Smith Isabella, Pickering Catherine Marina
Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Environ Manage. 2025 Apr;75(4):793-805. doi: 10.1007/s00267-024-02029-6. Epub 2024 Aug 17.
Mountain biking is a popular recreational activity in natural areas, with thousands of formal trails designed, constructed and maintained by land managers. Increasingly, there are also rising numbers of informal trails created by riders. A challenge for land managers is identifying, assessing, and then mitigating environmental impacts created by trails, including in protected areas. Here we assessed mountain biking trails in a large, popular national park on the Gold Coast, Australia, addressing the currently limited research comparing the extent, environmental impacts, condition and sustainability of these trails. Impacts from the 31.4 km of formal and 33.7 km of informal trails through the forests in Nerang National Park (1659 ha) included soil erosion (16.48 m) and loss of vegetation along and adjacent to the trails (90,955 m). Formal trails were six times more popular and wider on average (1.1 m vs 0.7 m) than informal trails, but less incised than informal trails (4.6 cm deep vs 6.3 cm). Generalised Linear Models showed that Trail Grade, slope and alignment best-predicted trail condition, highlighting the importance of good trail design in minimising trail impacts. It is recommended most of the informal trails are closed and rehabilitated, as they were not well-designed, increase fragmentation and have environmental impacts, with some traversing ecologically sensitive areas. In addition, some formal trails need to be upgraded to deal with erosion and other impacts. More broadly, the increasing demand for mountain biking must be addressed, including exploring opportunities to promote areas outside of national parks while minimising environmental impacts and other challenges associated with the creation and use of informal mountain bike trails in protected areas.
山地自行车运动是自然区域中一项广受欢迎的休闲活动，土地管理者设计、建造并维护了数千条正式步道。越来越多的骑行者也开辟出了数量不断增加的非正式步道。对于土地管理者而言，一项挑战在于识别、评估并减轻步道所造成的环境影响，包括在保护区内。在此，我们对澳大利亚黄金海岸一个大型热门国家公园内的山地自行车道进行了评估，以应对目前在比较这些步道的范围、环境影响、状况和可持续性方面研究有限的情况。通过内兰国家公园（1659公顷）森林的31.4公里正式步道和33.7公里非正式步道所造成的影响包括土壤侵蚀（16.48米）以及步道沿线及附近植被的损失（90,955米）。正式步道的受欢迎程度平均是非正式步道的六倍，宽度也更大（1.1米对0.7米），但比非正式步道的切割程度小（4.6厘米深对6.3厘米）。广义线性模型表明，步道坡度、斜率和走向最能预测步道状况，凸显了良好的步道设计在将步道影响降至最低方面的重要性。建议关闭并修复大部分非正式步道，因为它们设计不佳，增加了碎片化程度并具有环境影响，其中一些还穿越了生态敏感区域。此外，一些正式步道需要升级以应对侵蚀和其他影响。更广泛地说，必须应对对山地自行车运动日益增长的需求，包括探索在国家公园以外地区推广的机会，同时将环境影响以及与在保护区内创建和使用非正式山地自行车道相关的其他挑战降至最低。
