Quixote Legend Trail environmental analysis

We dedicate this post to a hot topic in our day, such as mountain racing and its environmental impact. After carrying out a bibliographic review, it has been verified that in Spain, despite the rise of bibliographic literature, it has been a topic little addressed in forums and blogs. We found the main reference in the interesting introduction he makes Manuel Oñorbe on his blog Manuelenvironment -ideas, studies and opinions (de) about territory and environment- and in which the author Commitment to the regulation of the sector.

What we have analyzed

At Ideas MedioAmbiental we want to analyze and synthesize, from a technical point of view, the main phases of environmental analysis carried out for one of the most important tests in the Peninsula, preparing a brief but (hopefully) useful review of the main factors that must at least be considered in an environmental analysis of a race, without prejudice to the submission to a regulated Environmental Assessment process if the competent environmental authority deems it appropriate.

The test that will serve as a model for presenting our criteria is the second edition of the Quixote Legend Trail Race Stages QTRS, an event organized by the Albacete Provincial Council that brings together several Trail Running events in the Sierras de Alcaraz and Segura (province of Albacete). The analysis we carry out of the test, for subsequent analysis, is divided into the following phases:

Pre-organizational phase

After the processing of permits and the evaluation of the test through the relevant advertising campaigns, prior to the planning of the concrete and definitive route of the race, a general review of the site is necessary to verify the course or not of the test by elements of a unique nature, thus obtaining a first approximation of the potential impact, the areas that have been reviewed are the following:

• Network of Protected Areas (National Parks, Natural Parks, Nature Reserves, Microreserves, Natural Monuments, River Reserves, Protected Landscapes, Natural Areas and Areas with Natural Resource Management Plans)
• Sensitive areas (ZEPAs, LICs and ZECs, Critical Areas derived from Conservation Plans for threatened species, Wildlife or Fishing Refuges, others declared by the Governing Council as Biological Corridors)
• Areas of Importance of Fauna (to obtain these data, so-called combined indices (IC) have been used, whose use has already proven effective in establishing priority areas for vertebrates, and whose procedure considers richness, rarity and vulnerability as fundamental variables.

The union of all these known areas, through a Geographic Information System, has allowed the creation of a sensitivity model, that is, the route has been drawn in a range ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least sensitive areas and 10 being the most sensitive areas, thus allowing organizers, and especially runners to know the route of the race from an environmental point of view.

Organizational phase

Already known, the route subtracts from the specificity of certain aspects of the race, such as refreshment points, signage points, parking areas, etc. which requires a greater intensity of work on the part of the organization and therefore greater pressure on the environment. This organizational phase could also support some specific actions, such as the pruning or clearing of plant material that could involve difficulties in tracing, actions not carried out in the Quixote Legend Trail but which may be necessary in other tests.

Career phase

It is the phase that involves the greatest impact, due to the action of the race itself and the possible incidents that could occur in it. During this phase, the impacts that can be expected to occur are (in our order of importance) the following:

• Ground damage:
  • Compaction due to trampling or circulation of emergency vehicles.
  • Increased risk of erosion.
• Damage to vegetation:
  • Condition to non-sensitive vegetation caused by the normal course of the test.
  • Damage to sensitive or protected vegetation due to uncontrolled incidents (taking shortcuts while running, access to emergency vehicles, etc.)
• Affection to fauna:
  • Disturbance to wildlife due to noise and the presence of runners.
• Affection to the landscape:
  • Dispersion of non-hazardous waste.

In the pre-organizational phase, it has been observed that Stages 2 and 3 of the QTRS and Stage 3 of the QTS run completely or partially through the Natural Park Los Calares del Mundo and La Sima or its Peripheral Protection Zone and that Stage 1 of the QTRS runs through the La Molata and Los Batanes Microreserve, likewise all tests run through the Site of Community Importance called Sierras de Alcaraz y de Segura y Cañones del Segura y del Mundo, while Stages 2 and 3 of QTRS and Stage 3 of QTS run through areas with relevant geomorphology such as calares or poljé.

It has also been verified that the race takes place in various sections through areas with habitats of interest such as pulvinular thickets, river galleries, etc. As far as the course of the test is concerned through areas of important fauna known through the combined indices, only areas of maximum importance for amphibians, mammals and reptiles are located in the test area, not for birds whose Ice is high or low in the different study grids.

The Organizational Phase has taken into account all the above aspects, and these have been duly communicated to the organization for the correct situation of those points that could be conflicting, such as supply points. Despite this, several points are located that will presumably be the most conflicting, such as the beginning and end of slopes, the aforementioned supply points and a section after them of varying length and mainly transition trails.

The Race Phase will have the above-mentioned impacts, most of them not controllable, although minimized with the appropriate awareness of runners, focusing on the idea of avoiding “runways” to avoid damage to vegetation, discomfort to fauna or the dispersion of non-hazardous waste. Other impacts such as compaction due to trampling or increased risk of erosion are difficult to control at this stage.

Conclusions

From Ideas MedioAmbiental, we consider that it is plausible from an organizational point of view to have the advice of technicians who know the territory, not from the sporting point of view, but from the point of view of the natural values it possesses in order to provide the different and flourishing tests with technical rigor that can avoid predictable impacts, which in no case should facilitate the demonization of these tests, which, far from causing a significant environmental impact, have a positive impact on the conscience environmental of runners, family members and neighbors who see added value in their environment.