1 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:06,630 - All right. Welcome, everybody. 2 00:00:06,630 --> 00:00:09,020 I'd like to introduce Meredith Naughton 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,160 who has worked as a graduate student 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,890 with the University of Vermont's Field Naturalist Program, 5 00:00:15,890 --> 00:00:18,940 presenting Wildlife and Trail Recreation: 6 00:00:18,940 --> 00:00:22,880 Understanding, managing and monitoring recreation effects. 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,853 - Great. Thanks so much. 8 00:00:27,350 --> 00:00:29,390 So thanks, everyone, for joining me today. 9 00:00:29,390 --> 00:00:31,810 I will be presenting my graduate research 10 00:00:31,810 --> 00:00:34,923 about wildlife and trail recreation, as Alex said. 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,230 I want to start out by asking 12 00:00:39,230 --> 00:00:41,633 why is this research important? 13 00:00:42,610 --> 00:00:45,110 And as many of you probably know, 14 00:00:45,110 --> 00:00:48,490 our conserved or protected lands 15 00:00:48,490 --> 00:00:50,223 often have a dual mandate, 16 00:00:51,100 --> 00:00:54,840 to provide both a recreation resource for people 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,930 and also to protect the landscape and wildlife. 18 00:00:58,930 --> 00:01:02,240 Recreation was once thought of as somewhat neutral 19 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,180 as an interaction on the landscape. 20 00:01:04,180 --> 00:01:05,838 But more recently, it's been recognized 21 00:01:05,838 --> 00:01:08,360 that recreation might not be so neutral 22 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,360 and that this makes this dual mandate 23 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,270 a lot more challenging. 24 00:01:12,270 --> 00:01:15,520 And to be clear, here and throughout this research, 25 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,380 I'm talking about outdoor recreation, like hiking, 26 00:01:18,380 --> 00:01:21,033 mountain biking, skiing, snowmobiling, 27 00:01:21,930 --> 00:01:24,700 those activities that happen on trails built 28 00:01:24,700 --> 00:01:27,033 specifically for one or more activity. 29 00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:29,290 This type of recreation 30 00:01:29,290 --> 00:01:33,050 is becoming more and more popular every year. 31 00:01:33,050 --> 00:01:35,600 And with that comes more pressure to build trails 32 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,063 on those protected lands. 33 00:01:38,750 --> 00:01:40,900 There's a couple of goals of this research. 34 00:01:40,900 --> 00:01:42,880 First, to determine what is, 35 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,980 and isn't known about the effect of recreation trails 36 00:01:45,980 --> 00:01:47,940 on wildlife, specifically related 37 00:01:47,940 --> 00:01:50,450 to the Northeastern United States, 38 00:01:50,450 --> 00:01:52,840 and to develop recommendations to apply 39 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,010 the relevant ecological information to trail planning 40 00:01:56,010 --> 00:01:59,560 and land management to balance that minimizing impact 41 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,403 to wildlife and providing valuable recreation opportunities. 42 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:07,583 So how do we do this? 43 00:02:08,830 --> 00:02:10,550 It's an issue that's often discussed, 44 00:02:10,550 --> 00:02:13,883 but it's complicated and has a lot of different variables. 45 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,080 So I started by examining the whole body 46 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:18,900 of scientific literature related 47 00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:21,690 to recreation effect on wildlife. 48 00:02:21,690 --> 00:02:24,933 And I began with over 2,000 studies related to this topic. 49 00:02:26,210 --> 00:02:30,060 I created selection criteria to find highly relevant studies 50 00:02:30,060 --> 00:02:32,480 and included all studies that took place 51 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,190 in the Northeast or Southeastern Canada, 52 00:02:35,190 --> 00:02:36,880 or focused on Vermont wildlife. 53 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,203 And this led to 50 highly relevant scientific articles. 54 00:02:41,330 --> 00:02:43,040 I systematically collected data 55 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,430 on those most relevant studies, 56 00:02:45,430 --> 00:02:48,380 including tracking the most prominent variables 57 00:02:48,380 --> 00:02:50,803 to guide management recommendations. 58 00:02:52,710 --> 00:02:54,640 So there's two main parts of this presentation. 59 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:57,320 First, understanding what we know about the effects 60 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,060 of recreation on wildlife followed 61 00:03:00,060 --> 00:03:02,360 by management recommendations. 62 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,360 So to start understanding effects, 63 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,620 all of this data comes from those highly relevant studies. 64 00:03:09,620 --> 00:03:12,070 And I'll start with a profile of that literature. 65 00:03:14,290 --> 00:03:16,410 So like the steadily increasing popularity 66 00:03:16,410 --> 00:03:19,290 of trail recreation, studies published on the topic 67 00:03:19,290 --> 00:03:22,003 are also becoming much more frequent over time. 68 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,560 The studies here covered many major taxonomic groups, 69 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,100 but we see most of our information coming from research 70 00:03:30,100 --> 00:03:32,200 on mammals and birds. 71 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,490 And these are both trends we see globally 72 00:03:34,490 --> 00:03:37,403 related to recreation effect research as well. 73 00:03:40,010 --> 00:03:42,150 The articles examine a variety of types 74 00:03:42,150 --> 00:03:44,940 of recreation, but most of these looked at the effect 75 00:03:44,940 --> 00:03:45,993 of foot travel. 76 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:51,680 Authors are measuring different things 77 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:52,980 in these studies as well. 78 00:03:52,980 --> 00:03:55,590 And this is a breakdown of the different wildlife 79 00:03:55,590 --> 00:03:59,010 response types measured in these studies. 80 00:03:59,010 --> 00:04:03,100 So I grouped the responses into individual animal responses 81 00:04:03,100 --> 00:04:08,090 like behavioral or physiological changes, 82 00:04:08,090 --> 00:04:10,480 and different population level responses 83 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,650 like changes in abundance or changes to reproduction. 84 00:04:14,650 --> 00:04:18,050 And then community-level responses like diversity. 85 00:04:18,050 --> 00:04:21,330 So you can see here that behavioral responses 86 00:04:21,330 --> 00:04:25,020 of individual animals is the most commonly researched type 87 00:04:25,020 --> 00:04:26,613 of response to recreation. 88 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:31,540 As part of this research, 89 00:04:31,540 --> 00:04:33,670 I made categorical interpretations 90 00:04:33,670 --> 00:04:37,280 of the effects measured and described by authors. 91 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:41,440 So first, we have neutral or inconclusive effects. 92 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,110 These are where a change is either not observed, 93 00:04:44,110 --> 00:04:46,090 it's insignificant or it's unknown. 94 00:04:46,090 --> 00:04:48,630 And that's 16% of these studies. 95 00:04:48,630 --> 00:04:51,130 It's possible that there is no change in the study subjects, 96 00:04:51,130 --> 00:04:52,300 but I also want to note 97 00:04:52,300 --> 00:04:54,700 it's possible the study didn't examine the subject 98 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:57,680 at the appropriate geographic scale 99 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,400 or appropriate timeframe or measure 100 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,470 for the correct response type in order 101 00:05:03,470 --> 00:05:05,113 to assess the effect. 102 00:05:06,610 --> 00:05:08,990 The bulk of results reviewed in these articles 103 00:05:08,990 --> 00:05:12,160 were discussed by authors as having negative effects. 104 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,313 So I broke those down into categories. 105 00:05:15,570 --> 00:05:18,020 First, immediate negative effect. 106 00:05:18,020 --> 00:05:20,870 These are primarily short-term or behavioral, 107 00:05:20,870 --> 00:05:24,520 and they use energy or alter necessary behavior. 108 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,760 Here, the long-term results are often not studied, 109 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,170 and that's 49% of our negative effects 110 00:05:29,170 --> 00:05:30,943 we see from recreation. 111 00:05:32,490 --> 00:05:35,000 Sustained negative impacts also occur, 112 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,170 and these are effects that lasts beyond a direct encounter. 113 00:05:38,170 --> 00:05:39,890 These are like a change in abundance, 114 00:05:39,890 --> 00:05:42,140 reproduction, or diversity. 115 00:05:42,140 --> 00:05:44,923 And that's 31% of the studies that we saw. 116 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,140 And lastly, a dramatic, negative impact. 117 00:05:50,140 --> 00:05:52,650 I reserved this for dramatic shifts in the health 118 00:05:52,650 --> 00:05:53,550 of the population, 119 00:05:53,550 --> 00:05:57,040 such as a severe decline or extirpation. 120 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:58,350 And these do exist. 121 00:05:58,350 --> 00:06:01,890 And it's often what people are afraid of might happen. 122 00:06:01,890 --> 00:06:03,530 Unfortunately, it's harder to see 123 00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:05,603 these without long-term studies. 124 00:06:07,030 --> 00:06:10,410 One example is, wood turtle extirpation in Connecticut. 125 00:06:10,410 --> 00:06:13,880 It was a 20-year monitoring study of wood turtles. 126 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:15,580 And after 10 years, 127 00:06:15,580 --> 00:06:17,810 recreation was allowed in an area 128 00:06:17,810 --> 00:06:20,550 where there was a stable turtle population. 129 00:06:20,550 --> 00:06:23,490 And then 10 years later, the population had declined 130 00:06:23,490 --> 00:06:24,903 to the point of extirpation. 131 00:06:30,740 --> 00:06:33,170 Categorized effect were seen across 132 00:06:33,170 --> 00:06:35,060 the type of wildlife responses measured. 133 00:06:35,060 --> 00:06:37,120 So here, we see those community population 134 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,210 and individual responses. 135 00:06:39,210 --> 00:06:41,900 And you'll see that there are immediate negative effects 136 00:06:41,900 --> 00:06:44,730 and sustained impacts across all population 137 00:06:44,730 --> 00:06:46,543 and individual responses. 138 00:06:48,750 --> 00:06:52,200 Negative effects were also seen across taxonomic groups. 139 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,020 The mammals and birds here are subdivided 140 00:06:54,020 --> 00:06:55,470 by functional group, 141 00:06:55,470 --> 00:06:58,020 but you can see that each taxonomic group 142 00:06:59,260 --> 00:07:03,613 does have both neutral and negative effects seen. 143 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,320 So to continue to understand these effects, 144 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,280 I tracked the most common variables 145 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,370 that authors examined and discussed 146 00:07:13,370 --> 00:07:15,930 as key factors influencing the effect 147 00:07:15,930 --> 00:07:17,410 of trail recreation on wildlife. 148 00:07:17,410 --> 00:07:19,500 And I called these primary variables. 149 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:21,783 So I'll go over the most prominent ones here. 150 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,600 The most prominent variables discussed 151 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,200 as factors influencing the effect on wildlife 152 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,723 were the scale and placement of trails. 153 00:07:33,180 --> 00:07:35,450 The most common concepts across the literature 154 00:07:35,450 --> 00:07:38,020 were the discussion of trail-free areas 155 00:07:38,020 --> 00:07:40,222 as vital for wildlife, 156 00:07:40,222 --> 00:07:44,100 and the distance of trails to wildlife habitat features 157 00:07:44,100 --> 00:07:45,863 such as food or shelter. 158 00:07:49,390 --> 00:07:52,190 One study examined the impacts of recreation trails 159 00:07:52,190 --> 00:07:53,870 on forest birds in Ontario 160 00:07:53,870 --> 00:07:57,870 by assessing the density of several bird species 161 00:07:57,870 --> 00:08:01,380 in trailed areas and trail-free areas. 162 00:08:01,380 --> 00:08:04,540 They found that birds, especially ground-dwelling birds 163 00:08:04,540 --> 00:08:07,480 had significantly higher species density levels 164 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,610 in trail-free habitat. 165 00:08:09,610 --> 00:08:12,100 They concluded that limiting the density of trails, 166 00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:15,830 so for example, a lot of trails close together in an area, 167 00:08:15,830 --> 00:08:18,700 is not as important as minimizing the effect 168 00:08:18,700 --> 00:08:21,400 of trail fragmentation across the landscape 169 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:22,600 for wildlife protection. 170 00:08:26,990 --> 00:08:29,433 Another primary variable is breeding season. 171 00:08:30,390 --> 00:08:32,430 Authors consistently found that wildlife 172 00:08:32,430 --> 00:08:35,263 was most vulnerable to disturbance during this time. 173 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,120 Volume of recreation was another factor discussed, 174 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,100 but there's limited information about the effects 175 00:08:43,100 --> 00:08:46,800 of the volume changes on the changes to wildlife. 176 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,700 The concept of a volume threshold 177 00:08:48,700 --> 00:08:50,540 is discussed across the literature, 178 00:08:50,540 --> 00:08:52,995 and in land management applications. 179 00:08:52,995 --> 00:08:56,700 This is a point above which a more significant response 180 00:08:56,700 --> 00:08:58,430 from wildlife occurs, 181 00:08:58,430 --> 00:08:59,690 but it's difficult to determine 182 00:08:59,690 --> 00:09:01,230 and is highly variable, 183 00:09:01,230 --> 00:09:02,760 based on a lot of different factors 184 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,630 like species, landscape, season. 185 00:09:05,630 --> 00:09:07,630 So there isn't concrete evidence to support 186 00:09:07,630 --> 00:09:09,866 any generally applicable thresholds 187 00:09:09,866 --> 00:09:12,633 for numbers of recreators at a given time. 188 00:09:17,180 --> 00:09:18,970 The idea that different types of recreation 189 00:09:18,970 --> 00:09:20,680 might have different effects on wildlife 190 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:23,160 is another primary variable in the literature. 191 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:24,600 But again, there's limited evidence 192 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,690 to support significant differences between the effect 193 00:09:27,690 --> 00:09:28,923 of different activities. 194 00:09:30,290 --> 00:09:33,320 However, one trend does consistently show up 195 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:34,710 as having a different effect, 196 00:09:34,710 --> 00:09:39,120 which is between motorized and non-motorized recreation. 197 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,620 So research consistently shows 198 00:09:40,620 --> 00:09:43,870 that motorized recreation causes a less significant effect 199 00:09:43,870 --> 00:09:47,173 to wildlife than non-motorized recreation. 200 00:09:48,350 --> 00:09:50,520 Likely, this is because motorized recreation, 201 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,280 which is like ATVing, snowmobiling, 202 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:55,160 has a consistent movement pattern 203 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,700 with a shorter exposure time to an individual animal. 204 00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:01,210 Where non-motorized recreation like hiking 205 00:10:01,210 --> 00:10:04,560 is slower, more erratic and takes a longer time 206 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:05,593 to pass an animal. 207 00:10:08,870 --> 00:10:12,083 So that concludes my overview of understanding the effects. 208 00:10:12,990 --> 00:10:15,120 And now, I'll move on to management recommendations 209 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:16,823 that resulted from this research. 210 00:10:19,670 --> 00:10:22,300 So study authors often made recommendations 211 00:10:22,300 --> 00:10:25,000 of how to best address this complicated issue. 212 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,830 And I've categorized them here. 213 00:10:26,830 --> 00:10:30,450 So in gray, you'll see the number of articles 214 00:10:30,450 --> 00:10:33,150 that addressed one of these primary variables. 215 00:10:33,150 --> 00:10:35,130 And in Navy is the number of articles 216 00:10:35,130 --> 00:10:37,760 that recommended the associated management. 217 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,430 So for example, 33 articles discussed the location of trails 218 00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:43,060 as an important factor. 219 00:10:43,060 --> 00:10:46,110 And 28 made an explicit management recommendation 220 00:10:46,110 --> 00:10:49,951 about trail location to minimize the effect to wildlife. 221 00:10:49,951 --> 00:10:52,940 In contrast, over here, there's 17 articles 222 00:10:52,940 --> 00:10:55,630 that discussed the idea that volume of recreation 223 00:10:55,630 --> 00:10:57,670 may affect wildlife differently, 224 00:10:57,670 --> 00:10:59,620 but only five articles concluded 225 00:10:59,620 --> 00:11:01,450 with a management recommendation to limit 226 00:11:01,450 --> 00:11:02,883 that volume of recreation. 227 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:07,330 So as part of this project, 228 00:11:07,330 --> 00:11:09,740 I wrote management recommendations based on the research. 229 00:11:09,740 --> 00:11:11,660 And there are three primary parts 230 00:11:11,660 --> 00:11:13,250 to these recommendations. 231 00:11:13,250 --> 00:11:15,500 First, the landscape scale planning 232 00:11:15,500 --> 00:11:19,130 is vital to ensure a balance of recreation opportunities 233 00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:20,763 and protection to wildlife. 234 00:11:22,410 --> 00:11:24,710 To plan trails at this scale, 235 00:11:24,710 --> 00:11:26,960 you need to conduct both ecological 236 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:28,470 and recreation assessments. 237 00:11:28,470 --> 00:11:32,580 So considering things like interior forest blocks, 238 00:11:32,580 --> 00:11:37,230 connectivity corridors, high-value wildlife crossing areas, 239 00:11:37,230 --> 00:11:40,823 existing trails, and community needs for recreation. 240 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:43,880 Then based on these assessments, 241 00:11:44,990 --> 00:11:48,640 you can designate permanent, trail-free areas. 242 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:50,500 This will prevent the eventual spread of trails 243 00:11:50,500 --> 00:11:52,130 to all parts of our natural landscape, 244 00:11:52,130 --> 00:11:54,860 and ensure some refuge for wildlife. 245 00:11:54,860 --> 00:11:56,130 And as an example, over here, 246 00:11:56,130 --> 00:11:59,270 I have Vermont's State District Four Management Area 247 00:11:59,270 --> 00:12:03,853 with those ecological and recreation elements represented. 248 00:12:07,620 --> 00:12:10,253 Next is site-specific location planning. 249 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,040 Trails should be consolidated on the landscape 250 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,730 in order to minimize the effects to wildlife. 251 00:12:16,730 --> 00:12:20,740 So here's an example of dispersed trails, for example, 252 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:23,160 and consolidated trails, 253 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,803 or keeping trails to a certain extent of the land. 254 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,040 And these are screenshots from the "Vermont ANR Atlas", 255 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,650 just to illustrate the concept of dispersed 256 00:12:32,650 --> 00:12:34,073 and consolidated trails. 257 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:40,950 Next, when planning the location of trails. 258 00:12:40,950 --> 00:12:44,020 Ecological considerations are necessary. 259 00:12:44,020 --> 00:12:47,530 Avoid sensitive and uncommon ecological features 260 00:12:47,530 --> 00:12:50,660 such as these, and site trails away from them 261 00:12:50,660 --> 00:12:53,010 to minimize wildlife disturbance. 262 00:12:53,010 --> 00:12:56,600 So these are ecological elements like uncommon 263 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,420 and rare natural communities, wetlands, 264 00:12:59,420 --> 00:13:02,543 riparian areas, endangered plants. 265 00:13:06,850 --> 00:13:10,150 And lastly, part three is management of existing trails. 266 00:13:10,150 --> 00:13:12,700 So these are scientifically supported management techniques 267 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:14,160 resulting from the research, 268 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,523 and they vary in ease of implementation and land management. 269 00:13:18,930 --> 00:13:21,260 First, a couple of factors not recommended for management 270 00:13:21,260 --> 00:13:22,680 at this time, 271 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:24,800 restricting the type of recreation 272 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:26,790 or the volume of recreators 273 00:13:26,790 --> 00:13:28,580 does not have enough scientific evidence 274 00:13:28,580 --> 00:13:32,540 to support us to do this effectively. 275 00:13:32,540 --> 00:13:33,700 Research is still continuing though, 276 00:13:33,700 --> 00:13:35,493 and this may change over time. 277 00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:40,960 Next, some management techniques that are recommended. 278 00:13:42,070 --> 00:13:46,190 Education, so promoting a recreation ethic 279 00:13:46,190 --> 00:13:48,070 of shared landscape. 280 00:13:48,070 --> 00:13:50,090 It's important that when we teach recreation, 281 00:13:50,090 --> 00:13:51,900 we aren't just teaching skill-based things 282 00:13:51,900 --> 00:13:54,040 like how to mount and dismount a bike, 283 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,560 but we're also teaching awareness of our impact, 284 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,723 not to feel guilty, but just to make informed decisions. 285 00:14:00,660 --> 00:14:03,200 Breeding season and temporal closures. 286 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,230 So breeding seasons are the most vulnerable times of year, 287 00:14:06,230 --> 00:14:08,810 and dawn and dusk are often the most active times 288 00:14:08,810 --> 00:14:10,480 of day for wildlife. 289 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,160 Trail closures during these times of year or day 290 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,223 can promote wildlife protection. 291 00:14:17,610 --> 00:14:20,820 Gathering points like benches or overlooks are points 292 00:14:20,820 --> 00:14:22,150 of high disruption. 293 00:14:22,150 --> 00:14:24,200 So sensitive and valuable areas, 294 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,350 such as those discussed on the previous slide 295 00:14:26,350 --> 00:14:28,343 should be avoided for these locations. 296 00:14:29,810 --> 00:14:32,837 And importantly, ongoing monitoring of wildlife 297 00:14:32,837 --> 00:14:35,970 and trail systems gives us the most relevant information 298 00:14:35,970 --> 00:14:39,050 about how our recreation affects wildlife. 299 00:14:39,050 --> 00:14:41,490 So developing ongoing monitoring protocols 300 00:14:41,490 --> 00:14:43,690 will allow us to make adaptive 301 00:14:43,690 --> 00:14:46,570 and nimble management decisions that are effective 302 00:14:46,570 --> 00:14:49,460 in that dual mandate of both protecting wildlife 303 00:14:49,460 --> 00:14:51,943 and providing recreation opportunities. 304 00:14:54,540 --> 00:14:55,780 So that's all I have for you today. 305 00:14:55,780 --> 00:14:56,860 Thank you so much for listening, 306 00:14:56,860 --> 00:14:59,060 and thank you to everyone who has assisted 307 00:14:59,060 --> 00:15:00,250 with this project. 308 00:15:00,250 --> 00:15:01,993 I'm happy to answer questions. 309 00:15:07,940 --> 00:15:10,200 - Thank you so much, Meredith. 310 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,470 It looks like we already got a question in the chat 311 00:15:13,470 --> 00:15:15,787 from Jerry Carlson. 312 00:15:15,787 --> 00:15:18,420 "Is there any literature on the evolution 313 00:15:18,420 --> 00:15:20,587 of human tolerance among wildlife?" 314 00:15:22,750 --> 00:15:25,720 - Evolution of human what among wildlife? 315 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:26,673 - Tolerance. 316 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,700 - Is there any evolution of human tolerance among wildlife? 317 00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:34,660 I'm not sure I quite understand the question. 318 00:15:34,660 --> 00:15:38,400 Is this about habituation maybe? 319 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,890 - [Jerry] Well, I'm saying that a there's an awful lot 320 00:15:41,890 --> 00:15:46,890 of urban landscape literature on how wildlife 321 00:15:47,850 --> 00:15:50,400 is becoming far more tolerant of human activities 322 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:51,360 in built environments. 323 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,350 I was wondering if you came across any 324 00:15:53,350 --> 00:15:56,103 of that in your pursuits. 325 00:15:57,430 --> 00:15:58,420 - I did. Yeah. 326 00:15:58,420 --> 00:16:00,640 So none of that literature 327 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,160 made it into the specific systematic review 328 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,040 because it wasn't about trail recreation, 329 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,710 but certainly, I read a lot about different types 330 00:16:08,710 --> 00:16:11,900 of wildlife tolerance and the idea of habituation 331 00:16:11,900 --> 00:16:13,313 to human activity. 332 00:16:14,260 --> 00:16:18,210 And that is measured differently in different species. 333 00:16:18,210 --> 00:16:20,340 And I think at best, 334 00:16:20,340 --> 00:16:22,650 what I can say is certainly in urban areas, 335 00:16:22,650 --> 00:16:26,420 we do see some representations of wildlife, 336 00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:28,230 but it's often just certain species, 337 00:16:28,230 --> 00:16:30,470 or certain individual of a species. 338 00:16:30,470 --> 00:16:35,470 So I can't say specifically how that relates overall 339 00:16:36,770 --> 00:16:39,230 because this is sort of landscape level, 340 00:16:39,230 --> 00:16:42,060 natural areas planning for trails. 341 00:16:42,060 --> 00:16:44,853 But I can say that that is possible, however, 342 00:16:47,682 --> 00:16:48,763 not a primary element to rely upon 343 00:16:54,210 --> 00:16:58,713 when thinking about long-term wildlife diverse protection. 344 00:17:05,380 --> 00:17:08,337 - We have another question from Hanson Menzies. 345 00:17:08,337 --> 00:17:11,100 "To what extent can trail-building organizations 346 00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:14,587 consider themselves to work in the conservation field?" 347 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,250 - That's a great question. 348 00:17:20,250 --> 00:17:25,250 I didn't research as part of this project 349 00:17:25,360 --> 00:17:27,300 specific trail-building techniques. 350 00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:29,470 I know there are a lot of trail-building techniques 351 00:17:29,470 --> 00:17:34,470 that minimize damage to vegetation or minimize erosion. 352 00:17:35,860 --> 00:17:39,060 I think that trail-building organizations 353 00:17:40,090 --> 00:17:43,570 can collaborate specifically with ecologists 354 00:17:43,570 --> 00:17:46,010 and take this information and embody it 355 00:17:46,010 --> 00:17:48,780 when they are building and planning trails in new places. 356 00:17:48,780 --> 00:17:51,390 I've worked with trail-building organizations before, 357 00:17:51,390 --> 00:17:52,740 and have been a trail builder. 358 00:17:52,740 --> 00:17:55,743 And I think that in my limited experience, 359 00:17:57,670 --> 00:18:01,990 recreation experience is most highly considered 360 00:18:01,990 --> 00:18:04,780 when planning and siting a trail. 361 00:18:04,780 --> 00:18:07,890 And I think that trail building organizations 362 00:18:07,890 --> 00:18:10,520 have this amazing opportunity to start to think 363 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,070 about the ecological impact as well, 364 00:18:13,070 --> 00:18:16,660 and use this information, or consult experts 365 00:18:16,660 --> 00:18:19,180 to sort of like bring those two worlds together 366 00:18:19,180 --> 00:18:22,440 where trail builders can act 367 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,283 truly as informed conservationists as well. 368 00:18:33,525 --> 00:18:35,580 - Jim, you have your hand raised. 369 00:18:35,580 --> 00:18:36,910 You want to go next? 370 00:18:36,910 --> 00:18:41,880 - [Jim] Sure, as a user of trails, 371 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,470 including a lot of back country trails, 372 00:18:44,470 --> 00:18:46,440 it's very disturbing for me 373 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,350 to hear that I'd be better off riding a dirt bike, 374 00:18:50,350 --> 00:18:54,203 a motorized dirt bike, than being on my cross country skis. 375 00:18:55,210 --> 00:18:59,970 That research did that take in to any account, 376 00:18:59,970 --> 00:19:04,639 the location and density of use 377 00:19:04,639 --> 00:19:08,800 of the different types of transportation? 378 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:10,150 I'm just thinking of something 379 00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:12,210 which is a very heavily traffic corridor, 380 00:19:12,210 --> 00:19:13,890 like the VAST Trails, 381 00:19:13,890 --> 00:19:15,810 as opposed to more remote areas 382 00:19:15,810 --> 00:19:20,460 where either ATV, as you said, or dirt bikes 383 00:19:20,460 --> 00:19:22,303 or snowmobiles go? 384 00:19:24,070 --> 00:19:25,670 - Yeah, that's a great question. 385 00:19:26,690 --> 00:19:30,370 I will say that that pattern is seen in my research, 386 00:19:30,370 --> 00:19:33,150 and also seen in global reviews comparing, 387 00:19:33,150 --> 00:19:35,283 motorized and non-motorized recreation. 388 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:41,280 But you're correct in identifying that the scale 389 00:19:42,340 --> 00:19:47,340 of impact is not considered necessarily. 390 00:19:47,450 --> 00:19:52,450 So a snowmobile may have less of an impact 391 00:19:52,610 --> 00:19:56,500 on an individual animal than a cross country skier. 392 00:19:56,500 --> 00:19:59,850 However, as we know, snowmobiles may traverse 393 00:19:59,850 --> 00:20:01,120 much larger areas. 394 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:04,790 And so that is not quantified, so far, 395 00:20:04,790 --> 00:20:08,120 that I have seen, in research alongside 396 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:15,440 those moment of impact results that I'm talking about here. 397 00:20:16,030 --> 00:20:17,480 So, great question. 398 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,030 And I think in general, what I would love people 399 00:20:21,030 --> 00:20:22,970 to take from this is that 400 00:20:25,515 --> 00:20:28,080 we can't, at this point, 401 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,834 accurately manage different types of recreation 402 00:20:31,834 --> 00:20:36,834 to control for the desired effect to wildlife. 403 00:20:37,850 --> 00:20:40,270 So I think I've heard a lot of questions 404 00:20:40,270 --> 00:20:42,930 in the land management world of well, is mountain biking 405 00:20:42,930 --> 00:20:44,370 a bigger effect than running, 406 00:20:44,370 --> 00:20:48,400 or maybe snowmobiling does have a much bigger effect 407 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,690 than than skiing. 408 00:20:50,690 --> 00:20:55,480 And this momentary impact of a quick snowmobile 409 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,340 going by a deer, for example, 410 00:20:57,340 --> 00:21:01,040 may have less of an impact than a cross country skier 411 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,360 going by is part of that equation, 412 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,130 doesn't take into account the landscape scale 413 00:21:07,130 --> 00:21:08,890 of the recreation. 414 00:21:08,890 --> 00:21:11,330 But yeah, again, just reiterating 415 00:21:11,330 --> 00:21:15,220 that it's not necessarily type of recreation. 416 00:21:15,220 --> 00:21:18,840 It isn't something that we have enough data 417 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:23,840 on to make restricting management decisions around. 418 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:27,740 - [Jim] Thank you. 419 00:21:32,590 --> 00:21:34,030 - Technically, we're past time. 420 00:21:34,030 --> 00:21:37,700 But I don't know if it's gonna close down on us, 421 00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:42,370 so you can feel free to keep answering questions 422 00:21:42,370 --> 00:21:43,500 from the chat. 423 00:21:43,500 --> 00:21:45,470 I think there's a few there. 424 00:21:45,470 --> 00:21:47,560 It also looks like you have your email up 425 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,560 if people want to contact you with more questions later. 426 00:21:52,900 --> 00:21:57,483 And I just wanted to thank you for talking today. 427 00:21:59,290 --> 00:22:00,273 - Great. Thank you. 428 00:22:04,237 --> 00:22:05,320 Let me see. 429 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,253 I see a couple of questions here. 430 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,730 Brad Elliot says, "Will you be delivering this information 431 00:22:10,730 --> 00:22:13,000 beyond the scope of the conference?" 432 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:13,833 Hi, Brad. 433 00:22:13,833 --> 00:22:15,320 I know you've asked for the results 434 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,450 of my grad research before, 435 00:22:17,450 --> 00:22:20,260 and I'm happy to continue to talk about this 436 00:22:20,260 --> 00:22:25,260 in whatever group or setting makes the most sense. 437 00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:29,520 So I'm happy to, but I don't have specific plans right now 438 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,403 for delivering this information to anyone else. 439 00:22:34,900 --> 00:22:36,370 John Carte says, "Thanks, Meredith. 440 00:22:36,370 --> 00:22:38,830 Any thoughts on what next steps 441 00:22:38,830 --> 00:22:41,640 would be best help Vermont 442 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,197 manage trail impacts more effectively?" 443 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,770 Yeah, I think the trail planning 444 00:22:49,770 --> 00:22:52,650 is like our most effective tool 445 00:22:52,650 --> 00:22:55,320 in terms of managing trail impacts. 446 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,400 So as towns or the state 447 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,180 are planning on putting in a new trail 448 00:23:02,180 --> 00:23:03,700 or a new trail network, 449 00:23:03,700 --> 00:23:06,770 I think that the best thing that we can do 450 00:23:06,770 --> 00:23:09,190 is have really thoughtful landscape scale 451 00:23:09,190 --> 00:23:11,183 and then site-specific planning, 452 00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:16,870 maybe that combines trail planners and ecologists 453 00:23:16,870 --> 00:23:18,690 to collaborate together to make sure 454 00:23:18,690 --> 00:23:23,690 that our sites on those are very thoughtful. 455 00:23:25,450 --> 00:23:29,370 In addition, I think that developing a monitoring protocol 456 00:23:29,370 --> 00:23:34,370 that can indicate when we are creating changes 457 00:23:35,010 --> 00:23:38,111 to a wildlife population 458 00:23:38,111 --> 00:23:41,670 would be really helpful in order for Vermont 459 00:23:41,670 --> 00:23:46,670 to make specific and localized decisions around our effect. 460 00:23:48,870 --> 00:23:51,270 Jolene asked if I came across any studies 461 00:23:51,270 --> 00:23:54,490 looking at social capacity and consolidated trails, 462 00:23:54,490 --> 00:23:56,773 and how it relates to visitor experience. 463 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,320 I didn't look at the social side of trail experience 464 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:02,950 very much for this research. 465 00:24:02,950 --> 00:24:05,210 It's super interesting, but it just wasn't in the scope 466 00:24:05,210 --> 00:24:06,530 of what I was able to do. 467 00:24:06,530 --> 00:24:08,193 So unfortunately, no. 468 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:11,960 Tim Appleton says, "It seems like a couple 469 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,940 of important wildlife habitats sensitive 470 00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:17,120 to human disturbance, such as deer wintering habitat 471 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:20,150 and hard mast feeding sites for black bears 472 00:24:20,150 --> 00:24:23,380 were omitted in your list of habitats to be mindful of." 473 00:24:23,380 --> 00:24:25,690 Absolutely. That was not an exhaustive list. 474 00:24:25,690 --> 00:24:28,230 That was a slide saying, 475 00:24:28,230 --> 00:24:33,150 let's be very aware when placing trails 476 00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:35,200 on a site-specific location 477 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,070 of ecologically sensitive habitats. 478 00:24:38,070 --> 00:24:40,080 And those would absolutely fall in that category. 479 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,203 And I just listed a few on that slide. 480 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,190 Tim Appleton also says, "In regard to motorized 481 00:24:46,190 --> 00:24:48,570 versus non-motorized recreation, 482 00:24:48,570 --> 00:24:51,000 flight response and flight distance 483 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,250 is different by species." 484 00:24:53,250 --> 00:24:54,083 Absolutely. 485 00:24:54,083 --> 00:24:58,110 It is different by species, by individual animal, 486 00:24:58,110 --> 00:24:59,750 by time of day, by landscape. 487 00:24:59,750 --> 00:25:02,310 So there are, like I said at the beginning, 488 00:25:02,310 --> 00:25:05,150 so many variables here in this research 489 00:25:05,150 --> 00:25:10,150 that I did my best here to provide 490 00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:12,650 the most consistent generalizations 491 00:25:12,650 --> 00:25:14,500 that I was able to find in order 492 00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,550 to inform generally applicable 493 00:25:16,550 --> 00:25:18,583 management strategies for Vermont. 494 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,330 Great, and that's all the questions that I see 495 00:25:22,330 --> 00:25:23,430 in the chat right now. 496 00:25:24,310 --> 00:25:26,080 But thanks, everyone for attending, 497 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,603 and I'm happy to answer any questions via email.