Do not walk!

boatman

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 20, 2007
2,444
8
78
Cornwall
I hope you'll notice that I put it forward as a school of thought, I'd rather folk followed what I said in post #9. We are having a discussion and some environmental groups put it forward as a valid management practice.

That is true and English Heritage looked at the same thing calling it the use of Honeypot attractions so that, for example, Stonehenge would be promoted and hopefully the visitor pressure on Avebury would be lessened. However, they appear to have recanted and now look to open up the landscape around attractions in order to lessen the load. They have a grand vision of restoring the prehistoric landscape, open to the public, around Stonehenge now.
 

Bumbler

Nomad
Feb 22, 2013
256
0
Norway
www.bushcraft.no
Yeah but do you think a totally "natural" deer walking through the woods is going to do less damage than you? More most likely.

Next time I go out I'll take some pics of grazing damage made by moose....they like the top shots of the younger trees, and strips the bark of the older. Thats how I get dry fire wood in the birch forest. The trees die, and because there is no bark on them, they dry out instead of rotting.

Not to mention where they sleep. Thats a 1,5x1,5 meter of vegetation crushed. And while most of the time there is no foot print after me, the moose foot prints are sunk deep into the ground.
 

Aristotle

Forager
Jan 13, 2010
246
78
NW England
Heavy rain, as we appear to experience frequently for extended periods nowadays, appears to cause/accelerate a lot of the erosion and bogginess around here.
 

Maxwellol

Tenderfoot
Feb 10, 2013
90
0
Manchester
Thanks for all the replies guys, good support.

Cheers in particular for all the points made about how wildlife of various sizes is making just as much of an impact as me - really obvious, but I hadn't thought of it that way at all. This put it into the best perspective to comfort my worries :D

As for walking barefoot...2 miles from Manchester city-centre, not a chance in hell - there are far, far worse things to tread on than nettles around here :/
 

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