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These Bogs Weren't made for Walking

Ireland's National Parks attract 350,000 visitors per year, which puts the environment under great pressure. The problem of trampling by walkers has been steadily escalating over the past decade from that of a few isolated patches of damage to swathes of eroded pathways criss-crossing some of the more popular walking areas. Fiona MacGowan from UCD describes some of the effects of trampling by tourists on blanket bogs.

Trampling damage to bogs is a problem of our times and ironically a reflection of the surge of interest in the environment. The delicate balance of life on the bogs is severely affected by thousands of pairs of human feet trampling over it every year. Many of the plants cannot sustain the constant barrage of walkers and they gradually die off. The walkers are a summer feature. However come the wintertime the newly bared bog surface has to put up with prevailing winds and driving rain and with very few plant roots left to hold it together the light peat is either washed or blown away.

A severely eroded footpath on the slopes of Diamond Hill in the Connemara National Park, Co. Galway. Photo: Fiona MacGowan.

The problem areas are concentrated in Wicklow, Killarney and Connemara National Parks. The parks attract large numbers of visitors every year many of whom are outdoor-orientated people who visit specifically with walking in mind. The tracks that have been made by previous visitors appear the obvious routes to follow. However the problem increases when these tracks become waterlogged and muddy and the walkers move out onto the surrounding untrampled areas thus extending the damage.

The botanical research which I have carried out took place in the Connemara National Park on the slopes of Diamond Hill, an easily accessible mountain at the edge of the Twelve Ben's Mountain range. It is representative of other damaged areas in that it is a bog-covered hillside with thousands of walkers trampling over it each year. Research results have shown that a group of plants disappear with increasing damage while another group actually colonise the damaged areas. A third group of plants manage to hang on but in decreasing amounts.

Losers, Opportunists, and Survivors

The main plants to disappear are the ground hugging mosses and liverworts. With only minimal trampling 20 peatland species are lost. These small and delicate organisms cannot withstand trampling feet. Their importance lies in the fact that they are low-growing, coating the bog surface and creating what is known as a "micro-habitat", a specific area, suitable for the growth of other larger plants such as grasses and sedges. So once the mosses and liverworts are destroyed then the micro-habitat of other plants are also destroyed and the conditions for growth are changed. Some plants are just sensitive and cannot really withstand any change from the norm, the scented Bog Myrtle and carnivorous Butterwort, being two examples which disappear very quickly from damaged areas.

Opportunists are an interesting group, they are plants which colonise the bare, eroded peat and cling on in difficult circumstances. However they are not true bog plants and even they cannot survive the severest levels of trampling. The main plants of this group are rushes (Juncus and Luzula species) and grasses (Agrostis species). Another coloniser is the Bell Heather, this plant is more commonly found on the drier, heathy habitats and is an indicator of the change to the drier conditions on the damaged bog surface. Up to 20 species can invade trampled bogs.

Survivors include Ling Heather, Purple Moor Grass and the Many-headed Bog Cotton. However it must be noted that they are definitely in decline on the damaged areas, occurring in smaller amounts with increasing trampling. This begs the question: How many more summers of trampling can they withstand?

The Future

So far trampling is confined to certain areas but with increasing tourist numbers and an expansion in the leisure industry, the number of walkers on our hills is growing every year. A management plan is badly needed while there is still hope of containing the problem. Coping with access pressures is essential for nature conservation in the uplands. The challenge is to find ways of enabling people to venture into the hills without spoiling them. National Parks exist to protect our most treasured landscapes and try to ensure public enjoyment of them. A seriously eroded path is evidence of conflict between these two purposes. Landscape managers should not prevent access, but should work to overcome the problems and manage paths in order to provide access and enjoyment for all. If the hillsides are going to erode away people will no longer want to pay to visit the Parks and climb a black, sloppy mountain. It is time to put the thinking caps on! - Fiona MacGowan