New Mexico hikers combine wilderness solitude, public service
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Forests provide people with space for solitude, and summer hikers to a New Mexico wilderness area can help collect valuable preservation and restoration data.
Hikers in the Carson National Forest can sign up for a session of solitude monitoring, four hours in which they log encounters with other amblers and campers. The project is a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service and the nonprofit New Mexico Wild.
The group's stewardship and outreach manager, Keila Gutierrez, said it's about gathering information on visitor density and the impact it's having on the ecosystem.
"This really just helps the Forest Service understand traffic patterns on trails," she said, "which trails are getting really heavy use; understanding there should be places in wilderness where you can get away from people and really have solitude and quiet."
She said those who agree to do a monitoring session are provided a special log for their encounters. The four hours don't need to be continuous, but must take place between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Avid hikers can even sign up for more than one session. The 1.5 million-acre Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico's Taos County offers hiking, mountain biking, camping, hunting and fishing.
Guitierrez said data collection efforts by hikers can include reports of trash dumping, or the use of chainsaws and other mechanized equipment, which is generally prohibited.
"Another big thing that they’re monitoring this season is cattle," she said. "So, in areas where there shouldn’t be cattle incursions, documenting if there are cattle around, so that information can be passed on to the agencies for management."
There are more than 300 miles of trails in the Carson forest, from easy day hikes to challenging backpacking trips. People interested in a monitoring session need to register at NewMexicoWild.org.
