Outdoor Ethics

The Snowball Effect

• If one person leaves the trail and walks through a wildlife habitat, other people are much more likely to follow that same path.

• This small action may be repeated again and again, creating more and more new "social trails" (unplanned paths that were never meant to be there)

• Growing social trails disturb the habitats that they cross, harming more and more animals and plants.

Creek Erosion

• Walking near a creek's banks speeds up erosion by breaking up soil and destroying the plants whose roots normally hold soil in place.

• Soil erodes into the creek, and as a result, too many nutrients are added, temperature gets too high, and dissolved oxygen levels drop.

• Fish are stressed, harmful blooms of algae are more likely, and aquatic life is threatened.

Habitat Fragmentation

• Habitats become fragmented (or broken up) when humans create their own trails through a natural area, splitting the land into smaller pieces.

• The animals that live here can no longer move safely from place to place within their original habitat.

• This creates a more stressful and dangerous living situation, and animals may even leave the area.

Game Trails

• Game trails are routes that animals use over and over, eventually making a narrow, winding path of crushed plants.

• If people use a game trail, animals become stressed, stop using the trail, and may even leave the area.

• The only trails meant for people are the ones on the map. These are wide, clear of hanging branches, and usually marked by human-made material such as gravel or stones.

Vegetation Loss

• Areas of vegetation (plants) die when people walk on them again and again.

• It is especially difficult for plants to grow back in the same area, because the soil gets too compacted (squished down tightly)

• Compacted soil cannot absorb water very well, and without any plant roots to hold it in place it erodes quickly. This harms aquatic life in nearby lakes and streams.