If you’ve been out on a hiking trail lately， you’ve probably noticed them suddenly popping up everywhere—small， intentionally stacked piles of rocks， called cairns. And environmentalists worldwide are increasingly alarmed， because moving rocks have great influence on insects， animals and even the land.

People have been stacking rocks since the dawn of time， for directional or burial purposes. More recently， park officials began creating them on hiking trails—especially where people easily get lost—to make sure people don’t get lost.

In 1896， a man named Waldron Bates created a special style of hiking cairn in Acadia National Park. The Bates cairns， as they became known， consisted of a rectangular stone balanced on two legs， then topped with one stone pointing to the trail. The places of these cairns were taken by standard ones in the 1950s and 1960s. But the park began rebuilding the historic Bates cairns in the 1990s. Acadia now contains a mixture of both.

What scientists today pay most attention to is the new practice of creating rock piles as an art form， or for more popular social media posts， for stacking rocks is not a good practice. Many insects and animals head under rocks to live or hide. So move a rock， and you might destroy a home. Stack a few， and you may have just exposed the insects and animals to their hunters.

Whether you’re stacking rocks in the woods， on the beach or in the desert， your actions could knock out an area. Or， in the worst case， threaten a species in danger.

Some rock-stacking fans note they’re being responsible by returning rocks to the spots where they found them after creating their artwork. However， the minute you move rocks， you may destroy a species’ place in an unrecoverable manner. What’s more， moving rocks in any way may break up the soil， as the dirt once hid under them is now more easily to be washed away.

Should you come upon stacked rocks， especially in national parks， leave them alone. And if you’re hiking， don’t follow them. Check with park officials before setting out on a hike， as every park has different rules about cairns. You don’t want to follow those that may have been randomly stacked by visitors.

In the end， let your actions be guided by this important rule： Leave no trace.

如果你最近出去徒步旅行，可能會(huì)注意到突然出現(xiàn)在各個(gè)地方的、小小的、故意堆起的巖石堆，它們被稱為石堆紀(jì)念碑。全世界的環(huán)保人士也感到越來(lái)越震驚，因?yàn)橐苿?dòng)巖石會(huì)給昆蟲(chóng)、動(dòng)物甚至土地帶來(lái)巨大的影響。

人們從遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)起就開(kāi)始堆石頭，為了定位方向或作為墓葬。最近，公園管理人員開(kāi)始在徒步旅行的小徑上堆石頭塊——特別是在容易讓人迷路的小徑上——以確保人們不會(huì)迷路。

1896年，一個(gè)名叫沃爾德倫·貝茨的人在阿卡迪亞國(guó)家公園創(chuàng)造了一種特別的徒步石堆風(fēng)格。貝茨石堆，正如人們所知的，是把一塊長(zhǎng)方形的石頭平衡地放在兩塊石頭上，然后頂部放一塊指向小徑的石頭。這些石堆在20世紀(jì)50年代和60年代被標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的石堆所取代。但是公園在90年代開(kāi)始重建有歷史意義的貝茨石堆。阿卡迪亞國(guó)家公園中現(xiàn)在有這兩種石堆。

今天科學(xué)家們關(guān)注的是創(chuàng)造巖堆成了一種藝術(shù)形式，或是為了使社交媒體的帖子更受歡迎，因?yàn)槎哑鰩r石不是一種好的做法。許多昆蟲(chóng)和動(dòng)物在巖石下生存或躲藏。所以搬走一塊石頭，你可能會(huì)毀了一個(gè)窩。堆幾塊石頭，你可能就將昆蟲(chóng)和動(dòng)物暴露給了它們的捕獵者。

不管你是在樹(shù)林里、海灘上還是在沙漠里堆石頭，你的行為都可能會(huì)破壞一個(gè)區(qū)域?；蛘撸顗牡那闆r是會(huì)威脅到瀕危物種。

一些巖石堆的愛(ài)好者注意到，他們有責(zé)任在完成創(chuàng)作后把石頭放回發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的地方。然而，當(dāng)你移動(dòng)巖石時(shí)，你可能會(huì)以一種無(wú)法恢復(fù)的方式破壞了一個(gè)物種的棲息地。此外，以任何方式移動(dòng)巖石都可能導(dǎo)致土壤分解，因?yàn)椴卦趲r石下面的泥土現(xiàn)在更容易被沖走。

如果你碰到堆積的巖石，尤其是在國(guó)家公園中時(shí)，不要碰它們。如果你在徒步旅行，不要跟著它們走。在開(kāi)始徒步旅行之前，同公園管理人員核實(shí)一下，因?yàn)槊總€(gè)公園對(duì)石堆都有不同的規(guī)定。你肯定不想跟著那些可能是由游客隨機(jī)堆的石堆走。

最后，讓你的行動(dòng)遵循這一重要原則：不留痕跡。