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New Database Available on Impacts of Trail Recreation

By Stuart H. Macdonald, Colorado State Trails Coordinator

We have a new database available on the recreational impacts of trails on wildlife. This is part of our Trails and Wildlife Project: Colorado State Parks has convened a task force to look at the issues, make recommendations on research and actions needed, produce a workbook on environmental issues for trail planners, and adapt our state trails grants as needed.

This first product is a draft bibliography in database format of 200 studies and research articles. It includes detailed summaries of most documents, publication dates, and keywords to help identify key issue areas. Our researcher, Tanya Ellsworth, started with several bibliographies and searched the university library and computer indexes. She's been getting copies of the documents and summarizing the most useful ones. Then she looked up references cited in those studies and tracked down copies of them.

We've eliminated several hundred other studies as not relevant to the trails and wildlife area. We found that lists of studies are useless, and we've had to read and summarize the actual documents to find relevant bits of information.

Some people are urging us to be more cautious about building new trails or increasing use on existing ones. Others think trail impacts are far outweighed by their benefits. While the available research doesn't clearly support either viewpoint, everyone wants to cite research to prove what they believe. So some people make broad generalizations based on a couple of narrow-focus research projects, while others reach opposite conclusions from the same studies.

But environmental systems elude simplification. Yes, elk chased by snowmobiles will burn more calories, but they also burn fewer calories and find more food when they stroll down packed trails. Yes, vireos nesting within 50 feet of a trail may raise fewer young, but does that actually affect the area's vireo population? And is that difference even measurable when compared to routine impacts of climate, domestic cats, or Nicaraguan coffee-growing practices in their winter habitat?

The Trails and Wildlife Database is an attempt to organize and describe what little we know scientifically about recreational impacts. It's a work in progress and we're aiming to organize it better, as well as look for additional resources. We don't need any more bibliography lists, but if you have a copy of a study you find useful, let us know. If we don't have it already we'll want to borrow it from you if it's not available on-line or thru interlibrary loan. Eventually we'll include information on availability of the best documents.

Printed copies of the database are available free from Stuart Macdonald at Colorado State Parks, 1313 Sherman St. Room 618, Denver CO 80203; or leave a message at (303) 866-3203 Ext. 335 or send e-mail to COtrails@aol.com

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