Box Hill Coursework. We went to box hill to check and see if tourism has affected the environment of box hill and how well all of these impacts are being managed.

The footpath above was created and made due to the high number of tourists walking to and out of box hill, because this is the main way up, many of the insects and plants are killed. This then makes the soil exposed to the rain and when it rains, the soil is washed away, leaving a path way of chalk. Furthermore, because of the rain and the chalk being so soft, it leaves puddles of mud in the centre of the pathway as that is the deepest point therefore most tourists will prefer to walk on the grass which is at the edge of the path, this causes even more erosion and extends the pathway unless the national trust is going to do anything about it.

Biodiversity

Number of species

% of soil exposed

Longest plant (cm)

Condition of plant

Site 1

2

90%

2.5

Dead

Site 2

3

65%

8

Poor

Site 3

4

40%

32

Good

Site 4

5

5%

35

Excellent

Our results show that box hill is going to be affected no matter what due to the high number of tourism. There are many more different ways in which box hill is affected, one of these is below.

Tourists and locals around the area also affect box hill by taking their cars up to the top of box hill, this causes a lot of pollution in the environment, and it could destroy or affect some eco systems in the area. At box hill I asked tourists to fill out a questionnaire on how they got there that day, 14 People out of 22 said they have travelled by car or coach although this number may increase because the number of tourists increase every year. Furthermore, National Trust have said they are going to extend the car park which will increase the number of tree's being cut down, furthermore, it may mean many more animals and insects will die.

Managing leisure use

There had been many different things done to cope with the increasing number of visitor use, one of which was the footpath.

The footpaths were made to reduce the erosion on the grass and to decrease the amount of soil being exposed to the rain.

As you can see from the two pictures above: at the top of the hill is where the café and the picnic area is located. The picnic area is well made to cope with the large number of tourists and the environment: the tables and seats are all made out of wood that blend in to the environment and do not actually destroy it, although, the shops are a completely different story: they are made out of modern material and are not covered by the trees in the area, they do the job which is to provide the things needed for tourists but spoil and damage the environment and ecosystems around them as a lot of pollution is made. They could have made the shops better by making them out of wood and also planting tall trees around it so it would look like it is part of the environment.

From my visit to box hill: I have gathered several pieces of information about what the visitors think. One of which is the pie chart above; as the graph above shows: more people though their visit has affected the environment, one visitor has said that he affected box hill buy walking over and killing the grass. In a couple of years it this would lead to serious erosion and would leave muddy pathways.

Conclusion

By going to box hill; we have found out many different things about the impact of tourism in box hill, most important ones were the erosion and the effected wild life at the top of box hill. Many of the pathways are being destroyed, which may mean that national trust will have to think of different ideas on how to sustain the environment or even re-new all the pathways which were made which would cause even more pollution.

As you can see from the picture above it is not only the tourists that affect box hill: its national trust themselves. They drive their cars through the middle of box hill destroyed plants and the different types of eco systems around it and furthermore, polluting the area. This asks us the question: Does National Trust really care about the environment?

Lake windamer