Parks Canada says they’ll be stepping up measures to keep hikers off the Skyline Trail’s headland.
The Acting Resource Conservation Manager for Cape Breton says there’s been serious damage to the Skyline Trail’s headland because hikers have been going off trail and over vulnerable species.
Anne-Claude Pepin tells The Hawk hikers have been trampling plants and damaging the ground.
“That’s creating erosion, and it’s hurting a very sensitive and rare ecosystem at the headland, the tip of the Skyline,” she says. “It’s a sensitive habitat, its a rare habitat, we’re committed to protect it, but yet we want people to keep enjoying the Skyline.”
Pepin says they want people to enjoy the trail, but not at the expense of it.
She says they’ve just completed a major restoration project.
“We’re putting some soil, we’re planting seeds, and we’re transplanting plants,” she says. “In the hope that the vegetation can come back after the effect of the trampling.”
She says they’re working to communicate to visitors how fragile the ecosystem along the Skyline Trail headland is, especially to trampling, and she says increased staff will be near sensitive areas.
