{"id":45,"date":"2020-12-07T11:56:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T16:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/?page_id=45"},"modified":"2020-12-19T16:39:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T21:39:28","slug":"tracking-trails","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/tracking-trails\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Trails"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embedContent widescreen\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/embed\/jNanyxjoqc8\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has brought people out to nature in higher rates than ever before. However as a result, more trash is being left behind and people are more frequently stepping outside of the formal trails, damaging surrounding vegetation. Produced by Julie Levy and Guldana Talgat.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"text-header-lg text-header-xl\"><strong>New York City Trails are Receiving More Visitors than Usual, But More Guests Also Means Some Unwelcomed Surprises<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Julie Levy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A couple of weeks ago, while walking along a trail in Marine Park in southern Brooklyn, Josh Otero, the trails community engagement coordinator for the Natural Areas Conservancy, stopped and pointed to a triangular patch of wet sand about six feet wide. On top of the wet sand was shabby-looking vegetation. The vegetation was only a couple of feet tall, and most of it was a dark ashy gray color, almost black.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Otero pointed to the wet sand. \u201cThis is caused by&#8230;want to take a guess?\u201d he asked. Otero pointed to tire marks surrounding the patch. \u201cIt\u2019s ATV use. The ATV\u2019s come and they tear this up in here and it contributes to the puddling, but then it also creates these burns, and that\u2019s not great for erosion and long term sustainability of the trail.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All-terrain vehicle use had crushed the vegetation, causing the area to shrink. \u201cIf cutting keeps happening then this small patch of vegetation is gone, and if that\u2019s happening here, this is just a microcosm of what happens in the bigger trail network.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_157\" style=\"width: 2570px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-157\" class=\"size-full wp-image-157\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Patch of vegetation damaged by ATV use.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ATV-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-157\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">All-terrain vehicles using the trails cut into the vegetation and cause puddling. Photo by Julie Levy.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Otero is an expert in trail maintenance. Working with the Natural Areas Conservancy, he teaches advanced volunteers how to properly maintain New York City\u2019s nature trails, including managing invasive species, remediating erosion-related concerns, removing garbage, and installing and replacing trail blazes. But managing and keeping New York City\u2019s natural areas healthy and thriving is only part of what the Natural Areas Conservancy does. The organization also promotes the use of the natural areas, and leads conservation efforts to protect them against the effects of climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since COVID-19 hit New York City in March, it\u2019s been harder for residents to get out of the city, and many have spent more time cooped up at home. Local parks and nature preserves have provided a place to be outdoors while socially distancing and not leaving the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the popularity of these natural areas has introduced new challenges. While the Natural Areas Conservancy doesn\u2019t yet have definitive data to show an increase in trail use volumes, Otero and his team have observed indicators that point to higher usage, such as more litter along the trails and more damage to the trails.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a trend beyond New York City. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5869788\/national-parks-covid-19\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Time Magazine<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, damage to nature parks has been observed across the nation. A local hiker at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado noted that new visitors are stepping outside the formal trails, endangering the park\u2019s plants. A business owner just outside the Grand Canyon said that trash has been accumulating at the park, despite closing off certain entrances. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pecpa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/COVID-Trail-Report-Final-6-9-20.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of trail use in Pennsylvania during COVID-19 found that trail use was significantly higher in March 2020 in comparison to previous years, with some trails experiencing increases between 100 and 200 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study cited reports of both positive and negative impacts of higher trail use, as reported by trail managers. One of the most commonly cited positive impacts of increased trail use was an increased awareness and interest in trails by users. The most commonly cited negative impacts were delayed trail maintenance, overuse and overcrowding of the trails, and increased littering.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As he kept walking on the trail\u2019s wet sand, surrounded by tall invasive species vegetation to his left and right, Otero pointed out an informal trail, one of the indicators of overuse and overcrowding of a trail. Much of the soil along the path was bare; it had been stepped on and vegetation along the path had died.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But now this path had been closed off by Otero and his team to prevent more people from walking on the informal trail. The closing of the path was evident from the pile of natural debris placed about six feet in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When closing a path, Otero and his team first remove any trash that has been discarded on the trail. Usually, workers then decompact the soil to allow it to receive seeds. Decompacting the soil is important because when an informal trail is overused, the ground becomes so compacted that vegetation can no longer grow on it, making it impossible for the forest to repair itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this case, though, the soil was not decompacted because the path was in a wetland buffer zone; the part of the trail Otero stood on was just a couple of hundred feet away from a creek. As a last step, Otero and his team closed the trail by placing invasive species that were collected during removal efforts on top of the path.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The goal is to discourage walkers from using the path, both by physically blocking its access and attempting to \u201chide it,\u201d or make it more invisible to walkers. Over time, the soil will heal and vegetation will reemerge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Informal trails are also called desire lines, because even though they are not part of the formal trails network, people <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">desire <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to use the path. Sometimes it\u2019s because the path leads to somewhere they want to go, it\u2019s a path they&#8217;re familiar with, or simply the path has been walked on so much that people think it\u2019s a formal trail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reasons for using informal trails may be innocent, but the consequences can be very\u00a0 damaging. \u201cA lot of these areas are very sensitive and if they\u2019re mistreated with an informal trail fragmenting a forest, that\u2019s a very hard thing to come back from,\u201d said Julia Raskin, the trails program manager at the Natural Areas Conservancy.\u00a0 \u201cIt takes a long time to recover that and to restore that area. It\u2019s not an overnight thing, overnight it can be ruined, overnight it can be degraded, but overnight it can\u2019t be fixed.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cabi.org\/leisuretourism\/news\/16160\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that analyzed the long-term effects of trampling on vegetation found that it took the vegetation 19 to 25 years to recover when trampled 15 times per week for six weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_154\" style=\"width: 2570px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-154\" class=\"size-full wp-image-154\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Informal path blocked by natural debris.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/informal-trail-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The informal trail was closed by placing invasive species, collected during removal efforts to block the path. Photo by Julie Levy.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2017, Natural Areas Conservancy team members and volunteers have been gathering data in an effort to formalize New York City\u2019s trail system, in part to address the challenge of informal trail usage. To formalize the trails, Otero and his team of volunteers walk the trails to gather data about where they exist. From the data, Raskin and other team members decide which trails to blaze and add to the NYC Park Department\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycgovparks.org\/facilities\/hikingtrails\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">official hiking maps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but also which trails to close up. So far, the trails team has formalized over 42 miles of New York City\u2019s 350 miles of trails across 19 parks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the increased need for trail maintenance in recent months, the Natural Areas Conservancy has lost staff members due to COVID resource allocation. In 2019, the additional $44 million in funding from the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ny4p.org\/what-we-do\/play-fair\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Play Fair Campaign<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> made it possible for the Natural Areas Conservancy trails team to hire two additional team members to help with on-site field work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, due to budget cuts to the New York City Parks Department in 2020, the Play Fair Campaign was only able to secure an additional $10 million for the 2021 fiscal year. This was not enough to continue to fund all workers that were hired in 2019, and the trails team\u2019s two new hires were lost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt feels kind of like a double whammy right now with more people using the space and fewer resources to take care of them,\u201d Raskin said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Covid has also impacted the way that the trails team engages and educates trail users. Prior to the pandemic, the team engaged the public through in-person events like <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nature walks, forest bathing, birding walks, and other trail events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to coronavirus, the team has been challenged with engaging with the public virtually through webinars and online trainings on topics including climate change, New York City plants, and trail-specific webinars. While it\u2019s not the same as interacting in person, the events have allowed for volunteers and the public to continue to learn about and be involved in trail maintenance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end of the Marine Park trail, Otero faces a spectacular view of Gerritsen Creek. It\u2019s quiet, and the blue, orange and pink sunset colors are reflecting onto the water. He\u2019s still in Brooklyn, but it feels far away from the tall buildings and the traffic of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With so many people using New York City\u2019s nature trails and even more people using the trails in recent months, it\u2019s as important as ever to continue to educate New Yorkers about how to use them sustainably. \u201cWe\u2019re doing our best to let people know. But there\u2019s a lot of people in New York and a lot of people that use the trails, so we just continue to do our best in those ways,\u201d Otero said.<\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-153\" style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Otero looking out on Gerritsen Creek\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/josh-looking-out-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Otero looking out on Gerritsen Creek. Photo by Julie Levy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-header-lg\"><strong>Since the Pandemic, New Yorkers Have Become More Involved with Nature, but not without Harmful Ramifications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>By Guldana Talgat<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down most amusement parks, theatres and places of public entertainment, New Yorkers have been finding refuge in trails and natural parks that are accessible by public transit in the city.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>After all, who doesn\u2019t like running away from the concrete jungle?<\/p>\n<p>And yet, trails are one of the things that most New Yorkers tend to take for granted. Using natural parks and sanctuaries for recreational purposes can adversely impact the environment and<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>the wildlife.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_256\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-256\" class=\"size-large wp-image-256\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-1024x570.jpg\" alt=\"Inwood Hill Park\" width=\"1024\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Inwood-Hill-Park-1-2048x1140.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-256\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan. The need to go outside and get some fresh air is more important than ever before. Photo by Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe have seen more use of trails in New York City Parks, however, there\u2019s also more trash out there since there are more people out. It\u2019s definitely presented its own challenges,\u201d said Josh Otero, a trails community engagement manager at the Natural Areas Conservancy.<\/p>\n<p>The Natural Areas Conservancy partners with the New York City Parks Department to take care of the city\u2019s natural areas. Together they work closely on an initiative called the NYC Parks Super Steward Trail Maintainer program where advanced volunteers learn plant identification, invasive removal practices, corridor pruning techniques, trail maintenance skills and other trail and natural area management practices.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople cross the formal lines of trails and leave footprints on sensitive areas. By doing this, they are not allowing the forest to heal and repair itself. More people see those footprints of previous trailers and mistake it as a designated trail area,\u201d Otero said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey end up littering their fire pit, beer cans, and other non-biodegradable materials that have a negative impact on the environment.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_257\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-257\" class=\"size-large wp-image-257\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-1024x571.jpg\" alt=\"Litter left behind\u00a0by people\" width=\"1024\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-1024x571.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-1536x856.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/trash-in-Marine-Park-1-2048x1141.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Litter left behind\u00a0by people in the Marine Park. Photo by Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Julia Raskin, a trails program manager at Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC), works to conserve and restore the natural ecosystem of New York City and is concerned about the degradation of natural areas.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople of New York are partying more out there, leaving trash out there. If these areas are mistreated, you risk damaging the environment. That\u2019s a very hard thing to come back from, it takes a long time to recover and to restore that area,\u201d said Raskin.<\/p>\n<p>The work Otero and his advanced volunteers have accomplished corresponds directly to the overall formalization and maintenance efforts of the Citywide Trails Team.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of time this happens unintentionally, but in the long run, they end up altering the natural course of these trails,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Between March and May 2020, the Natural Areas Conservancy carried out a survey to uncover the impacts of COVID-19 on urban natural areas. They interviewed municipal and nonprofit organizations from 12 cities across the nation. The survey asked them the changes they are seeing in the behavior patterns of trailers, the capacity of their organization to handle these changes, the budgeting issues, staff shortages, and how they are dealing with the new normal.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_259\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-259\" class=\"size-large wp-image-259\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"Family playing football\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-1536x858.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fam-playing-football-1-2048x1144.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Family enjoying nature in Marine Park. Photo by Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The survey suggests that <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalareasnyc.org\/content\/national\/covid-survey_design_6.25-final-1.pdf\"><b>83 percent<\/b><\/a> of organizations reported an increase in the number of people visiting the parks across the country. But organizations have lost the resources to take care of them. Seventy-two percent of them experienced reduced ability to manage and look after natural areas.There were less plantings and an inability to hire seasonal staff.<\/p>\n<p>The phenomenon of environmental degradation due to human activities on trails is not new. According to<b> <\/b>the<b> <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/americanhiking.org\/blog\/hiking-responsibly-faq-covid-19\/\"><b>American Hiking Society<\/b><\/a><b>,<\/b> unchecked trailing has diminished air quality, degraded water bodies, and reduced active wildlife in the corridors of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>trails.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The crowds rushing towards trails due to the pandemic have only made the situation worse. Many hikers tend to go on overnight trips and camping sites. This activity often involves creating campfires to provide fuel for cooking and keeping warm.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_261\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-261\" class=\"size-large wp-image-261\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-1024x567.jpg\" alt=\"Often squirrels stumble upon trash\" width=\"1024\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-1024x567.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-768x426.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-1536x851.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-1-2048x1135.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-261\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Often squirrels stumble upon trash. By Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Unfortunately, the wood that the hikers use could strip away the provided important resources for wild animals. Human feces left behind might be detrimental to the health of the soil, which has cascading, adverse effects on the vegetation, disrupting the entire natural food chain. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since more people are going to trails and there is a disproportionate allocation of funds towards maintenance, there has been slow yet steady degradation of the environment.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Otero shared that the NAC has been advocating for funding resources to NYC parks to improve forest management initiatives and framework.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore the pandemic, we were able to succeed in drawing more funding and allocate gardeners to maintain these parks on full-time shifts,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, the two full-time gardeners that we had working laid off. The multi-year funding has been discontinued because the funds are sent towards Covid-related support.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americantrails.org\/resources\/how-covid-19-is-effecting-the-trails-industry\"><b>American Trails<\/b><\/a> surveyed 250 participants to uncover the impacts of COVID on trails. According to the nonprofit, nearly 4,000 events have been canceled, and funds have been cut causing the loss of contracts worth $13.8 million. Additionally, the loss of total volunteer hours has climbed to 380,000.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_292\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-292\" class=\"size-large wp-image-292\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-1024x571.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-1024x571.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-1536x857.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/a-tree-2048x1143.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Since the pandemic, there are fewer resources to take care of trails. Photo by Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pahighlands.org\/news\/covid-19-impact-report-finds-increased-use-on-trails-in-the-pa-highlands-and-across-the-state\"><b>The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC)<\/b><\/a> released its report suggesting that there was a 60 percent jump in the number of people accessing the trails in March 2020 in comparison to the same month of the previous year. The Lebanon Valley Rail-Trail in Pennsylvania\u2019s Lebanon County Pennsylvania is one example. \u201cEvery day is like a weekend day now,\u201d said John Wenge, the president of the organization.<b><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Some trails also allow cars, motor bikes and vehicles that use fossil fuels and as a result may affect the natural state of the environment. Crowded trails are not only bad for the environment, but they can be bad for the whole experience of being on a trail. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHiking is a novel pastime during the pandemic for a lot of untrained and inexperienced individuals. These freshers might not be aware of the best practices to ensure personal safety and the sustainability of the environment,\u201d said Sumeet Santani, a data analytics professional at Walmart Labs who lives in New York and an occasional hiker.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Additionally, the trails and natural parks lack adequate infrastructure to manage the surging traffic of hikers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor instance, there are not enough bathrooms in place for hikers which leads some hikers to urinate in the open,\u201d said Santani.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Lack of a clean water supply may lead the visitors to use and dump plastic water bottles in nature. Many open water bodies don\u2019t have regulations to keep fishing under control. Unchecked fishing by thousands of visitors could be a growing threat to aquatic life.<\/p>\n<p>Many hikers<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/news\/leave-no-trace-summer-you-explore-outdoors\"> <b>feed animals on the trail<\/b><\/a><b>,<\/b> reinforcing food attraction behavior and leading them to associate food with humans. Some animals may become reliant on food supplied by passing hikers and may show violent behavior towards the ones that don\u2019t feed them.<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, there have been several cases of otherwise non-violent animals attacking hikers and in some cases killing them. Moreover, the animals dependent on human-supplied processed food may also show signs of illness when deprived of the same food.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_266\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-266\" class=\"size-large wp-image-266\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"Some animals could get reliant on the outside food\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-1536x858.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/squirrel-in-park-1-2048x1143.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-266\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some animals could get reliant on the outside food. Photo by Guldana Talgat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Perhaps one of the biggest problems the virus has brought is budget cuts for trail maintenance. A trails program manager such as Raskin faces consequences.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s been a lot of budget cuts to all different departments in the City. The NYC Parks Department has really felt it and has had some pretty big budget cuts,\u201d said Raskin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>As a result, a lot of people have lost their jobs and now there\u2019s fewer resources and less people to take care of these natural areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels kind of like a double whammy right now with more people using the space and fewer resources to take care of them,\u201d Raskin said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has brought people out to nature in higher rates than ever before. However as a result, more trash is being left behind and people are more frequently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}