[at-l] Wood stoves: a threat to the trail?

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> Today's dead twigs are tomorrow's topsoil.
>
> I fear an increased use of this dead organic
> material will, over time, cause a denuding of the
> ground cover near the trail.  Heaven know the
> standing dead wood is long gone in most places.
> And the ground cover and topsoil is pretty sorry
> around most shelters.

I agree that the heavily tramped area around shelters and
campsites is pretty poor.  You could also say that the trail
itself (not just the AT, but any trail) is an ugly scar
through a wilderness landscape.  This damage isn't caused by
stripping mass from the bio-cycle, but from soil
compression - tramping.

The idea that use of my zip stove is somehow going to cause
a loss of topsoil is not really credible.  For one thing, I
probably poop more mass back into the soil than I rob by
cooking my dinner.

The small amounts of deadwood gathered to fire a zip stove
are completely irrelevant when compared to the mass of the
entire cycle.  Remember that forest fires are actually
beneficial to the soil, and a forest fire consumes much more
mass than a million hikers using zip stoves ever could.

I also wonder about the environmental impact of using a ZIP
versus the environmental impact of white gas production...

Shane