I am currently reading a book by Nevada Barr called "Deep South". In the story, she is a National Park Service ranger assigned to a new location in Mississippi. The area is called a "trace". Can any of you ecologists on board explain this term to me? I have never heard it applied to an area of land and wonder what exactly it defines?

I checked my own dictionary and there is nothing to relate it to topography at all. My own understanding of it seems to be that it is an ecologically sensitive area, trace meaning delicate/thin/fragile.

Thanks

In my boy scouting days some of the hikes we took were known as XXX Trace. I specifically remember the Tulip Tree Trace in southern Illinois or Kentucky.

I believe it means a trail or path, and doesn't have a connotation of fragility . The example that comes to mind is the Natchez Trace, which was an early route of westward expansion in the US and is now a national park of some sort.

Just did a quick google on Natchez Trace - says its an old Indian trail from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi.

And I answered my own question, as you were answering here probably! The Natchez Trace is what she describes in the book. However, she used it redundantly at times and called it the Trace trail. That's what confused me. I thought the Trace was an area. Trail trail just didn't make sense

Good book. I recommend it! She has also written "Firestorm" -- another good one!

Dear ABC: I remember reading stories about early days in the south, when the routes taken by the pioneers and followed later by settlers were called "traces".My dictionary has definition supporting this.Perhaps it had something to do with the practice of cutting large pieces of bark called blazes off trees to mark the way. wwh

I believe that trace is related to track, as you often see reference to the traces of animals, etc., clearly meaning their tracks.

'S'what I thought--here's what a site about the Natchez
Trace has:

"This historic route generally follows the old Indian trace, or trail, between Nashville, TN and Natchez, MS. Of the estimated 443 miles, 423 are completed as a parkway."

There are lots of Traces in KY.

Yup, we use trace to mean a trail or track.

Just by way of confirmation: track and trace are both translated in German by "Spur", but the former sense is of interest to hunters, the latter to detectives.

and no doubt the English word spoor is related to Spur.

A coupe of observations...
Tracing anothers path through the wilderness. Looking for traces of past travellers to reinforce that you're on the right track. I'm guessing that a trace was an early track, navigated by one's wits. Before the track became an established route from A to B (or the unknown).
Nice word.