You’ll notice the water running down the ruts in some of these next photos. As the water flows it erodes the soil making the ruts even deeper and it also picks up phosphorus. Since most of the water landing in our watershed ends up in a lake it is a safe assumption that the phosphorus is headed to a lake. Trails covered with vegetation will hold phosphorus instead of releasing it.
This forest has soil that is highly unstable when wet and a high water table that keeps it wet. Notice the deep foot prints in the mud.
