The decorative structures, he says, are destroying local archaeology, damaging trail systems and disrupting wildlife.
Yeah nah. The paper that is quoted for the “disrupting wildlife” thing is about river modification that destroys egg laying spots. Obviously if you accidentally stack stones on an animal or their eggs, then that sucks but its statistically unlikely, especially outside of the water.
Herein, we document mortality of both adult and larval Eastern Hellbender salamanders associated with
anthropogenic habitat disturbance (i.e., moving and stacking of rocks to build small dams)
The trail that humans make by walking through nature and the trash they leave is muuuuch more impactful than moving 5 random rocks.
Stone stacks are also often not just “decorative” but used for wayfinding. So by removing them you might cause people to walk into previously undisturbed areas because they dont know where the trail is.
Overdoing it like this might start causing issues, but even that i doubt tbh. If there are this many people moving through an area, then no wildlife is going to come near it anyway.
Actual trail cairns are markers, yes. The cairns not built by the trail maintainers are the ones he’s removing. Those are more misleading than directionary.
Yeah nah. The paper that is quoted for the “disrupting wildlife” thing is about river modification that destroys egg laying spots. Obviously if you accidentally stack stones on an animal or their eggs, then that sucks but its statistically unlikely, especially outside of the water.
Pretty sure you are thinking of reptile or bird eggs but ignoring the largest group of land egg layers: insects.
Rocks are essential habitats for many animals. Stacking them, especially if too many people do it, may impact those habitats.
I also just don’t get why it’s so difficult for people to leave nothing but footprints.
Yeah nah. The paper that is quoted for the “disrupting wildlife” thing is about river modification that destroys egg laying spots. Obviously if you accidentally stack stones on an animal or their eggs, then that sucks but its statistically unlikely, especially outside of the water.
The trail that humans make by walking through nature and the trash they leave is muuuuch more impactful than moving 5 random rocks.
Stone stacks are also often not just “decorative” but used for wayfinding. So by removing them you might cause people to walk into previously undisturbed areas because they dont know where the trail is.
Overdoing it like this might start causing issues, but even that i doubt tbh. If there are this many people moving through an area, then no wildlife is going to come near it anyway.
Actual trail cairns are markers, yes. The cairns not built by the trail maintainers are the ones he’s removing. Those are more misleading than directionary.
Pretty sure you are thinking of reptile or bird eggs but ignoring the largest group of land egg layers: insects.
Rocks are essential habitats for many animals. Stacking them, especially if too many people do it, may impact those habitats. I also just don’t get why it’s so difficult for people to leave nothing but footprints.
Gotta get those insta pics.