by Michael J. Vandeman
The notion that recreation has no environmental impacts is no longer tenable. Recreationists often degrades the land, water, and wildlife resources by fragmenting plant communities, increasing animal mortality, displacing and disturbing wildlife, and distributing refuse.
References in the following paragraphs are from Wildlife and Recreationists Coexistence through Management and Research edited by Knight & Gutzwiller.
Traditionally, observing, feeding, and photographing wildlife were considered to be "nonconsumptive" activities because removal of animals from their natural habitats did not occur.... nonconsumptive wildlife recreation was considered relatively benign in terms of its effects on wildlife. Today, however, there is a growing recognition that wildlife-viewing recreation can have serious negative impacts on wildlife ( p.257).
Boyle and Sampson reviewed 166 articles (1985) that containing original data on the effects of nonconsumptive outdoor recreation on wildlife. In 81% of them, the effects were considered negative.
"Nature viewing, by its very definition, has great potential to negatively affect wildlife. Predators learn to follow human scent trails to nest sites" (p.55). "Activities involving non-motorized travel has caused the creation of more hiking, skiing, and riding trails in wildlands. These activities have the ability to disrupt wildlife in many ways, particularly by displacing animals from an area" (p.56).
"Recreational disturbance has traditionally been viewed as most detrimental to wildlife during the breeding season. Recently, it has become apparent that disturbance outside of the animal's breeding season may have equally severe effects" (p.73). "Birds can lose eggs and young when predators attack nests after parents are startled into flight" (p.133). "Human occupation and activity are clearly and directly correlated with declines in breeding populations of birds" (p.135).
"People have an impact on wildlife habitat and all that depends on it, no matter what the activity" (p.157). "Perhaps the major way that people have influenced wildlife populations is through encroachment into wildlife areas" (p.160). "A single visit to nest sites by people can cause nest abandonment" (p.161). "Some goslings got lost in the dense vegetation when parents headed for the pool, or parents swam off leaving goslings behind that could not follow" (p.162). "Pregnant animals suffered higher stress from wildlife viewers, causing some to abort. Snowmobile activity is a particular problem where animals may already be stressed" (p.163).
"Outdoor recreation has been recognized as an important factor that can reduce biosphere sustainability. Indeed, recreational activities, including many that may seem innocuous, can alter vertebrate behavior, reproduction, distributions, and habitats" (p.169). "Human disturbance caused eagles to flush sooner than the other species, and eagles rarely returned to a carcass following disturbance" (p.170). "Juveniles that get displaced from familiar surroundings (e.g., home ranges) by recreationists may also be more susceptible to predation" (p.172).
"Species displacement caused by recreationists can alter species richness, abundance, and composition in wildlife communities. Displaced animals are forced out of familiar habitat and must then survive and reproduce in areas where they are not familiar with the locations of food, shelter, and other vital resources." Hammitt and Cole (1987) ranked displacement as being more detrimental to wildlife than harassment or recreation-induced habitat changes. Densities for 8 of 13 breeding bird species were negatively associated with the intensity of recreation activity by park visitors, primarily pedestrians and cyclists" (pp.173-4).
"Off-road vehicles can collapse burrows of desert mammals and reptiles" (p.176). "Compaction increases the mechanical resistance of the soil to root penetration and can reduce the emergence of seedlings. These changes in soil characteristics adversely affect the germination, establishment, growth, and reproduction of plants" (p.184). "In soil, many organisms live in the pore spaces between mineral particles. Soil compaction reduces the size of pore spaces, altering the soil fauna. Recreation that compacts soil is, therefore, likely to cause dramatic shits in distribution and species composition of the soil fauna" (p.189). "Several studies have recently shown the importance of contiguous, undisturbed habitat for many native species" (p.190).
"Recreational activities clearly have substantial and generally adverse influences on terrestrial vegetation and soil, and on aquatic systems" (p.193). "Researchers have documented an increase in heart rate in different species when approached by visitors, which can subsequently initiate other physiological effects of stress, including death" (p.206).
"Indirect effects may also occur from development of trail networks and picnic areas, which not only remove habitat, but increase habitat edge (opening in the forest canopy), ...and opens these areas for colonization by exotic ...species" (p.210).
"It is expected that outdoor recreational activity will continue to increase, while the amount of wildland where wildlife may seek refuge from disturbance will decrease" (p.327). "Recreationists are, ironically, destroying the very thing they love: the blooming buzzing confusion of nature" (p. 340).
"Tom Birch argues that wilderness managers, ...are more concerned with the advancement of their careers through achieving quantifiable goals (number of park visitors, total revenues) and developing park and forest amenities (roads, 'scenic' turnouts, restrooms, paved trails, maps, campgrounds) than with perpetuating the land community of which they are a part" (p.344).
How can we continue enjoying the nature we love, and still protect it so that it will still be there for future generations? Ideally, we should be working to reduce human access to wildlife habitat. But at the very least, we should eliminate mechanical access (with the exception of small compromises for wheelchairs).
For example, if vehicles are banned in wildlife habitat (including animals used as vehicles), we can all still enjoy it, but because we have to go on foot, not as many people will go there, they won't go as far, and they won't go as fast. Of course, we also won't have the impacts of the vehicles themselves ("V" grooves caused by mountain bikes, holes and narrow grooves caused by burros' hooves, etc.).
Another example: before rafting, much of our riparian habitat, especially in the desert, was relatively inaccessible to humans. That was very beneficial for the wildlife who depend on that habitat. Rafting and canoeing, while they seem harmless, open up huge areas of wildlife habitat to human access. I think that restricting river access to only certain locations can provide just as much enjoyment, while safeguarding wildlife's access to their habitat.
References:
Boyle, S. A. and F. B. Sampson. 1985. Effects of nonconsumptive recreation wildlife: a review. Wildlife Society Bulliten 13:110-116.
Hammit, W. E. And D. N. Cole. 1987. Wildland Recreation: Ecology and Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, editors. Wildlife and Recreationists Coexistence through Management and Research. Island Press, c.1995.
Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande