Soil Erosion on Park Trails
Figure 1. Soil erosion on a trail forming a gully. Soil erosion on trails is detrimental to both the users experience and to the environment. Source
Protected natural areas such as parks are often subjected to human recreational activities such as walking, hiking, horse riding, bicycling and backpacking. This has a negative impact on trails and surrounding vegetation. Soil erosion (Figure 1) is one such indicator of trail impact. Identifying areas sensitive to soil erosion can help park managers, who are responsible for the preservation of natural conditions, manage trails. Modelling soil erosion through GIS can help identify these areas remotely and in a timely fashion (Tomczyk, 2011).
Location: Cypress Provincial Park
Figure 2: View from Cypress lookout. Source
Figure 3: Location of Cypress park and trail map. Source
Sitting in the North shore mountains (Fig 3), Cypress is home to:
- Pretty views (Fig 2)
- Varied topography
- High elevation trails
- Two popular trails: baden powell and the howe sound trails (fig 3)