Bushwalking Effects Project

[bushwalkingstudent]

Hi!
I am a high school student and I am doing a project for geography for school on the ecological effects of bushwalking and how individuals’ impact and affect the bush environment.
I myself bushwalk regularly on short tracks as well as multiday tracks. I just came across this bushwalking forum today and I'm not entirely sure how everything works but I was wondering if people could fill out my survey about bushwalking and if anybody had any thoughts to offer on how you affect the environment and what measure do you take to minimise your impacts.

I know there are the typical things that people may do that can damage the bush environment such as littering and polluting, and measures can be to take your rubbish with you. There are also problems such as the widening of tracks, or people treading on vegetation and pulling flowers off the trees, especially on more popular tracks with a lot of tourists.

If you could fill out my survey that is linked I will be forever thankful and if any of you had any concerns of your own about the effects on the environment that you could voice out I would be really grateful. [url][/url] https://forms.gle/9Qxq4hcxF9uPeAby7

Thank you for your time and I hope you have a nice day.

[Neo]

Done. Best wishes mate.

[Kott]

Done

[wildwanderer]

One environmental impact that is not often considered is the more work that is done on a track, the more people the track attracts and then even more work has to be done to manage even greater numbers.

An example is a track I know of around a lake. 15 years ago it was narrow and lightly used, some parts became muddy in the wet.

Then the local council flattened, widened and compacted the track surface and put in signage. It became an easier track for people to walk on and the walker numbers increased exponentially.

The track received so much traffic and publicity that they have now partially concreted the route and put in extensive bridges. On the weekend and after 3pm it resembles a busy city sidewalk.

So the once minor track that blended in with nature so it was hard to notice... now has a huge visual impact on its environment. (Physical as well if you count the trees removed for the concreting and bridging)

https://www.weekendnotes.com/narrabeen-lagoon-trail/

If you build it. they will come

[bushwalkingstudent]

Just wanted to thank everyone who completed the survey and for the replies and private messages.

I now have to close the survey so I can analyse it for my project, so it will no longer be accepting responses.

But big thanks to everyone.