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Wounded Landscape: Environmental and Social Consequences of (Illegal) Motor Tourism in Forests on the Example of Worek Okrzeszyna (The Central Sudetes on The Polish-Czech Borderland)

Quaestiones Geographicae
Volume 42 (2023): Issue 4 (December 2023)
By:
Open Access
|Dec 2023

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Land relief of the Jański Wierch (Czech Jánský vrch) and Węglarz ranges surrounding Worek Okrzeszyna to the south and divided by the valley of the Szkło brook. Source: authors’ own research based on the numerical terrain model (NTM) of 1 m × 1 m resolution, retrieved from: https://mapy.geoportal.gov.pl/imap/Imgp_2.html.
Land relief of the Jański Wierch (Czech Jánský vrch) and Węglarz ranges surrounding Worek Okrzeszyna to the south and divided by the valley of the Szkło brook. Source: authors’ own research based on the numerical terrain model (NTM) of 1 m × 1 m resolution, retrieved from: https://mapy.geoportal.gov.pl/imap/Imgp_2.html.

Fig. 2.

Illegal motor tourism in forest districts in Poland. Source: authors’ own study.
Illegal motor tourism in forest districts in Poland. Source: authors’ own study.

Fig. 3.

Illegal motor tourism in national parks in Poland. Source: authors’ own study.
Illegal motor tourism in national parks in Poland. Source: authors’ own study.

Fig. 4.

Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range plotted on a relief. Source: authors’ own research.
Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range plotted on a relief. Source: authors’ own research.

Fig. 5.

Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range plotted on a relief. Source: authors’ own research.
Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range plotted on a relief. Source: authors’ own research.

Fig. 6.

Routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range: A - destroyed stretch of a hiking trail in the eastern part of the ridge (the trail almost doubled, the surface is covered with rock rubble as a result of erosion); B - hiking trail in the western part of the ridge with motorcycle traces (visible material moved by the wheels); C - downward exit from the ridge route to the steep south slope; D - fresh traces of cross motorcycles. Photo: the authors, 2021.
Routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range: A - destroyed stretch of a hiking trail in the eastern part of the ridge (the trail almost doubled, the surface is covered with rock rubble as a result of erosion); B - hiking trail in the western part of the ridge with motorcycle traces (visible material moved by the wheels); C - downward exit from the ridge route to the steep south slope; D - fresh traces of cross motorcycles. Photo: the authors, 2021.

Fig. 7.

Routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range: A – parallel routes on the slopes of the Szkło valley with extracted rock rubble (mark D in Fig. 5); B – narrow path in a milder part of the slope with clearly visible motorcycle traces; C, D – demanding stretch of the route crossing a rock ridge near village Chvaleč (mark E in Fig. 5). Photo: authors, 2021.
Routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range: A – parallel routes on the slopes of the Szkło valley with extracted rock rubble (mark D in Fig. 5); B – narrow path in a milder part of the slope with clearly visible motorcycle traces; C, D – demanding stretch of the route crossing a rock ridge near village Chvaleč (mark E in Fig. 5). Photo: authors, 2021.

Fig. 8.

Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range with the inclination of slopes. Source: authors’ own research.
Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Jański Wierch range with the inclination of slopes. Source: authors’ own research.

Fig. 9.

Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range with the inclination of slopes. Source: authors’ own research.
Off-road routes used by motorcycle tourists in the Węglarz range with the inclination of slopes. Source: authors’ own research.

Fig. 10.

Erosion cut at the eastern edge of the rock cliff in the Jański Wierch range: A – sketch of the erosion cut; B – middle and upper parts together with the rock edge with attractive views; C – lower part together with an inlet and dump cone (left). Source: authors’ own research, photos taken by the authors, 2021.
Erosion cut at the eastern edge of the rock cliff in the Jański Wierch range: A – sketch of the erosion cut; B – middle and upper parts together with the rock edge with attractive views; C – lower part together with an inlet and dump cone (left). Source: authors’ own research, photos taken by the authors, 2021.

Fig. 11.

Comparison of the condition of part of the erosion cut at the eastern edge of the rock cliff in the Jański Wierch range in 2018 and 2021. The bedrock is uncovered to a much greater degree (green arrows). A fallen tree (orange arrows) might have contributed to the acceleration of the processes but, in turn, it was the result of widening of the cut and uncovering shallow roots. Cross motorcycles passing here contributed to creating and enlarging the cut. Photos: the authors, 2018, 2021.
Comparison of the condition of part of the erosion cut at the eastern edge of the rock cliff in the Jański Wierch range in 2018 and 2021. The bedrock is uncovered to a much greater degree (green arrows). A fallen tree (orange arrows) might have contributed to the acceleration of the processes but, in turn, it was the result of widening of the cut and uncovering shallow roots. Cross motorcycles passing here contributed to creating and enlarging the cut. Photos: the authors, 2018, 2021.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2023-0039 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103
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Language: English
Page range: 121 - 142
Submitted on: Nov 2, 2022
Published on: Dec 20, 2023
Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 times per year
Keywords:
environmental changes,
erosion,
motor tourism,
off-road vehicles (ORVs),
Poland,
Central Sudetes
Related subjects:
Geosciences,
Geography

© 2023 Dagmara Chylińska, Krzysztof Kołodziejczyk, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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