Recreational trails in the Poprad Landscape Park, Poland: the spatial pattern of trail impacts and use-related, environmental, and managerial factors

Abstract

Multiple maps at a scale of 1:51,500, portraying the trail-related features of 43.4 km of recreational trails located in a mountainous area of the Poprad Landscape Park (south-central Poland), were produced. More specifically, the maps presented the spatial pattern of trail impacts (i.e. trail width; trail incision; the number of informal trails; old, abandoned trail sections; a presence of muddy sections and water puddles), as well as use-related (type and amount of use), environmental (vegetation type, density of forest floor/grassland and understorey layer along trails, aspect, and trail topographic position), and managerial (trail surface, grade, and alignment) factors. For the most part, the information was collected during field surveys using the Global Positioning System and Geographic Information System (GIS), but in a minority of cases it was calculated within the GIS-environment based on a digital elevation model. Collecting accurate data on condition of trails and elements that influenced their state is crucial for managers in protected natural areas who face the challenges of protecting nature and providing recreational opportunities at the same time.ARTICLE HISTORY

The Recreational Trail of the El Caminito del Rey Natural Tourist Attraction, Spain: Determination of Hikers’ Flow

“…These landscape areas do not truly belong to the part of the trail that goes through the valley, where the landscape is composed of a green area with trees on its sides. This seems not to be in agreement with findings from other studies, which point to the presence of trees as a determinant factor for capturing the attention of the hiker [ 12 , 25 ]. Nevertheless, as affirmed by Chhetri et al [ 15 ] and Ried et al [ 36 ], the perception of the landscape is a complex cognitive construction, in which the hiker will constantly change his or her evaluation of the scenic beauty throughout the hike as a result of the different attributes that comprise the scene.…”

“…The increasing popularity of hiking has led scientific research to focus its attention on the study of the existing differences in the spatiotemporal flow of the hikers [ 1 , 7 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Thus, it is observed that hikers themselves, as well as the surroundings where the sport is practiced, have become priorities in scientific research [ 1 , 4 , 18 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

“…Beeco et al [ 17 ] defined trails as the main conduit through which the visitor flows, so that they are considered to be a resource of great value for the visitor experience. The reason is that trails provide an opportunity for accessing nature tourism attractions and limit their use or passage through specific places [ 8 , 13 , 19 , 23 , 24 ], either to reduce the risk of becoming lost, physical danger to the hiker, or damage to sensitive areas [ 25 ]. Orellana et al [ 21 ] and Lera et al [ 3 ] define the concept of the “relevant place” as a place where movement suspension patterns are detected, which could be associated with a relevant geographical characteristic of the terrain.…”

Impact of recreational transformation of soil physical properties on micromolluscs in an urban park

“…The role of the scale at which recreation occurs should also be considered (Graham & Eigenbrod, 2019;Zhukov et al, 2019). The recreational trails are an important aspect of the impact on the soil (Ballantyne & Pickering, 2015;Huang et al, 2015;Tomczyk & Ewertowski, 2016). Such impact is associated with compaction of the soil (Azlin & Philip, 2004;Ballantyne & Pickering, 2015), an increase in soil penetration resistance (Landsberg et al, 2003;Campbell et al, 2013), changes in the soil aggregate structure (Bird et al, 2007;Fattet et al, 2011).…”

Wildland recreation disturbance: broad‐scale spatial analysis and management

“…A review of previous work revealed several related research themes, which informed our study. For instance, a limited number of studies have used a geographic information system (GIS) to examine recreation use or impacts at the scale of protected areas (eg Arrowsmith and Inbakaran 2002;Hawes et al 2013;Tomczyk and Ewertowski 2016). These studies have generally focused on vegetation disturbance, soil loss, and trail impacts.…”