Environmental Impact - Wildlife/Vegetation Effects

Cole, D. N. (1981). Vegetational changes associated with recreational use and fire suppression in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon: Some management implications. Biological Conservation 20: 247-270.

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of human impacts on wilderness vegetation resulting from the construction and use of trails and campsites, grazing by pack stock, and fire suppression. This summary will focus mainly on the effects of trails and campsites. Trail construction and use affects vegetation in four major ways: (1) improved access increases trampling and grazing of the vegetation; (2) increased trampling and grazing alters soil conditions; (3) site manipulation associated with trail construction removes vegetation and changes microclimatic and soil conditions; and (4) new vectors of plant dispersal are introduced, causing an increase in exotic species along the trail. Researchers found that recreational use causes immediate loss of cover and dramatic shifts in vegetational composition in localized areas. It also causes irreversible damages such as soil erosion, which is accelerated by the increased soil compaction and decreased vegetative cover of trampled sites. Cover losses and changes in the vegetation composition resulting from recreational use are more pronounced on campsites than along trails or in heavily grazed meadows. Campsites also suffer from the effects of campfires, the depletion of wood supplies, the destruction to standing trees, and the compacted soil leading to soil erosion. Campsite recovery is extremely slow. In contrast, abandoned trails and meadows which are no longer grazed recover more rapidly.

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