Using personal tracking software data to aid the impact of illegal trails in national parks

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ABSTRACT

The use of personal tracking devices for recreational use and for safety when in the outdoors has grown exponentially in recent years. The large-scale data collected through these platforms has enabled our team to gain a greater understanding of the way in which people encroach onto National Parks causing environmental damage. The project used freely accessible data on the access of illegal trails primarily from motor bike and mountain bike use in the East Otway Range of Victoria. This region was an excellent case study as it is a mosaic of state and national parks and the signage and restrictive fences place by national parks have been aligned with the illegal trail formation. The data mapping has been coupled with measurement of the impact on the environment including the number and scale of the trails and the type of environment they are impacting including fauna and flora of national significance. The data has shown some useful information around the manner in which illegal trails are identified and concealed by users. Further, the research has uncovered ways in which trails have been concealed from authorities.

KEYWORDS:

• Personal tracking software data
• national parks
• illegal trails
• motorcycles
• mountain bikes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).