Examining the Effect of Public Hiking Trail Use on Soil Loss and Stream-Bottom Embeddedness in First-Order Vermont Streams
Conference Year
January 2022
Abstract
Erosion of hiking trails is a key management issue. This study investigated the relationship between trail characteristics, trail soil loss, and sediment loading in trail-adjacent streams. Nine paired trail-stream sites and one unpaired forested stream site were monitored for stream-bottom embeddedness, macroinvertebrate community composition, and soil incision on trails. Regression analysis was performed to determine the relationships between trail characteristics, soil loss, and embeddedness. There was no significant correlation between trail characteristics, soil loss, and embeddedness, but embeddedness was correlated to stream gradient, suggesting that natural geography has more impact than recreational land use on sediment dynamics in forested streams.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Kris Stepenuck
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Lake Champlain Sea Grant
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
Rubenstein School of Environmental and Natural Resources
Program/Major
Environmental Sciences
Primary Research Category
Food & Environment Studies
Secondary Research Category
Biological Sciences
Examining the Effect of Public Hiking Trail Use on Soil Loss and Stream-Bottom Embeddedness in First-Order Vermont Streams
Erosion of hiking trails is a key management issue. This study investigated the relationship between trail characteristics, trail soil loss, and sediment loading in trail-adjacent streams. Nine paired trail-stream sites and one unpaired forested stream site were monitored for stream-bottom embeddedness, macroinvertebrate community composition, and soil incision on trails. Regression analysis was performed to determine the relationships between trail characteristics, soil loss, and embeddedness. There was no significant correlation between trail characteristics, soil loss, and embeddedness, but embeddedness was correlated to stream gradient, suggesting that natural geography has more impact than recreational land use on sediment dynamics in forested streams.