Deluca TH, Freimund WA, Cole DN
University of Montana, School of Forestry, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA
Environ Manage. 1998 Mar;22(2):255-62. doi: 10.1007/s002679900101.
/ Various types of recreational traffic impact hiking trails uniquely and cause different levels of trail degradation; however, trail head restrictions are applied similarly across all types of packstock. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative physical impact of hikers, llamas, and horses on recreational trails. Horse, llama, and hiker traffic were applied to 56 separate plots on an existing trail at Lubrecht Experimental Forest in western Montana. The traffic was applied to plots at intensities of 250 and 1000 passes along with a no-traffic control under both prewetted and dry trail conditions. Soil erosion potential was assessed by sediment yield and runoff (using a Meeuwig type rainfall simulator), changes in soil bulk density, and changes in soil surface roughness. Soil moisture, slope, and rainfall intensity were recorded as independent variables in order to evaluate the extent that they were held constant by the experimental design. Horse traffic consistently made more sediment available for erosion from trails than llama, hiker, or no traffic when analyzed across wet and dry trail plots and high and low intensity traffic plots. Although total runoff was not significantly affected by trail user, wet trail traffic caused significantly greater runoff than dry trail traffic. Llama traffic caused a significant increase in sediment yield compared to the control, but caused erosion yields not significantly different than hiker traffic. Trail traffic did not increase soil compaction on wet trails. Traffic applied to dry trail plots generally resulted in a significant decrease in soil bulk density compared to the control. Decreased soil bulk density was negatively correlated with increased sediment yield and appeared to result in increased trail roughness for horse traffic compared to hiker or llama traffic. Differences described here between llama and horse traffic indicate that trail managers may want to consider managing packstock llamas independent of horses.KEY WORDS: Recreational impacts; Sediment yield; Trail degradation
各类休闲交通对徒步小径有着独特的影响，并导致不同程度的小径退化；然而，对所有类型的驮畜实施的小径入口限制却大致相同。本研究的目的是评估徒步旅行者、美洲驼和马对休闲小径的相对物理影响。在蒙大拿州西部的卢布雷希特实验森林的一条现有小径上，对56个独立的地块施加了马、美洲驼和徒步旅行者的通行。在预先湿润和干燥的小径条件下，分别以250次和1000次通行的强度对地块施加通行，并设置无通行对照。通过沉积物产量和径流（使用米维希型降雨模拟器）、土壤容重变化以及土壤表面粗糙度变化来评估土壤侵蚀潜力。记录土壤湿度、坡度和降雨强度作为自变量，以评估实验设计在多大程度上使它们保持恒定。当对湿润和干燥小径地块以及高强度和低强度通行地块进行分析时，马的通行始终比美洲驼、徒步旅行者或无通行情况下使更多的沉积物可从小径侵蚀。尽管总径流量不受小径使用者的显著影响，但湿润小径上的通行导致的径流量明显大于干燥小径上的通行。与对照相比，美洲驼的通行导致沉积物产量显著增加，但造成的侵蚀产量与徒步旅行者的通行没有显著差异。小径通行并未增加湿润小径上的土壤压实度。与对照相比，施加在干燥小径地块上的通行通常导致土壤容重显著降低。土壤容重降低与沉积物产量增加呈负相关，并且与徒步旅行者或美洲驼的通行相比，马的通行似乎导致小径粗糙度增加。这里描述的美洲驼和马的通行之间的差异表明，小径管理者可能希望考虑将驮畜美洲驼与马分开管理。关键词：休闲影响；沉积物产量；小径退化
