An Experiment Using Signs to Reduce Visitor-Built Cairns in Acadia National Park

Jacobi, Charles; National Park Service, Acadia National Park

Following taken from the executive summary: 'In the summer of 2002, we conducted an experiment using signs to combat the issue of rock dislocation. Hikers in Acadia National Park frequently add to cairns that mark trails, knock them down, or build their own cairns and other rock objects. Many of these rocks are removed from thin mountain soils exposing more soil and plants to erosion. Extra cairns and other objects also degrade the mountain landscape and may create safety problems in hikers stray off trail. On a one-mile section of the South Ridge Cadillac Trail, we built 67 Bates Cairns. Bates cairns are generally made from four stones in a pagoda-like structure, and they are very easy to monitor for alterations. For 30 days, we monitored the condition of the cairns every five days, restoring them to their original condition on each hike. We then istalled three signs at either end of the trail section and in the middle, and repeated the monitoring runs every five days for 30 days, restoring their condition on each hike. The average percent of intact cairns increased from 64% (n=42) to 81% (n=54) with the addition of signs. The average percent of cairns with added rocks decreased from 31% (n=21) to 12% (n=8). Each of these changes was statistically significant at the .05 level. While the signs were reasonably effective in reducing the occurrence of the rock dislocation behavior, many questions remain.' /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/Cadillac Mountain/South Ridge Cadillac Mountain Trail/

An Experiment Using Signs to Reduce Visitor-Built Cairns in Acadia National Park

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