How unicycling affects environment?

[thinuniking]

i am doing and assignment on how unicycling effects the environment this is the kinda stuff i want

Not many people do it so low impact due to not many people on trails
When illegal man made trails are made habitats maybe destroyed trees cut down ect
Some riders use 3” tyres that leave great trenches on paths
Much more manoeuvrable then bikes so many people go off trails so destroy untouched habitats.
With new disciplines such as “natural trails” areas such as large boulders are used as platforms to jump to and from which can scar the rocks with pedal marks.
When a unicycle falls pedals tend to gouge marks in to ground which can have great effects on environment

Yeah i know its a bit blagged but any help is much welcome
Ben - still riding

[DustinMichels]

You forget the pieces of brick that fall off walls when you crank/pedalgrab them! The splinters of wood flying around when you started unicycling and that jump on a parkbench failed. The red stains on stairsets you failed to clear, and ofcourse the chaos you can invoke on traffic by simply riding by...

[trials_uni]

maybe you should also remark about how much better it is for the environment...it seems like your just anothe mountain biker complaining about "how all them damn unicyclists are screwing up the trails".

[cathwood]

How many 'untouched habitats' are there in Devon then?

Cathy

[andrew_carter]

Not unicycling specific, but when a trail is made it apparently isolates plant and animals habitats because they just won't cross them. I guess the animals and insects, etc feel too vulnerable or something. If I'm wrong, please tell me because I'd love to meet the park ranger guy out on the trail who told me this and set him straight.

Andrew

[tholub]

Originally Posted by andrew_carter

Not unicycling specific, but when a trail is made it apparently isolates plant and animals habitats because they just won't cross them. I guess the animals and insects, etc feel too vulnerable or something. If I'm wrong, please tell me because I'd love to meet the park ranger guy out on the trail who told me this and set him straight.

Andrew

It's obviously not true that trails isolate habitat, because animals make trails of their own. There might be some animals which are less likely to cross a human-made trail, but even that seems a little unrealistic. And in the UK, the flora and fauna are so limited anyway, that there's really not much argument to be made there. It might be more of an issue in areas which have more natural wildlife.

[UNIquelyCanadian]

Does this thread help?

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25490

[James_Potter]

Originally Posted by tholub

It's obviously not true that trails isolate habitat, because animals make trails of their own. There might be some animals which are less likely to cross a human-made trail, but even that seems a little unrealistic. And in the UK, the flora and fauna are so limited anyway, that there's really not much argument to be made there. It might be more of an issue in areas which have more natural wildlife.

maybe its because human made trails are really wide, so its more of an open space, and animals don't like open spaces. or maybe human trails smell suspiciously like humans, and animals think humans stink, they don't like our smell.

[thinuniking]

When i say untouched habitats i just mean areas off the beaten trail, i am gona put some good stuff in to but my posts are pretty rushed as i got 3 weeks to do sooo much work ANY IDEAS?!
Ben