There has been a long term surge of visitors to the Adirondack region, with the most recent spike due in part to interest in outdoor activities during the pandemic. Although this surge presents economic opportunities for local business owners, it also creates the risk of overuse of natural resources. Overuse occurs in nature when an area cannot sustain the amount of use during a particular time period, often leading to destruction of natural resources in that area.
The Adirondacks house over 130,000 permanent residents, along with 200,000 seasonal residents. In the past, the park has welcomed an average of approximately 12 million visitors per year; however, this number has skyrocketed in recent years (Adirondack Council). In the past few years, visitor numbers have leapt to more than 250% of the capacity of the park (NYLCV).These new visitors are visiting the parks for a range of activities, with the majority choosing to hike the parks’ beautiful peaks. The chart below displays the increase in visitors among three popular Adirondack hiking trails. In the past 15 years, the number of registered hikers at the Cascade Mountain trail has increased by triple the previous amount (ADK Council).
The volume of people hiking these trails has climbed significantly as of recently.
An increasing number of hikers on the mountains translates to a larger impact on the trails, thus damaging the wildlife and vegetation of the Adirondacks. In a study conducted in 2018 by the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Park conservationists and trail professionals found that over 130 miles of trails needed significant maintenance, or even reconstruction. These trails have become widened by the hikers that have made the conscious decision to step off of the trail to avoid obstacles such as plants, roots, and puddles. In the past 30 years, some trails within the Adirondack region have expanded over 25 feet in width, or by three times their original size (Protect The Adirondacks).
The Adirondack Mountains are also a haven for endangered species, such as fragile alpine plants (Adirondack Council). Due to the large increase in the volume of hikers in the Adirondacks, there is now another obstacle for these endangered species to overcome. Even before the spike in the volume of hikers, some endangered species were already struggling with the impacts of climate change, particularly during the winter. The additional pressures created by hikers may prove to be the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in terms of these species’ ability to survive.
In order to preserve the shape of these trails and the health of the endangered and precious species residing in the Adirondacks, the Adirondack Council preaches that people follow “Leave No Trace” principles. These ideas are all behavior that one should exemplify when hiking in the wild, in order to prevent damaging nature. This could help slow down the effects from the recent overcrowding and overuse the Adirondacks have been experiencing.
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www.adirondackcouncil.org/page/overuse-in-the-adirondack-park-298.html.
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