https://mountainjournal.org/mountain-biking-and-hiking-with-dogs-impacts-wildlife

MOUNTAIN BIKERS AND HIKERS WITH DOGS CAN BRING HUGE SPATIAL INTRUSIONS INTO WILDLIFE HABITAT

by Todd Wilkinson
Bighorn sheep find solace in the Dubois Badlands Wilderness Study Area. Photo courtesy Bruce Thompson
Twice in the same week at different events in Jackson Hole, Bruce S. Thompson projected graphics onto a screen. Each time there were accompanying gasps in the audience. These were not moments of shock, but rather epiphanies that invited instant personal reflection.

Mr. Thompson, who is a professional natural sciences education specialist and who, earlier, spent 17 years as education director of the nationally-renowned Teton Science Schools, was making vivid a phenomenon that many outdoor-oriented people suspect, but which has been hard to put a finger on.

The phenomenon is recreational impact on wildlife, a topic treated by some as almost taboo.

Many people assume or claim that because they don’t actually witness animals running away at…