Tourism, Recreation and Trail Impacts - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 132

Case Study: Ecological Impact on Trails Within Mount
Robson Provincial Park, Canada ( Continued )

Table 5.1 The amount and severity of types of ecological impact on Berg Lake and
Mount Fitzwilliam Trails

Type of ecological impact Berg Lake Trail Mount Fitzwilliam Trail

Trail width 122 cm 75.5 cm

*159 cm 2

Cross-section area *472 cm 2

Maximum incision 6.4 cm 4.9 cm

Exposed rocks and roots 23.4 37.6

Soil penetration resistance (SPR) *4.9 tons ft − 2 *2.8 tons ft − 2

Note: An asterisk denotes impact indicators where there was a signifi cant difference.
Source: Adapted from Nepal and Way (2007a).

water, signs of water, highly muddy areas (quagmire), heavily eroded
sections and braiding. Table 5.2 compares the frequency and lineal extent
of these problem areas for both trails, illustrating that despite FWT
being a low-use, less intensively managed trail, it has a more areas that
are considered problem areas such as wet, muddy and having quagmire
conditions.
Regression tests were run on four dependent variables, namely cross-
section area, SPR, exposed rocks and roots and trail width to determine

Table 5.2 Frequency and lineal extent of problem areas for Berg Lake and Mount
Fitzwilliam Trails

Problems Frequency for Berg

Lake Trail

Frequency for Mount
Fitzwilliam Trail

Running or standing water on trail 7 7

Signs of water on trail 1 7

Quagmire (highly muddy area) 5 8

Trail braiding 2 0

Heavily eroded trail section 2 1

Total frequency of problem areas 17 23

Frequency of problem areas per kilometer 1.0 1.8

Total length of wet and muddy areas (m) 24 2223

Lineal extent of muddy areas (m km − 1 ) 1.4 171

Source: Based on Nepal and Way (2007a: 397).