Planning Trails With Wildlife In Mind

By Gary Sprung

The Colorado Department of Parks released in September a concise publication on trails and wildlife that should prove of immense value to the trails movement. "Planning Trails With Wildlife in Mind" is a practical handbook for land managers and trails activists to help them recognize and avoid harm to wildlife and its habitat.

The free, 54-page publication is a direct outcome of the Trails and Wildlife Task Force, created last year through the Colorado State Trails Program. A diverse citizen committee gave advice and oversight to the agency, helping to formulate central ideas. The Task Force also sponsored an annotated bibliography of scientific articles about trails and wildlife.

The book explains its foundation at the outset: "Typically, the impacts to wildlife from trails aren't as great as those from intensive development. More and more, however, we realize that - no matter how carefully we tread and no matter how much we desire to 'leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures' - building trails can affect wildlife."

But "Planning Trails With Wildlife In Mind" is not a deep or thorough review of the science of wildlife and recreation. Rather, it is an introduction to the subject, combined with excellent advice to help people make judgements about their impacts and to take action to avoid those impacts. A "Wildlife and Trails Checklist" raises important questions for each step of the trail planning process.

Planning is key. Few existing trails were constructed with a high degree of planning, because most are old. Today, the art of planning trails is quickly evolving and increasingly encountering the issue of wildlife and natural ecosystems. A classic example is the stream or river corridor through a city. Because of historic flooding and old economies, many waterways in cities offer the last undeveloped wildlife habitat - all the more critical because it is riparian habitat, which so many need. This is also a favorite place for people to recreate, and a zone where streets and buildings don't block trail routes. "Planning Trails With Wildlife in Mind" will help land managers make informed judgements when resolving such conflicts.

It also notes the potential positive impacts. Trail development is often accompanied by trash clean-up, removal of incompatible land uses, and ecological restoration. Trails can serve as a foundation of political support for wildlife. Among the many case studies presented in the book, the cleanup and trail development of Sand Creek in Denver stands out as having obvious benefit. The river flows through industrial areas and suffered impacts. Trail builders are repairing streambanks and educating people about the existing problems.

But as a general rule of thumb, "Any trail will have at least some negative impacts on wildlife. Such impacts must be weighed with the benefits of the trail."

The book covers key ecological concepts such as the zone of influence, edge effects, habitat fragmentation, landscape patterns, habitat quality, and species diversity.

It warns, "Because there isn't much detailed knowledge about the effects of human disturbance on wildlife, be cautious in planning a trail, carefully weighing the alternatives."

Plants are also relevant, especially when they are threatened or sensitive. Managers may need to restrict all travel to on-trails, prohibitting cross-country travel.

Some concepts presented are controversial. For example the book does not mention the strategy of removing existing trails to reduce human impacts. But such is the stuff of debate, and in the "Welcome" page opening the volume, State Trails Coordinator Stuart Macdonald suggests, "In many ways this handbook can never be finished, but we can continue to learn and use the growing body of knowledge to improve our planning efforts... We plan to update this handbook regularly and ask you to send information and suggestions."

For copies of the handbook, send a large, self-addressed envelope (minimum 9"X12"), with six first-class stamps, to: Colorado Department of Parks - Trails Program, 1313 Sherman St., Rm. 618, Denver CO 80203.

The study is available as a PDF file on the web site of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Planning trails with wildlife in mind: A handbook for trail planners - Cover, Section 1, Section 2, Section 3 (all pdfs).

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	Planning Trails With Wildlife In Mind By Gary Sprung The Colorado Department of Parks released in September a concise publication on trails and wildlife that should prove of immense value to the trails movement. "Planning Trails With Wildlife in Mind" is a practical handbook for land managers and trails activists to help them recognize and avoid harm to wildlife and its habitat. The free, 54-page publication is a direct outcome of the Trails and Wildlife Task Force, created last year through the Colorado State Trails Program. A diverse citizen committee gave advice and oversight to the agency, helping to formulate central ideas. The Task Force also sponsored an annotated bibliography of scientific articles about trails and wildlife. The book explains its foundation at the outset: "Typically, the impacts to wildlife from trails aren't as great as those from intensive development. More and more, however, we realize that - no matter how carefully we tread and no matter how much we desire to 'leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures' - building trails can affect wildlife." But "Planning Trails With Wildlife In Mind" is not a deep or thorough review of the science of wildlife and recreation. Rather, it is an introduction to the subject, combined with excellent advice to help people make judgements about their impacts and to take action to avoid those impacts. A "Wildlife and Trails Checklist" raises important questions for each step of the trail planning process. Planning is key. Few existing trails were constructed with a high degree of planning, because most are old. Today, the art of planning trails is quickly evolving and increasingly encountering the issue of wildlife and natural ecosystems. A classic example is the stream or river corridor through a city. Because of historic flooding and old economies, many waterways in cities offer the last undeveloped wildlife habitat - all the more critical because it is riparian habitat, which so many need. This is also a favorite place for people to recreate, and a zone where streets and buildings don't block trail routes. "Planning Trails With Wildlife in Mind" will help land managers make informed judgements when resolving such conflicts. It also notes the potential positive impacts. Trail development is often accompanied by trash clean-up, removal of incompatible land uses, and ecological restoration. Trails can serve as a foundation of political support for wildlife. Among the many case studies presented in the book, the cleanup and trail development of Sand Creek in Denver stands out as having obvious benefit. The river flows through industrial areas and suffered impacts. Trail builders are repairing streambanks and educating people about the existing problems. But as a general rule of thumb, "Any trail will have at least some negative impacts on wildlife. Such impacts must be weighed with the benefits of the trail." The book covers key ecological concepts such as the zone of influence, edge effects, habitat fragmentation, landscape patterns, habitat quality, and species diversity. It warns, "Because there isn't much detailed knowledge about the effects of human disturbance on wildlife, be cautious in planning a trail, carefully weighing the alternatives." Plants are also relevant, especially when they are threatened or sensitive. Managers may need to restrict all travel to on-trails, prohibitting cross-country travel. Some concepts presented are controversial. For example the book does not mention the strategy of removing existing trails to reduce human impacts. But such is the stuff of debate, and in the "Welcome" page opening the volume, State Trails Coordinator Stuart Macdonald suggests, "In many ways this handbook can never be finished, but we can continue to learn and use the growing body of knowledge to improve our planning efforts... We plan to update this handbook regularly and ask you to send information and suggestions." For copies of the handbook, send a large, self-addressed envelope (minimum 9"X12"), with six first-class stamps, to: Colorado Department of Parks - Trails Program, 1313 Sherman St., Rm. 618, Denver CO 80203. The study is available as a PDF file on the web site of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Planning trails with wildlife in mind: A handbook for trail planners - Cover, Section 1, Section 2, Section 3 (all pdfs).


Help \| Site Map \| Copyright