Trail impact monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

Svajda, J.; Korony, S.; Brighton, I.; Esser, S.; Ciapala, S.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/se-7-115-2016

Articles | Volume 7, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-7-115-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-7-115-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 1

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

26 Jan 2016

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 26 Jan 2016

Trail impact monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

J. Svajda, S. Korony, I. Brighton, S. Esser, and S. Ciapala

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Final revised paper (published on 26 Jan 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 06 Nov 2015)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC C1432: 'Revision se-2015-109', Anonymous Referee #1, 29 Nov 2015
- AC C1606: 'Response to reviewer # 1', Juraj Svajda, 18 Dec 2015
RC C1515: 'Review comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 09 Dec 2015
- AC C1622: 'Reviewer 2 comments', Juraj Svajda, 23 Dec 2015
RC C1522: 'Trail Impact Monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA', Anonymous Referee #3, 09 Dec 2015
- AC C1769: 'Response to comments made by anonymous referee # 3', Juraj Svajda, 05 Jan 2016

Short summary

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most visited national parks in the United States. 95 % of the park is managed as wilderness. This paper examines the impacts of trampling on the vegetation and soil along selected trails. Trail widening and soil loss are the most visible types of trail degradation. Insights into the influence of different factors (use level, topography) can lead to the selection of appropriate management measures to avoid or minimize negative consequences.