Environmental Impact - Wildlife/Vegetation Effects

Chapman, D. (1988). Impact of Alpine Ski Trail Corridors on a Beech-Maple Forest Community, Mon-Ste-Marie, Quebec: Spatial Variation of Edge Effects. University of Ottawa, Canada.

Abstract

The impact effects of alpine ski trail corridors on the adjacent beech-maple forest community at Monte-Ste-Marie, Quebec, fourteen years after trail clearance were investigated. Specific objectives were to measure the spatial variation of structural and species compositional changes to the adjacent vegetation, and to consider implications of impact effects on future forest development. Findings indicate an overall impact distance of 10-15 meters; increases in species diversity in the ground, shrub, and lowest tree layers; community retrogression characterized by changes in species composition; a reduction in the average size of the dominant specie as a
result of increases in density and cover in the ground, shrub, and lowest tree layers; the development of two distinct buffer zones as a consequence of these increases in density and cover; increases in the variability of density, cover, and species richness in the ground, shrub, and lowest tree layers; and structural adaptation in all layers.

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