Tree huggers, can there be damage, and is any amount acceptable?

[WalksInDark]

It is funny that this issue came up now.

My Bro and I like to "give a little" back to the trail, so almost every backpacking trip we leave something better than we found it.

For example, one shelter had no place to hang gear, so rather than do the "quick and dirty" and install those pathetic little metal screw in hooks (that always seem to dig a hole in your head, or drop your wet gear on your sleeping bag: next time we were in the area, we brought sanded and cut to order dowel rods and installed them. Finding a great price on some rakes, we cut the handles off and left them by the firepits at shelters that needed them. Cleaning out fire pits, etc.

One of the thoughts we had for ourselves and folks on the forum was to hook up with the Club that is responsible for a section of the AT and talk to them about putting a daisy chain of metal poles in so that hangers could choose between going native (in the woods) or going fast (using the poles). The idea of having only one center pole along with a number of outside poles is very attractive to me.

Once we get the Nay or Yeah from our Club...then the problem of getting hammock hangers and materials volunteered so that we could actually implement the idea. Worst comes to worst, if the Club agrees, we could put in the center pole and one outside pole...and do the other outside poles as time/energy/money allows.

What do you think?

[mbiraman]

I think most of the time hanging does not damage the trees. Having said that you might be better to educate the greater hammock family who use the parks in your area , on what trees to be careful of rather than bring up a possible problem to officials who might find it easier to just ban the activity rather than find depleted funds to manage it. Lets not try to fix a problem with hardware and official's before we've actually established that there is a problem.

[Shug]

As a backpacker I am more often than not quasi-stealthing off the beaten path or campsite and reckon the two trees I choose won't see another hammock ever or for quite a while. I look for sturdy bark but in a few cases I was just happy to have any ol' tree to hang from.
In that case I just look at what woodpecker, bugs, lightning, blight, wind and other natural elements have done to the tree and feel that my impact is pretty minimal .... in my mind.
Shug

[WarmSoda]

What we need is some research to define the problem. Does anyone have knowledge of any tree that actually has some damage that looks like it might have been caused by hammock hanging, either by straps or skinny ropes???

[Hawk-eye]

As a backpacker I am more often than not quasi-stealthing off the beaten path or campsite and reckon the two trees I choose won't see another hammock ever or for quite a while. I look for sturdy bark but in a few cases I was just happy to have any ol' tree to hang from.
In that case I just look at what woodpecker, bugs, lightning, blight, wind and other natural elements have done to the tree and feel that my impact is pretty minimal .... in my mind.
Shug

What he said ...

[trewornan]

When a rope (etc) is wrapped around an object the resistance due to friction increases exponentially with the angle subtending the arc of contact. How much that actually is of course depends on the diameter of the object and the coefficient of friction but that doesn't matter much.

What's important is that the force decreases very rapidly and the full force of the hammock is only exerted on the rope at the point where it contacts the bark. I expect we're all aware that by the time you've wrapped webbing twice around a tree the force on the end is almost zero.

Therefore any damage will tend to be limited to a relatively small section of bark and not all round the tree. I'm no expert but as I understand it "ringing" a tree is the thing that kills them minor superficial injuries to the bark are relatively harmless.

Finally, we all have an impact on the environment indeed the environment is how it is because of the presence of people. LNT is a good philosophy but a practical impossibility, while we would I'm sure all want to minimise our impact we need a touch of realism if we want to enjoy the great outdoors.

[Cannibal]

If we don't take precaution hanging our hammocks, all the world's dogs might also suffer.

[Coldspring]

Heck, here in the Ozarks the land stewards of public lands are always burning off the forests. I can rarely tell where I've hung my hammocks, but I can sure see fire scars. You can't even find a place to hang because of all the underbrush, and they are trying to burn that out. Would it be a sin to snap a few small bushes to find a place to hang?

[mbiraman]

Heck, here in the Ozarks the land stewards of public lands are always burning off the forests. I can rarely tell where I've hung my hammocks, but I can sure see fire scars. You can't even find a place to hang because of all the underbrush, and they are trying to burn that out. Would it be a sin to snap a few small bushes to find a place to hang?

Not as far as i'm concerned. If you feel guilty plant a few trees, but space them about 18ft apart.

[GW Sears]

Heck, here in the Ozarks the land stewards of public lands are always burning off the forests. I can rarely tell where I've hung my hammocks, but I can sure see fire scars. You can't even find a place to hang because of all the underbrush, and they are trying to burn that out. Would it be a sin to snap a few small bushes to find a place to hang?

They do that out in the west as well. Heck, they do it so well that a few years ago, they darned near burned down the town of Los Alamos and the National Laboratory along with the underbrush they were clearing.