The effects of visitor activities on surface soil environmental conditions and above-ground herbaceous biomass in Ayder Natural Park, Turkey, were investigated. Soilproperties and aboveground herbaceous biomass were identified and characterized asheavily trafficked site (HTS), moderately trafficked sites (MTS) and control (non-traf-ficked site) in grassland in a forest gap. Some soil properties were measured on 60pits at 0–5 and 5–10 cm soil depths. The intensity of visitor activities had a negativeimpact on both surface soil properties and the aboveground herbaceous plant bio-mass and root mass in the study area in Ayder. The soil bulk density and soil penetra-tion resistance increased from 0.94 to 1.47 g cm–3and 0.55 to 1.65 MPa, respectively,saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased from 77.98 to 8.85 mm h–1, and soilorganic matter decreased from 6.71 to 1.77% in moderately and heavily traffickedsites, respectively, at 0–5 cm soil depth. The soil properties were degraded at both thesurface layer and the subsurface layer and the greatest degradation was measured inthe heavily trafficked site followed by the moderately trafficked site. There was astrong negative linear relationship between soil degradation and aboveground herba-ceous plant biomass, which decreased by 50.05 and 78.19% in moderately and heavilytrafficked sites, respectively
