The recent death of a youngster in Bannerghatta’s Ragihalli forest points to a larger problem. The way trekking is being practised right now is damaging to the ecology. There is a need to orient trekking from being a mere endurance sport to an educative activity, feel M B Krishna and Sunil Kumar M
Trekking is not countryside walking. The way it is practised in our country, it is a mad rush from one place to another, often in wilderness areas for the thrill of it. Its practitioners barely find time to observe anything in nature, or take time to enjoy the smell, sound and the tranquillity of it. The recent death of a youngster in the Ragihalli forest of the Bannerghatta range and the missing trekkers sometime back in Sakleshpura are pointers to a larger malaise that of eco-tourism.
In a bid to promote eco-tourism, the Karnataka government has established its own chain of hotels called Jungle Lodges and Resorts, which has been granted exclusive use of many tracts. Also, local communities, businessmen, NGOs, and even researchers, are in the fray. All out to conquer that last frontier called the wild.
The government and the people, are literally stripping the wild animals and plants of their home. In the big chase for stakeholders’ rights, we have turned all wild animals and plants into tenants in their own territory. All for revenue. Meanwhile, we are doing enormous damage to our ecosystems. An urgent need is to sit up and take note.
Karnataka has 38,284 sq km of forest area, which is about 19.96 per cent of its geographical area. Karnataka is also blessed with 60 per cent of the Western Ghats, a world heritage site. Human settlements in and around many of wilderness areas are a common feature. In recent times, these areas are encircled by resorts and lodges which cater to large urban crowds. In addition, there are adventure groups in urban areas which organise trekking in wilderness areas both during the day and night throughout the year. The forest department is not far behind in this race. There are official designated routes in many of our wilderness areas. Some of the popular trekking routes include Kukke Subramanya to Pushpagiri route, Kakkabe to Tadiyandamol, Samse to Kudremukh peak, etc.
Trekking is believed to be an ecologically sound way of experiencing nature and is much advocated. However, this is far from the truth. Trekking, the way it is practised in Karnataka is damaging to the ecology. The immediate effects are visible - broken liquor bottles, aluminium cans, plastic covers, gutka sachets, paper, etc on the waysides of trails and in our water bodies. These often are not because of the trekkers themselves, but by people who visit these areas made famous by trekkers. These impacts are less damaging, can be controlled easily by way of ensuring that visitors don’t litter the place. The damage can also be rectified by organising a collection drive to clean up the place. But prevention is always better than cure.
Long-term impact
The long-term impacts on the habitats have unfortunately not got adequate attention from researchers and authorities. There is hardly any research done to understand the damage occurring in any of our wilderness areas.
Destruction of vegetation to clear thickets to make way for easy movement and trampling of seedlings is the largest form of destruction of the habitat. Usually trekkers carry a machete and a common practice is to clear thorny vegetation and protruding branches, or bushes that protrude into the trail. The regeneration of plants and trees get affected enormously. Over time, one can notice in most of the trekking routes that the width of these trekking corridors widen progressively. This is very significant ecologically. In many cases, these trekking routes have slowly been converted into pucca roads. This is also the start of a process called fragmentation of habitats.
The other profound impact is soil compaction. As people walk on trails, there is a progressive compaction of soil. Compaction of the soil and leaf litter can lead to the reduction of air spaces within the soil structure. This change in the soil structure prevents germination of seeds as a good flow of water and air are important for root penetration. Walking repeatedly on vegetation over time can also kill iy. It can take decades to reverse this compaction process naturally.
Trampling also directly kills smaller organisms like ants, earthworms, millipedes and bugs, crucial to maintaining the integrity of the soil structure and quality. It could damage fruiting bodies of fungi (mushrooms and toadstools), key to nutrient recycling in a forest. Exposure and drying of the soil can destroy ectomycorrhiza associated with specific plants, existing for millions of years through evolutionary time. These fungi in heavy rainfall zones penetrate fallen leaves and litter, and transport minerals and nutrients directly to the plant/tree roots, before there is a chance of heavy rain washing it off. In drier zones, ectomycorrhiza help in mobilising phosphorus, an essential element for both plants and animals, and make it available to plants.
Threat of invasive species
Trekking trails provide an access point for colonising species from outside the wilderness area. For example, the fire ant (Solenopsis) gets into these trails because of human presence. So will the odour ant (tapinoma), and the crazy ant (anaplolepis).
Food waste draws animals to the trail while a noisy trekking group can disturb birds and animals. Most of the shy bird species such as warblers, babblers, spider hunters and all the mammals such as deer, sambhar, tiger, leopard, elephant, etc try to avoid the trekking area. Research studies prove that long-term effects of noise pollution could lead to birds failing to nest in the area and avoiding the area fully. Forest fires due to cigarettes and campsites are another major threat to our dry deciduous and scrub forests.
What needs to be done
While the Karnataka Forest Department is trying to install signboards indicating the movement of large mammals and warning trekkers to keep away from illegally entering protected areas, more needs to be done. Most of the efforts appear to be geared towards the safety of trekkers. There is a greater need to exercise the legal provisions efficiently under the wildlife and forest conservation acts for violations. The forest department should, with the help of researchers, periodically assess damages to habitats and the ecosystem, and close routes or lower traffic so that the habitats can recuperate. Trekking should be strongly discouraged when the soils are wet (during monsoon) as it could lead to soil erosion. However blocking access totally would encourage unauthorised entry, so it just needs to be regulated.
To preserve our ecosystems there is a larger need to orient trekking and other activities from being a mere endurance sport to an educative activity. We all have to play our role in conservation. It could be so informative to walk on a route where important and noticeable ecological features are flagged, both on a hand out map and on the trail, as watch points (thankfully not as watch towers!). We could then look forward to insightful education, rather than mere entertainment.