Snow in June

Songs of the Week: “Hometown Dream” by Helado Negro and “Dangerous Woman” by Weiland

Hi, hello! I am reporting from the beautiful mountains of the Rockies and am happy to report that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of having such amazing views to wake up to. It’s been about 3 weeks since I moved to Estes Park and I am finally getting into a rhythm here. Everybody I have had the opportunity to talk to and work alongside has been so cool and welcoming! I’m really happy to be here and even more excited to get my project started.

This summer, I will be identifying and quantifying visitor impacts on social trails in the tundra. Recognizing the impacts visitors have on the tundra is an important step to protecting and preserving these important natural resources. The alpine tundra is an important and fragile ecosystem that is unique to Rocky Mountain National Park. Visitors can have negative impacts on the tundra by trampling on native vegetation which can introduce non-native species to the ecosystem. Social trailing also leads to an increase in soil erosion and can hinder vegetation growth. There are unique flora and fauna that have existed in the tundra for generations; it is important to take preventative measures now. Damage to these resources is irreversible and can take decades, if not hundreds of years, to recover from. 

I had the opportunity to go out with my mentors Paige and Steven to get a feel for what my summer is going to be like. We decided to do some social trail mapping over at Deer Mountain. Currently, the tundra isn’t melted over enough to where I can safely and effectively identify social trails so for the time being I will be working on Deer Mountain. It was really cool and exciting to go out in the field and get some training with the tools I will be using this summer! Surprisingly, there were still a lot of social trails on Deer Mountain. This just goes to show that social trails not only affect the tundra but also affect other important ecosystems in the park. It was really interesting to get an understanding of the different types of social trails, the degradation levels, and the waste I will see in the field. It was really great practice and now I am even more excited to go out into the tundra!