improved rules and
education to minimize impacts and eliminate off-trail uses. Comparing
the impacts of differing recreationists requires subtle and complex
analysis. We need better scientific information to avoid alienating
major potential constituencies.

Many species such as ever-diminishing populations of amphibians and many small mammals, don’t simply avoid trails, they flat-out won’t cross them. If animals will not cross trails to breed, they cannot successfully continue the evolutionary course mandated for them by nature. Human trails create impacts on wildlife habitat, as well as on wildlife itself. We humans don’t like
public trails leading through our front yards or living rooms, and
wild animals respond similarly. Trails fragment large blocks of
uninterrupted habitat creating biogeographic islands, the boundaries
of which–trails–are avoided by apprehensive wildlife. Trails create
edges of habitat on either side where non-native or exotic organisms
usurp energy and nutrients needed by native organisms. Exotic seeds
are transported into the existing ecosystem by the trail, carried and
deposited by hiking boots, pets, horses, and bicycle and vehicle
tires. As exotics proliferate, they penetrate from trail edges into
interior habitat, unfairly competing with native species.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://www.hccaonline.org/page.cfm?pageid=2070