Stacking a few rocks along a river bed or on a mountain can make for a cool Instagram post, but there are quite a few reasons why shouldn’t do this seemingly harmless activity.
For one, man-made rock towers, or cairns, detract from the natural landscape that people have come to enjoy. The towers can also change the landscape for animals that rely on rocks and stones for shelter.
Please watch the full video below from Wicked Wildlife. You might reconsider building that rock tower next time.
Wicked Wildlife: “Rock Stacking has exploded in popularity in recent years due largely to social media, however many people fail to realise this is akin to environmental graffiti so in this video we talk about 3 reasons people should not stack rocks in wilderness areas
1. Rock Stacking is irresponsible
Long before balancing stones became trendy park rangers and game wardens built stone cairns as markers to keep people from getting lost. When people stack stones everywhere suddenly the one marking an important bend in the track looses its meaning which could lead to someone getting lost!
2. Rock Stacking is inconsiderate
Millions of people around the world venture into wilderness areas to escape civilisation and experience untouched environments. In the eyes on many people seeing man made stone cairns everywhere they go is no different to finding people have graffitied a cliff face with spray paint or left litter lying around. As such the act of balancing stones can actually impede on other peoples ability o enjoy nature
3. Its bad for the environment
Many animals around the world depend on rocks for survival, when being pick up 10 or 20 stones to build them into one stack they are essentially turning 20 potential homes into only 1
Here in Australia many saxicolous species have “rock removal” listed as one of the major threats such as the Cunningham Skink, Broad Headed Snake & Corrangamite Water Skink”
Featured Image Credit: Nico on Unsplash
Header Image Credit: Daniela Holzer on UnsplashÂ