Restoration of Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Trails in a Hyper-Arid Area for Nature and Landscape Conservation  
Pua Bar (Kutiel)  
1 The Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban planning Sciences,  
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 84105, Israel; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.D. );  
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[PERSON]  
1 The Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban planning Sciences,  
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 84105, Israel; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.D. );  
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[PERSON]  
1 The Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban planning Sciences,  
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 84105, Israel; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.D. );  
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conditions, notable changes occur in vegetation characteristics: A decrease in plant cover, plant height and productivity, species richness, species diversity, and species composition. [PERSON] [10] divided plants into three groups according to their resistance to pedestrian and ORV impacts: resistant, tolerant, and sensitive. Resistant plants can withstand temporary stress without being harmed, highly tolerant plants can endure successive disturbance cycles over a short period and recover, and susceptible plants are immediately damaged and disappear. Herbaceous plants, hemicryptophytes, geophytes, and therophytes are more resilient to trampling and ORV impacts than woody plants because they have flexible stems and leaves that can bend and recover, a higher reproduction rate, and a higher tolerance for physical stress because they can allocate resources more efficiently to repair damaged tissues [7; 9; 11; 12; 14; 15; 16; 17]. Planar areas are less affected by ORV than slopes, and stony soils are more resistant to ORV impacts than stoneless soils [7]. Similar trends are seen in semi-arid regions, with ecosystem damage varying mainly by soil type [2; 18; 19; 20]. Sandy soils are more susceptible to compaction at low trampling intensities due to their low organic matter and clay mineral content. In contrast, clayey soils are rich in organic matter, which prevents the soil from being compacted immediately due to properties that promote the aggregation and stability of soil particles [20]. Likewise, the type of vehicle used, frequency and intensity of use, and operator techniques (e.g., acceleration, braking, and velocity) are among the factors determining the severity of ORV disturbance [17; 21]. Several studies were conducted on this subject in hyper-arid regions. The soils of arid deserts are particularly vulnerable to disturbance, as soil formation and recovery in these regions are slow. Soil compaction by ORVs and disruption of cryptobiotic soil surfaces (composed of cyanobacteria, lichens, and mosses) can decrease soil porosity, reduce hydraulic conductivity and water diffusion, and decrease the amount of air and nutrients in the soil [1; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29]. Soil surface compaction also reduces the heterogeneity of the upper soil layer and, consequently, decreases potential germination pockets [9; 30]. In protected areas, where the goal is to preserve species composition and ecosystem structure and functioning, decision makers have two main options: passive management, e.g., closing disturbed trails to pedestrians and ORVs, or active management, such as restoration or reclamation. The purpose of restoration is to restore the ecosystem to its original state, with all its components and functions. Reclamation, on the other hand, aims to recover a disturbed ecosystem to some productive state, creating a stable ecosystem that sustains itself without necessarily including all the original components that characterized the ecosystem before the disturbance.