• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.303-317
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to offer the raw data for restoration and management of trails by assessing the physical environments, the types of deterioration and the naturalness on trails located in the Sogeumgang, Hwarang and Seoak districts of Gyeongju National Park, Korea. The Sogeumgang was 5.9m, 1.1m of the Hwarang and 1.8m of the Seoak district in trail width. In the bared width of trail, the Sogeumgang was 3.9m, 0.9m of the Hwarang and 1.7m of the Seoak district. In the depth of erosion, the Sogeumgang was 37.1cm, 14.2cm of the Hwarang and Seoak district. The Sogeumgang was $16.8^{\circ}$, $13.1^{\circ}$ of the Hwarang and $12.2^{\circ}$ of the Seoak district in longitudinal slope. In the left and right of transect slope, the Sogeumgang was $18.3^{\circ}$ and $12.6^{\circ}$, $18.0^{\circ}$ and $21.3^{\circ}$ of the Hwarang and $15.3^{\circ}$ and $22.7^{\circ}$ of the Seoak district. In the left, middle and right of soil hardness, the Sogeumgang was 29.9mm, 34.7mm and 31.1mm, 27.6mm, 35.0mm and 27.2mm of the Hwarang and 27.1mm, 30.8mm and 28.0mm of the Seoak district. The types of deterioration in trails were 10 types of the Sogeumgang, 11 types of the Hwarang and 9 types of the Seoak district. The trail erosion, rock exposure and root exposure were substantially observed in the types of deterioration. In the results of the naturalness assessment, the Hwarang district was a good condition, but the Sogeumgang district was bad. The indicators of the Sogeumgang district were mostly poor.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.55-71
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• 1992

Visitor's impact on environmental deterioration of and around trail was studied in Hallasan National Park, Korea in 1990. Width of tread and width of bareland beside trail were correlative positively to user's density, negatively to height of vegetation and slope, respectively. Depth of tread was correlative highly to width of tread and width of bareland beside trail. Areal deterioration by visitors almost took place on subalpine zone. Total damaged area was kestimated to be 121, 000$m^2$ and the damaged area more severe than impact rating class 4 reached about 72.000$m^2$, respectively. Ten types of deterioration of and around trail were discovered and total volume of erosion to be recovered was estimated to be about 62.000$m^2$.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.827-834
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to provide scientific data to support policy making on core area management in national parks, particularly to resolve conflict regarding trail closure, by analyzing the physical characteristics of trails in the Seoraksan and Songnisan National Park on the Baekdudaegan mountains. For the analysis, we surveyed 112 points selected from three sections and one section of closed trails in Seoraksan and Songnisan, respectively (17.1 km in total). The surveyed trails had, on average, trail width of 0.98m, baresoil width of 0.84 m, maximum erosion depth of 11.6cm, and trail slope of 14.2%. Of 53 out of 112 surveyed points (47.3%), we found exposed roots. Only 47 points (42.0%) did not show any type of physical deterioration. The magnitudes of deterioration in the surveyed closed-trail are relatively lower than those in open-trail in other national parks and are similar to those of ridge trails on the Baekdudaegan mountains.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.416-431
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• 2011

Hiking trails in Mt Jiri, and Mt Halla, National Park have been examined in terms of their degrading factors. The trails are deteriorated by natural erosion processes as well as human trampling. Trail deterioration is classified into tread lowering, sidewall retreat, path widening and divergence based upon a place where erosional processes occur. Tread lowering and sidewall retreat is generally produced by natural erosion factors, whereas path widening and divergence is generated by human trampling. Rainwash is the most contributing process to tread lowering. By contrast, several processes such as rainwash, needle ice action, deflation, tree falling and animal activity play a major role in sidewall retreat according to physical conditions of a hiking trail. Path widening and divergence could be classified by a factor producing human trampling. There are lots of cases related to rainwash such as the tree root, gravel, and bedrock, exposed by a surface flow lowering a tread and the riser produced by tread scouring. A puddle of rainwater on a flat tread and a fallen tree of Abies koreana in a forest region are also major factors to cause path widening and divergence. A paved tread with stones encourages a hiker to walk out of a trail. Taking a shortcut also results in path widening and divergence without a factor giving a hiker inconvenience on a trail.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.605-614
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• 2015

This study was carried out to maintain, manage and restore the trails by assessing the physical conditions, the patterns of deterioration and the impact rating class of the major trails of Juwangsan National Park. The major trails followed 4 routes including Jubong, Gamaebong, Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi and Woloe. The route length of Jubong was 4.6 km; it was 3.6 km for Gamaebong, 5.6 km for Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi and 5.9 km for Woloe. As for the physical conditions, Jubong was the widest and Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the narrowest in trail width. In terms of the bared trail width, Jubong was the widest and Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the narrowest. As for the depth of erosion, Gamaebong was the deepest and Woloe was the shallowest. Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the steepest and Gamaebong was the gentlest in the slope. Further, Gamaebong showed the highest soil hardness, and Woloe had the lowest hardness. In terms of the times of appearance of deterioration patterns, Jubong recorded 71 times, Gamaebong 62 times, Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi 63 times and Woloe 78 times. In case of the impact rating class, the trail erosion was similar to grades I and II grade; the rest were mostly I grade and hence considered to be in a generally good condition. For the ongoing management of trails, a comprehensive study needs to be conducted in the light of various environmental factors. Also, a restoration plan for damaged trails should be established with consideration for the surrounding environment and ecosystem.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.103-115
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• 2017

This paper shows the types of deteriorated hiking trails and degrading factors at three Great Walks such as Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Routeburn Track and Kepler Track in New Zealand. The deteriorated trails could be classified into gullying, widening, narrowing, branching and sidewall erosion. Department of Conservation carefully manages overland flows on trails for preventing surface erosion, thus the Great Walks show only a minor problem of gully on trails which is usually active in a mountainous area. Widening and branching of trails caused by tread erosion are not also developed due to the restriction of visitors as well as the management of rainwash. However, despite the detailed maintenance and prevention of an overuse of trails, some trails traversing steep slopes in a alpine zone under a periglacial environment are severely degraded along their sidewalls. It suggests that a unvegetated sidewall of trails has to be strictly managed in an early stage of occurrence and a slope-traversing section should be selected with more consideration when establishing a route of hiking trails.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.81-89
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• 2016

This study aims to understand the relationship between visitors and the degradation of natural resources in Bukhansan national park. We analyzed the trend of the number of visitors, destruction of natural resources and decrease of biodiversity per year. We further compared three types of trails, heavily-used trails and rarely-used trails and a trail with limited access, regarding the degree of destruction in the National Park through a field survey. Our result showed that increasing number of visitors had direct and indirect impact on the destruction of natural resources in the National Park. The direct impact came from visitors' excessive use of trails. Naturally, increasing number of visitors caused an immoderate use of natural resources. Physical degradation such as exposure of tree root, poor drainage of trails, trail erosion was more severe than other types of trails. Decreasing biodiversity or mild disturbance around trails is the indirect impact such as broken bough, worn-bark in rarely-used trails. Destruction scale greatly increased as the number of visitors increased. Real-named reservation system helped to prevent trails from degradation. Our result calls for the need of controlling the number of visitors to Bukhansan National Park to mitigate the degradation. We recommend dispersing visitors from the heavily-used trails to other trails and implementing real-named reservation system in the rarely-used trails for the effective management of the national park.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.296-311
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• 2008

In order to examine the rates and factors of path widening in Mount Halla, the retreat of path sidewalls was monitored at 32 sites of Seongpanak Hiking Trail located between 875 m and 1,400 m in elevation. The mean rate of sidewall retreat for the period 2002-2008 is 50.6 mm, equivalent to 10.0 mm/yr. The retreat rate of frozen period is 19.3 mm/yr, while the rate of unfrozen period is 4.3 mm/yr. The latter is divided into the rainy and dry periods that exhibit the retreat rates of 5.9 mm/yr and 2.9 mm/yr, respectively. The retreat rate of sidewalls is also varied with seasons; winter shows the maximum rate of 42.2 mm/yr, while summer exhibits the minimum rate of 1.3 mm/yr. Spring and fall show the intermediate rates of 13.9 mm/yr and 6.4 mm/yr, respectively. Soil hardness and elevation are not closely related to the retreat rate of sidewalls, even though the retreat rate is larger at the north-faced sidewalls than the south-faced sidewalls during the frozen period. Pipkrake is likely to be the most important factor contributing to the path widening in that the retreat of winter months accounts for 76.7% of the total retreat. The hiking trail is placed under the climatic conditions which develop pipkrake in 85 days annually. In addition, it is usual to observe the path sidewall covered with pipkrake in the freezing month of December and the thawing months of March and April. On the other hand, deflation and rainsplash erosion are not important due to the weak wind speed and the forested trail. Rainwash is also insignificant in that the path has been almost paved to mitigate trampling effects. Although biological activity is not dominant, hikers cause a large retreat of sidewalls in the thawing months since they would walk on the sidewalls to avoid snow-melting pools on the path.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.3
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• pp.476-482
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• 2011

As part of studies on the reduction of forest trails degradation caused by high users density, this study was carried out to investigate soil physical properties of forest trails of Gyeongnam Domain in Mt. Jiri, Southeast Korea. Since the forest were opened for leisure trailing in 2008, the average soil erosion amounts per a square meter on the forest trails were $0.0015m^3$ from Inweol to Gumgeo, $0.0018m^3$ from Dongang to Suchol, and $0.0027m^3$ from Suchol to Chungam for 3 years. But, from Chungam to Agyang, the erosion was almost not occurred because it was recently opened. The soil hardness in 5 cm depth was significantly higher than in 10 cm depth. It indicates that intensive soil compaction by users has mainly affected in 5 cm soil depth until now on. In three forest trails compacted intensively, the porosity of 0-7.5 cm soil layer was down to 1.4-1.5 times compared to that in 2008. In additions, the bulk density was up to 1.6-3.1 times compared to the controls, which were not opened to users. As a result, the degradation caused by high users density would keep occurring on the three forest trails unless any counterplans are considered for the degradation reduction. At the moment, users distribution to other forest trails and long-term sabbatical years would be the most effective counterplans to keep from users gravitation on the three forest trails.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.213-221
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• 2018

In the desert and Gobi regions with strong wind and large sediment discharge, sand transporting engineering is more effective than sand blocking and sand fixing measures in sand prevention. This study uses the discrete phase model of 3D numerical simulation to study the motion trail, motion state and distribution rule of sand particles with different grain diameters when the included angle between the main shaft of the feather-row lateral transportation sand barrier and the wind direction changes, and conducts a comparison in combination with the wind tunnel test and the flow field rule of common sand barrier. According to the comparison, when wind-sand incoming flow passes through a feather-row sand barrier, sand particles slow down and deposit within the deceleration area under the resistance of the feather-row sand barrier, move along the transportation area formed by the transportation force, and accumulate as a ridge at the tail of the engineering. With increasing wind speed, the eolian erosion of the sand particles to the ground and the feather-row sand barrier is enhanced, and the sand transporting quantity and throw-over quantity of the feather-row sand barrier are both increased. When sand particles with different grain diameters bypass the feather-row sand barrier, the particle size of the infiltrating sands will increase with the included angle between the main shaft of the feather-row sand barrier and the wind direction. The obtained result demonstrates that, at a constant wind speed, the flow field formed is most suitable for the lateral transportation of the wind-drift flow when the included angle between the main shaft of the feather-row sand barrier lateral transportation engineering and the wind speed is less than or equal to $30^{\circ}$.