You may be wondering is erosion really that bad?! It's a natural process, right? RMFI's trail and restoration work at sites throughout Southern Colorado focuses on mitigating and controlling erosion. Erosion control is the effort of preventing soil loss by erosional forces such as wind, water, and recreational use. Erosion causes all variety of environmental outcomes including vegetation loss, vegetation inundation, water pollution, soil loss and gullying. While erosion is a natural process (eg the Grand Canyon), accelerated erosion caused by human impacts can result in the degradation of environmental resources.

Common human-caused sources of erosion that we see include the proliferation of undesignated social trails, poorly constructed designated trails, and poorly engineered drainage structures which inadequately address water runoff. So what's the big deal? It's all about the vegetation. Vegetation provides critical soil stabilization with its roots. Once plants die by boots, soil loss, or sediment inundation, there is no longer a root structure to keep the surrounding soil in place.

We mitigate erosion by building structures (check dams and other detention structures) to stop the movement of soil, restoring gullies and social trails by bringing them back to grade, and revegetating bare areas with seed and transplants.

Moral of the story? Stay on designated trails! Don't cut switchbacks! Build only sustainable and well-designed trails! And don't crush the vegetation! Remember, erosion doesn't need any help.