Creek Rock Piles - Good or Bad for Wildlife?

When hiking, you may have seen them. Those intriguing, delicately stacked piles of rocks in creek beds. Sometimes referred to as “cairns”, a Gaelic word that describes human-made rock piles built for a purpose such as trail marking or burial mounds, cairns have a historic and legitimate purpose, but unofficial rock piles detract from this tradition and can do more harm than good.

Aside from their impact on the landscape (spoiling the view much in the way that carvings on beech trees do) and potential to mislead hikers, unofficial rock stacks can have a negative ecological impact as well. Disturbing creek rocks can affect the micro habitats that fish, amphibians and invertebrates rely on. The rare hellbender salamander is just one example of a species that can be disturbed by the dislodging of creek rocks, whether for stone stacking or some other purpose.

Let’s enjoy our wild areas and leave them undisturbed, for the sake of wildlife and so that others may enjoy them as well.  

Written by Brendan Bogosian

Sources:

National Parks Service - Rock Cairns

Leave No Trace

Why you shouldn't stack rocks in the wild - The Washington Post