Research article Combining remote sensing and on-site monitoring methods to investigate footpath erosion within a popular recreational heathland environment Sue Rodway-Dyer a, b, * , Nicola Ellis c a College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9FE, UK b University Centre South Devon, Long Road, Paignton, TQ4 7EJ, UK c Department of Geography, Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK article info Article history: Received 9 February 2017 Received in revised form 22 December 2017 Accepted 6 March 2018 Keywords: Remote sensing Footpath Erosion Degradation Heathland Tourism abstract Footpaths are a prominent consequence of natural area tourism and reflect damage caused to valuable, sensitive habitats by people pressure. Degradation impacts on vegetation, wildlife, on and off-site soil movement and loss, creation of additional informal off-path footpaths (desire lines), and visual destruction of landscapes. Impacts need to be measured and monitored on a large temporal and spatial scale to aid in land management to maintain access and preserve natural environments. This study combined remote sensing (Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR] and aerial photography) with on-site measurement of footpaths within a sensitive heathland habitat (Land's End, Cornwall, UK). Soil loss, slope angle change, vegetation damage and a hydrology model were combined to comprehensively study the site. Results showed 0.09 m mean soil loss over five years, footpath widening, increasing grass cover into heathland, and water channelling on the footpaths exacerbating erosion. The environments sur- rounding the footpaths were affected with visitors walking off path, requiring further management and monitoring. Multiple remote sensing techniques were highly successful in comprehensively assessing the area, particularly the hydrology model, demonstrating the potential of providing a valuable objective and quantitative monitoring and management tool. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Although a key infrastructure element (Tomczyk and Ewertowski, 2013), footpaths are potentially the most visible and contentious feature of the natural environment tourism industry (Rodway-Dyer, 2004). Of the 1.235 billion international tourists in 2016 (UNWTO, 2017), the majority that explored the natural environment will have accessed footpaths, yet tourists are often unaware of the vital role they can play in protecting the envi- ronment (Rodway-Dyer, 2004). A footpath can broadly be described as a human trace in the physical environment which is a product of the interaction between use by walkers and the terrain on which they walk (Aitken, 1982; Rodway-Dyer, 2004). Therefore, footpaths embody tourism and environmental interaction, channelling visitors through their natural environment experience like corridors (Jensen and Guthrie, 2006), minimising wider disturbance (Olive and Marion, 2009). However, with natural area tourism growing exponentially worldwide, footpaths and sur- rounding environments are under increasing threat (Newsome et al., 2013). The extent to which erosion (removal of soil) and degradation (breakdown of soil quality) occur are affected by environmental factors including soil type, land cover, vegetation density and height, terrain morphology, regolith geology, and macro and meso climate (Coleman, 1981; Leung and Marion, 1999; Rodway-Dyer and Walling, 2010). Despite these environmental factors, footpath erosion is mostly considered a product of footpath use, particularly the number of visitors to an area or recreational pressure (Coleman, 1981), often ignoring other factors such as wild or grazing animals. This paper aims to explore the use of multiple remote sensing techniques in combination with on-site measurement to assess anthropological and hydrological impacts within a sensitive heathland environment. The focus is on the methods, supported by * Corresponding author. University Centre South Devon, Long Road, Paignton, TQ4 7EJ, UK E-mail address: suerodwaydyer@southdevon.ac.uk (S. Rodway-Dyer). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.03.030 0301-4797/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Environmental Management 215 (2018) 68e78