{"id":183987,"date":"2022-12-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=183987"},"modified":"2023-02-03T10:10:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T18:10:09","slug":"protect-soil-biocrusts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/protect-soil-biocrusts","title":{"rendered":"Camping In the Desert? Don\u2019t Bust the Crust."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Red stone arches, towers and cliffs seem to puncture the endless blue skies around Moab, Utah. But for Rebecca Finger-Higgens, Ph.D., another, much smaller, landscape is especially beautiful\u2014the bumpy, lichen- and moss-encrusted top layer of the soil. This is biocrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This layer, less than an inch thick, is much more than just dirt: It\u2019s a community of \u201creally complex, beautiful organisms,\u201d explains Finger-Higgens, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey<\/a> (USGS). The mosses in biocrust may appear dark brown at first, but will light up like little green stars when you drop water on them. Biocrusts also typically include lichens ranging in color from black to pink to yellow. \u201cThey\u2019re kind of like these mini mountain ranges\u2014kind of like coral reefs of the desert,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essential to supporting ecosystems, these mini mountain ranges span beyond the Colorado Plateau, across the arid lands of the American West and are found in all dry regions of the world<\/a>. While they are remarkably resilient to drought, heat and the forces of wind and water, soil biocrusts are vulnerable to the impacts of hooves, human feet and tires. These forces can crush them, breaking apart the tight network of organisms and leading to their starvation. If they manage to recover at all, full regrowth can take hundreds of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why, in places like Moab, scientists and advocates are trying to prevent biocrust loss. Even stopping a single stray footstep makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A close-up photo of soil biocrust. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Finger-Higgens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biocrusts: Enigmatic but Essential<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What even are these tiny marvels? They\u2019re a colony of tiny organisms, most of which are microbial. Biocrusts generally include bacteria, fungi, lichens and mosses, though the individuals making up the community vary depending on their surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisms work together to survive in their often-harsh environment. Mosses are photosynthesizers, making sugar to feed the biocrust, and lichens\u2014themselves a partnership between a fungus and a microbe\u2014obtain nitrogen from the air. Certain bacteria create filaments that stick the soil surface together<\/a>, almost like a thin fabric coating the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil crusts are found on every continent and are linked by a common purpose: stabilizing the soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly in arid regions, where plant coverage tends to be patchier, biocrusts carpet the bare soil, protecting it from the ravages of wind and water. In fact, most deserts\u2014including those of the American West\u2014are not inherently dusty places, despite how they\u2019re often depicted in movies and TV, explains Jayne Belnap, Ph.D., a USGS ecologist who\u2019s been studying soil crusts for the past 30 years. Rather, dust storms tend to form where biocrusts have been busted by grazing, military use or other disturbance, leaving loose and exposed soil that flies away when windy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This stabilizing function is also crucial because desert soil forms at an excruciatingly slow pace: It can take a century for a single centimeter of soil to form, explains Belnap. Meanwhile, a whole meter of soil can be lost when a ferocious windstorm bears down on the exposed surface. The top few centimeters of the ground, including the biocrusts and the soil directly beneath them, hold nutrients and sponge up water needed for plants. \u201cWhen you watch that dust cloud go by or you watch the flash flood go by, what you’re seeing go by is the productivity of that ecosystem,\u201d says Belnap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond serving as the skin of the desert, biocrusts also add nutrients to the soil. Nitrogen, for example, forms the backbone of DNA and is a building block of proteins\u2014and it\u2019s also particularly hard to come by in arid lands. Microbes called cyanobacteria<\/a> that are part of the lichens in soil crusts can transform nitrogen in the air into a nutrient that plants can use to support photosynthesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biocrusts themselves also photosynthesize, capturing carbon from the atmosphere<\/a> and incorporating it into their biomass and the soil. Some of the lichens in biocrusts even produce special pigments that serve as sunscreen<\/a>, protecting the organisms from harmful UV rays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biocrusts tend to be pretty hardy, able to survive on just a couple inches of rainfall per year. They endure the hot and dry months by entering a dormant state; when rain does fall, the moss on the crusts\u2019 surface blinks awake, turning green as it begins to photosynthesize<\/a>, making enough sugar to last the community through another dry stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Threat Posed by Desert Recreation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Drought and extreme heat are generally no problem for biocrusts (though rising summer temperatures may pose a threat<\/a> to some), but they do have archnemeses: hooves, heavy vehicles and, increasingly, hiking boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, more and more visitors have flocked to Moab, Utah\u2019s red landscapes. Last year, visits to the region clocked in at more than 3 million<\/a>. The crowds sometimes inspire tourists to drive and trek out beyond the bounds of established trails and campgrounds. In areas administered by the Bureau of Land Management, such as along Willow Springs Road, things have been especially bad<\/a>: Finger-Higgens says people there have been parking cars outside the bounds of existing roads and campgrounds, bringing in fire rings and leaving behind their poop, and in the process driving and stomping over biocrusts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And soil crusts can be lost even without direct impact. During construction of the campgrounds and trails at Sand Flats Recreation Area<\/a> in the 1990s, the resulting pink dust coated parts of the surrounding area, says Dr. Belnap. This dust prevented the biocrusts below from absorbing sunlight, leading them to essentially starve. Red dust from disturbed Moab soils has even been found speckling the snow more than 400 miles away in the Rocky Mountains, says Dr. Kristina Young, executive director of Science Moab<\/a>, a new nonprofit dedicated to making place-based science within the Colorado Plateau accessible to the greater public. Since it\u2019s darker in color than snow, the dust absorbs more heat and can cause accelerated snowmelt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a landscape is devoid of crusts, it\u2019s hard for them to build up again, especially if the soil has been compacted from repeated travel. In former military training grounds in the Mojave, Dr. Belnap has observed minimal crust recovery even after 50 years\u2014and she estimates it could take hundreds of years for the communities to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rebecca Finger-Higgens inspecting soil biocrust samples in the field. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Finger-Higgens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walking Lightly to Protect Biocrusts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So far, scientists\u2019 efforts to regrow biocrusts have had mixed results at best: While it\u2019s relatively easy to grow them in a lab, it\u2019s hard to get biocrusts to take hold in the wild, says Belnap. Since they\u2019re so hard to restore, it\u2019s important to avoid crushing crusts in the first place. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear to me that you just can\u2019t wreck them.\u201d That\u2019s why scientists are working to educate visitors on these remarkable groups of organisms and hopefully prevent further loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belnap has led education efforts since the \u201980s: While visitors might not have any idea what biocrust is when they arrive at the trailhead, they\u2019ve been incredibly receptive when given information, either on flyers or posted signs. Belnap has even squeezed in educational material in town, such as at local bike shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, such efforts require a steady stream of funding, and park budgets have stagnated, says Belnap. \u201cWe were much more effective when there was a lot more money around,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, however, new crust protection efforts have sprouted. Some of Grand County, Utah\u2019s tourism revenue is diverted to its trail ambassador program<\/a>, launched in 2021: County educators, trained by Science Moab<\/a> staff, set up at trailheads with a sample of biocrust in hand, ready to inform visitors about the sensitive soil communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to working with the trail ambassadors, the Science Moab team also leads science training for guide companies, including those leading mountain biking, climbing, rafting and overland tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this really cool science that says when you\u2019re having an adventure or an outdoor experience that\u2019s new to you and is a fun experience, that you are able to retain information better<\/a>,\u201d says Kristina Young, Ph.D., Science Moab\u2019s founder and executive director. She says guides can serve as a conduit for information on protecting the desert. \u201cI just have no doubt that it is making an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for what desert-bound adventurers can do to protect these complex microorganism communities, soil scientists say that the first step is to simply marvel at soil crusts when you encounter them. Get close enough to view them from a rock or the trail\u2014just remember to step carefully. \u201cTake a minute and look around and see, maybe you\u2019ll notice some pinks and yellows, and those little beautiful features of the landscape,\u201d says Finger-Higgens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019re done admiring them, stay on established trails, roads and in existing campgrounds. In areas where restrooms are unavailable, it can be better to pack out solid waste and paper using a waste bag than hike off the trail and dig a cat hole. If you need to stray beyond the trail or campsite bounds, hop between rocks, logs and the bottoms of washes instead of touching down on the soil. Even if the soil isn\u2019t bumpy and dark, there could be less-developed soil crusts present. In drier deserts, like the Mojave, soil crusts are often nearly invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plants and animals and biocrusts here are all adapted to live within these harsh conditions, which means that they\u2019re sensitive to change because they really are in this narrow zone of where they can survive,\u201d says Finger-Higgins. \u201cSo it\u2019s important to respect that and to really consider where you’re going.\u201d Just a few extra precautions can allow the biocrusts\u2014and the ecosystems they support\u2014to continue thriving, preventing the desert from becoming dusty and barren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Finger-Higgens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red stone arches, towers and cliffs seem to puncture the endless blue skies around Moab, Utah. But for Rebecca Finger-Higgens, Ph.D., another, much smaller, landscape is especially beautiful\u2014the bumpy, lichen- and moss-encrusted top layer of the soil. This is biocrust. This layer, less than an inch thick, is much more than just dirt: It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30740,"featured_media":184025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,387,685,637],"tags":[1983,795,1320,614,727,1549],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-183987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camp","category-hike","category-news","category-stewardship","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-desert","tag-impact","tag-latest-posts","tag-west"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/hike\/protect-soil-biocrusts","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Camping In the Desert? Don\u2019t Bust the Crust.","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/protect-soil-biocrusts","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/protect-soil-biocrusts"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/11\/Tuttle_03222022_0082.jpeg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/11\/Tuttle_03222022_0082.jpeg?fit=2000%2C1125"},"articleSection":"Camp","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ever Meister"}],"creator":["Ever Meister"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["climate","climate change","desert","impact","latest posts","west"],"dateCreated":"2022-12-04T15:00:00Z","datePublished":"2022-12-04T15:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-02-03T18:10:09Z"},"rendered":"