LIT+Review

 In a changing world of greengineering and eco-friendliness, from bio-degradable commodities to carbon neutrality, one of the slowest changing frontiers is that of trailbuilding. Trailbuilding is often overlooked and deemed unimportant, but as clean and undeveloped land diminishes, building trails properly and with concern for the environment might save more and more land from becoming dumpsites or new cities. Poorly built trails, even when built with good intentions, can rob the environment of nutrients and choke the entire habitat. According to Woody Hesselbarth, author of //The Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook//, The difference between a good and bad trail can be as simple as the trail grade being just a little to steep. If it is too steep, the water will funnel down and cause erosion. I formulated this question based off of my concerns: How can you build a trail that doesn't negatively impact the habitat it goes through?

When he wrote the //AMC trailbuilding and Maintenance field guide//, Robert Proudman stressed the environmental aspect of trailbuilding several times. He wrote about how buffer zones should be made around the trail to protect fragile areas that could be damaged. These areas, he said, should be off limits to protect it from being further developed. He goes on to say to talk about the necessary width a trail should be so that people don't walk on vegetation.

What all the scholars seem to be able to agree on, is that water is a powerful force that can destroy trails. Robert Birkby's //SCA trail-building and maintenance manual// describes how even water in a puddle on the trail can cause problems, by forcing people to walk around it and thus trampling vegetation off the trail. Water causes soil erosion too. Proudman begins his explanation of soil erosion with a diagram of soil composure compacted and uncompacted. He shows that when the soil is compacted, it loses its porous properties.

Hesselbarth accuses water of being "gravity's partner in crime" and says that they are responsible for stripping tread surface and support structures, then carrying dirt off the trail. Luckily, there are ways to control water. First, to avoid the problem of water destroying tread, a trail must be outsloped. Hesselbarth defines an outsloped tread as "one that is lower on the outside or downhill side of the trail than it is on the inside". This design allows the water to still flow naturally downhill. The AMC //Complete Guide to Trail Building and Maintenance// takes a different approach to solving the problem of water and the erosion it causes. It lists four structures that can help prevent erosion. They are drainages, stabilizers, hardeners, and Definers. Of these, the most heavily relied on is drainage.

Bibliography

Proudman, Robert D. //AMC field guide to trail building and maintenance//. Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club, 1977. Print.

Hesselbarth, Woody. //Trail construction and maintenance notebook//. USDA Forest Service, Technology and Development Program, 2007. Print.

Birkby, Robert. //Lightly on the land : the SCA trail-building and maintenance manual//. 2nd ed. Seattle: Mountaineers, 2005. Print.

Appalachian Mountain Club. //Complete Guide to Trail Building and Maintenance, 4th//. 4th ed. New York: Appalachian Mountain Club, 2008. Print.