Assessment on trail impacts by tourism activities in Huangshizhai scenic spot of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
旅游活动对黄石寨景区步道的影响评估

Trails are one of the fundmental facilities on which tourism activities are performed.They provide safe access to non-roaded areas,support tourism opportunities and protect natural resources by concentrating visitor traffic on resistant treads.However,increasing tourism use,coupled with poor planning and management,has led to negative impacts on trails.In order to study the tourism impacts on trails,Huangshizhai scenic spot in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was selected to systematically research by means of after-the-fact analysis.30 sampling plots were chosen.The results indicate that tourism activities have already negatively impacted on trails in Huangshizhai scenic spot with indictors evaluation and characteristics analysis.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)the rate of trail extension is 13.5% and there are 6 kinds of spatial forms in this scenic spot;(2)the occurrence rate of trail erosion including incision and soil loss within the sample plots is 73.3%;(3)the number of trail damage's site is 14;(4)the soil hardness along trails increases markedly and the average soil hardness increase 0.5m away from the trails is 197.5%;(5)the content of organic materials of soil by the trails decreasing due to ring trail trampling;ad(6)the percentage of vegetation cover reduces obviously along the trails.And the impact on trails on top of the mountain is the greatest,followed by the downhill trail,and that of the uphill trail the smallest.In addition,strong correlations between high levels of trail degradation and higher frequencies of visitors were found.Based on the findings,some management suggestions were put forward.