Officials from Great Smoky Mountains National Park proclaimed in September that a vulnerable species of wild salamander had been found crushed to death.
They blamed the activity known as "rock-stacking," as an Instagram post from Backpacker Magazine spotlighted.
"Recently, an eastern hellbender, the largest salamander in North America, was found crushed beneath rocks that had been moved and stacked by people in the park," the park's statement read on Facebook. "Building dams, channels, or rock stacks might seem harmless, but for the wildlife hiding below, it can be deadly. Beneath those stones are fragile ecosystems: nests, shelters, and homes."
Rock-stacking has become somewhat trendy in recent years among hikers and nature observers for a variety of reasons, including setting up photos for social media. But despite it seeming harmless, it can have impacts on the surrounding environment, as the park's statement suggested.
Animals will use natural rock formations and placements as shelters or nesting locations, and studies have shown that moving rocks from their traditional locations can potentially disturb soil and increase the possibility of erosion, as detailed elsewhere by the National Park Service.
Hikers may use rock stacks — or cairns — as markers so they don't get lost, and disrupting those formations could confuse or potentially even strand them, according to the park service, which has noted that rock cairns may be used by officials in some parks to mark trails — these are to be left alone, and not added to reproduced as unauthorized cairns, according to an NPS article.
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As Backpacker has reported, there can be a variety of reasons why unauthorized rock-stacking is significantly more harmful than it appears to be, ranging from confusing other hikers who think they are for navigation to disrupting habitats or even crushing animals, as noted in the social media posts.
Commenters on the Backpacker Instagram post announcing these salamander deaths largely condemned rock-stacking.
"I'm a proud destroyer-of-rock-stacks," one top comment read.
"Rock stacking is the worst!" another user wrote.
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Yet another response drove the message home by citing a popular nature phrase: "[Leave no trace], it's as simple as that."
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