Fire can cause severe damage to crusts, but recovery is possible. Intensity of fire can make a difference. Low intensity fires do not remove all the structure of crusts allowing for regrowth without significant soil loss. Management Implications Recreation Recreational activities have impacts similar to large animals. The major difference is that people are harder to control.
People have a tendency to go where they want, even in the presence of barriers such as fences.
People also have an affinity for open vegetation, since it is easier to walk or drive through, but those are the sites that are generally dependent on biological soil crusts for stability. Concentration of recreational use is generally desirable. Designated campsites and use of trails minimize the area impacted by trampling. Fire Prescribed fire, to reduce high woody plant densities, can be useful on more productive sites with low potential for exotic plant invasion. The soil disturbance due to revegetation activities is likely to be less detrimental to soil biological crust recovery than conversion to an annual grass type.