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