“We can now destroy or we can cherish, the choice is ours.”
-David Attenborough
What is campsite creep?
Campsite creep is the process of a campsite slowly becoming larger over time. Visitors use the surrounding land as a part of the campsite that wasn’t intended for campsite use. As the vegetation become trampled down, broken and otherwise altered the campsite becomes larger.
These small changes add up over time and campsites change, move and grow larger. It changes the experience from one visitor to the next and once done is difficult to undo.
Why is site creep a big deal?
The desert ecosystem may look tough and rugged but it’s actually very fragile. The deserts across the United States are covered in a delicate layer of living biological soil called a cryptobiotic crust. The cryptobiotic crust in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert is almost invisible, found hiding out under bushes, and in shady spots. The crust contains cyanobacteria, lichens, and bryophytes, micro fungi and mosses. The roots from this micro-ecosystem grow into the soil and help prevent erosion. What’s more, the crust doesn’t not need to be alive to do it’s job! Crusts continue to help prevent wind and water erosion long after their lives are over.
Even in areas where the living crust is long gone, the desert soil forms a soil crust. Over time the top few inches of soil become extra dry and compacted sealing moisture in the ground and preventing wind erosion. Something as simple as a footstep breaks that crust and encourages both wind and water erosion.
Life in the desert is harsh, even for lichen. When the crust is broken it can take decades to fully repair. Stuff in the desert happens slowly including rehabilitation and healing. What takes you five minutes to destroy may take 50 years to grow back. Though the living crust is found throughout the desert no where is its preservation more needed than in areas prone to erosion, like CAMPSITES!
Save the lichen! Prevent campsite creep!
You can do your part to keep your camp within the intended boundaries of the campsite. Site boundaries aren’t always obvious, since we try to keep Big Bend Ranch State Park as natural as possible we often use natural objects such as large rocks and boulders to mark the perimeters of camping and parking areas. Concrete bollards wouldn’t look so great in the desert!
Each site in Big Bend Ranch State Park is unique, especially in the backcountry! Some sites have parking close to the teNt pad others don’t. Modifying campsites even slightly creates a permanent change to the park. What’s more, activity such as driving your off vehicle off intended roadways can do even more damage, compacting soil, destroying our lichen friends and killing native plants.
How can I protect my campsite from campsite creep?
- Don’t move rocks or boulders (we’re looking at you, people with winches) to get your vehicle closer to the campsite.
- Please don’t clear rocks from campsites.
- Keep your vehicle on designated roads, do NOT drive your vehicle off road or through washes. It it’s not marked as a road on the map, keep your vehicle off it.
We love the natural, spacious beauty that is Big Bend Ranch State Park. As more and more people visit the park and discover that it’s one big outdoor playground, it becomes more and more important that we treat the land and the park with respect.
Do you love Big Bend Ranch State Park? Do you love its natural beauty? Its wide open sky? Do you want to do your part to help take care of it? Then join us as a FRIEND!
What do you get? NOTHING. Except the joy of knowing you’re helping protect and maintain one of the last places in our great state where you can see nature as it has been for thousands of years. Click the button below to join us! All the cool kids are doing it!