Trail Management Terminology and Decision-Making: A Conceptual and Practical Framework.

ABSTRACT: Trail management in protected natural areas seeks to maximize opportunities for outdoor recreation and the provision of cultural ecosystem services while minimizing deleterious changes to trail-associated natural resources. The field's interdisciplinarity, drawing on recreation ecology, trail science, and restoration ecology, enriches the knowledge base and practice of trail management, yet it can also lead to inconsistent use and application of cross-disciplinary terminology. We conducted a systematic literature review with summative content analysis to examine four term sets: (i) terms for deleterious physical changes affecting trail usability (impact, damage, degradation), (ii) terms for the creation of new trails (construction, build), (iii) terms for the care of existing trails (maint

SUBMITTER: de Castro Simao MVR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12935811 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature