Manomet Keeps Recreationists On Track

(NEWS CENTER) -- Almost anyone who enjoys the Green Outdoors uses trails. Hikers, nordic skier, snowmobilers and ATVers all take to the trails and thousands of volunteers attempt to keep them maintained.

Manomet is an environmental research organization whose mission is to protect natural resources for the benefit of wildlife and human populations. They are currently working on a two year project determining the impact of trails on various ecosystems.

Ethel Wilkerson is coordinating the program. She leads a staff which visits trails and rates their impact according to a Recreation Stewardship Scorecard. Her rapid assessment index is easily compiled and measures such trail characteristics as width, slope, hardness, canopy cover, invasive species and more to gauge scientifically how the land is being impacted. One of the biggest challenges is water, which can severely damage a trail.

Wilkerson believes that generally, Maine's trails are reasonably well maintained, "I'd heard all of these terrible stories driving through streams and ripping up the channels and destroying fresh habitat, but there were very few stream crossings that I thought were very, very bad. There are some that can always use improvements, but there are very, very few that I thought were ecologically terrible."

Manomet Maine has surveyed 84 trails between York and Fort Kent to determine their impact. The project will continue through next year.

Their service is free to landowners.

It is funded by U. S. Forest Service through the Northeast States Research Cooperative.