Land Degradation at the Stara Planina Ski Resort

Abstract

The environmental impacts of ski resorts in the Balkan region are great and can lead to landscape degradation and loss of land functionality. In this study, we present an example of the negative effects of human activities at the Stara Planina ski resort in southeastern Serbia. The objective of this study is detailed analysis of the characteristics of environmental impacts at the Stara Planina. The management of the ski area and ski slope development caused severe degradation of topsoil and native vegetation. The morphological characteristics of the area, lithological properties of the exposed material and climate conditions resulted in various geomorphic impacts, including rills, deep gullies, solifluctions and debris from rock weathering. Significant changes in land usage altered hydrological conditions, resulting in more frequent torrential floods in the downstream sections of the Zubska River and increased the sediment yield. Environmental impacts were analyzed in the immediate and wider zones of the ski resort in accordance with the specific topography and visual exposure. The restoration and erosion control measures have stopped degradation processes and helped to rehabilitate the appearance and functions of the landscape. The results show the importance of considering lithological (the type and characteristics of minerals present) and hydrological (precipitation, water storage capacity of soil, runoff) factors under the conditions of significant changes in land usage. The results of this investigation can contribute to the improvement of planning processes and the implementation of development projects in ski areas.

Suitability analysis of ski areas in China: an integrated study based on natural and socioeconomic conditions

“…Scott et al (2003) noted that ski areas should be closed if the maximum temperature is greater than 10 • for 2 consecutive days accompanied by liquid precipitation. Additionally, skiers may also choose not to ski at extremely low temperatures (below ∼ −25 • ) (Tervo, 2008;Rutty and Andrey, 2014). Because snowmaking has been used as an adaptive strategy to compensate for the decrease in snow reliability worldwide, temperatures between −2 and −5 • were taken as optimal conditions in regard to efficient snowmaking (Tervo, 2008).…”

“…Following previous studies (Scott et al, 2003;Tervo, 2008;Rutty and Andrey, 2014), the daily mean air temperature was reclassified into 11 regimes with corresponding scores (Table 2), and the air temperature index was the mean score for the 2010-2014 ski seasons (Fig. 1c).…”

Comprehensive evaluation of ski resort development conditions in northern China

“…In addition, snowmaking facilities have been used to improve the capability of ski resorts to cope with climate change (Han and Han, 2001;Daniel et al, 2008;Steiger and Mayer, 2008;Rixen et al, 2011;Pons-Pons, 2012;Berghammer et al, 2014). The water quality in artificial snow, the air quality, and soil and vegetation conditions are also important factors affecting the development of ski resorts (Catherine et al, 2003;Kubota and Shimano, 2010;Caskey, 2011;Ratko et al, 2012). With increasing demands for comfort from skiers, scholars have begun to emphasize human factors affecting the development of ski resorts, including ski resort operation (Andrew, 1998;David and Alphonse, 1998;Pintar et al, 2009), local cultures (Landauer et al, 2014), traffic and the environment (Sanjay, 2002;Du, 2012;Li, 2015) and event tourism (Getz, 2008;Zhang and Yang, 2014;Li, 2015).…”

Management, winter climate and plant–soil feedbacks on ski slopes: a synthesis

“…However, one study reported high plant species diversity and occurrence of uncommon, tall herb species in areas where the canopy closure was low, such as under gondola lifts, at the edge of ski-slopes and on ski slopes, as opposed to nearby undisturbed forest (Kubota and Shimano 2010). Ski slopes can still have some ecological similarity, in terms of species and functional diversity, to nearby forest (Burt and Rice 2009), but landscape fragmentation can be substantial (Ristic et al 2012).…”

“…The creation and machine grading of ski slopes impact the vegetation and soil through the higher susceptibility to erosion (arrow 5; Delgado et al 2007;Kangas et al 2012;Ristic et al 2012), because the removal of vegetation and rocks or removal of the top soil layer removes physical barriers to runoff and damages the soil physical structure (Burt and Rice 2009). Due to the sparser vegetation cover and increased soil density through compaction, especially graded ski slopes are more sensitive to soil erosion and surface runoff.…”