0423-1201-SDTDC: Riparian Restoration, Page 8

Riparian Restoration

CHAPTER 2: IMPACTS (CONTINUED)

Traditional Design (Continued)

Existing Sites

In existing developed recreation sites, overuse and mismanagement also contribute to loss of valuable riparian resources. In many campgrounds and picnic areas, individual units become larger as visitors trample edge vegetation and trim branches. Units may serve more people than they were designed to accommodate. Visitors arrive with more and more recreational equipment (separate sleeping and eating tents) to use while camping, expanding campsite boundaries, trampling vegetation, compacting soils, and increasing the potential for runoff. See figure 20.

Photo of a campsite lot occupied by a tent and surrounded by trees.
Figure 20—Many sites were designed for one car and a single tent.
Camping habits have changed. It is not uncommon to see two
tents at one site, or a recreational vehicle, and other amenities
such as hammocks and tiki torches. Trampled vegetation
and soil compaction are evident. This site is on the edge of a lake.

The pursuit of shrubs and saplings for firewood, hiking sticks, and so on causes considerable damage. Visitors trample the ground cover and saplings. For example, at a forest campground in Michigan where a portion of the campground had been closed, McEwen and Tocher (1976) found 76 saplings per acre in the open section of the campground and 338 saplings per acre in the closed section. Trampling was the cause for the low number of saplings in the open section (Manning 1979). This condition skews the age distribution of plants and affects soil and wildlife, that is, it affects the ecosystem.

Recreation impacts are at nodes (gathering points such as campgrounds, trail heads, and rest spots) and along travel routes (Ward and Berg 1973, as seen in Manning 1979). These impacted areas have a tendency to expand over time. Visitors create their own trails (social trails) between companion units or as short cuts to certain attractions. These expansions disturb or fragment riparian vegetation and interior habitats. See figures 21, 22, 23, and 24.

Photo of a hiking trail cutting through a riparian ecosystem.
Figure 21—On this social trail, plants ere trampled and soil compacted.

Photo of a campsite surrounded by dense vegetation
Figure 22—This site is becoming larger and larger. There are no site
boundaries and the entry is quite wide. A table is just barely
visible behind the tree on the left. The grill seems to be a
great distance from the table.

Photo of a wooden boardwalk cutting through dense vegetation of long grass, shrubs, and trees.
Figure 23—This user-made boardwalk, leading from a lake to developed
campsites, is a hazard and an intrusion into riparian vegetation.

Photo of riprap in a small stream.
Figure 24—Riprap, in place of riparian vegetation, alongside a trampled,
compacted streambank at a developed picnic site. Alder trees grow at
the base of a riprap-covered bank.