PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 158: Invasive Species: Management, Modeling, and Dynamics
Friday, August 12, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 518 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Exotic plants on recreational trails in the Colorado Rockies.

Wells, Floye^*,1, Lauenroth, William^{1, 2}, ¹ CSU, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Fort Collins, CO² CSU, Department of Forest Rangeland & Watershed Stewardship, Fort Collins, CO

ABSTRACT- Exotic species are changing modern landscapes. If we are to prevent or slow these changes, it is critical that we learn the pathways by which exotic plants spread from one location to another. Recreational trails are often assumed to be a pathway for exotic plants to travel from the front country into the backcountry, and yet, despite the interest in roads and other corridors, there are few data to support this assumption. Our objective was to discover whether there was support for the assumption that trails are corridors for the movement of exotic plants into Colorado wild lands. Specifically we asked: (1) Are there more exotic plants at trailheads than in adjacent undisturbed locations? (2) Are exotic plants present along recreational trails into Colorado wild lands? (3) Does vegetation type (aspen forest, meadow, evergreen forest, or riparian) influence the presence of exotic plants? We sampled recreational trails on public lands in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Our results showed that there were more exotic plants at trailheads than in adjacent locations. In plots along the trail, we found a significant increase in both the number and percent cover of exotics in trail-side plots versus plots located just 4 meters from the trail. Additionally, the number and cover of exotic plants alongside the trail were highest for meadow plots, regardless of the level of use the trail received. Our results show a clear link between recreational trails and the presence of exotic plants and provide evidence for the idea that some vegetation types are more easily invaded than others.

Key words: Invasive species, recreation