Bikes & Wilderness

A lot of bikers don't really understand the implications of Wilderness, and the threat to mountain biking. Several Wilderness Bills are being proposed in California this year, led by Barbara Boxer, and would shut down thousands of acres to mountain bikes.

Here is a quick article from the IMBA website below: Bicycling and Wilderness: A Mountain Biker's Guide to Wilderness Advocacy.

"Wilderness often presents a dilemma to the environmentally conscious mountain biker. While most of us applaud the intentions of the Wilderness Act, we also believe that bicycles are an appropriate, muscle-powered activity that belongs in Wilderness alongside hiking and horseback riding.

But why did bicycles ever become embroiled in the Wilderness debate? Note that bicycling is not mentioned in the Wilderness Act. The key provision often debated is in Section 4(b), which prohibits in Wilderness all motorized travel and equipment and allows "no other form of mechanical transport."

What does the term "mechanical transport" mean? In 1965, shortly after the Congressional action, the Forest Service wrote formal regulations to implement the Wilderness Act and defined "mechanical transport" to mean a cart, sled or other wheeled vehicle that is "powered by a non-living power source." As of the year 2005, that definition is still law.

However, nineteen years after the passage of the Wilderness Act, during the early days of mountain bicycling, the agency added a regulation that prohibits "Possessing or using a hang glider or bicycle." That 1984 action was one of the first to ban bicycling on public lands and by eliminating riding on approximately 25 million acres, it was also certainly the largest.

Unfortunately, most Americans are not aware that bicycles are banned from Wilderness. This can create the impression that bicycles cause more harm to the environment than do hikers or horses. In fact, science has shown that bicycles generally cause about the same amount of damage as hikers and less damage than horses. IMBA has summarized the findings of this research, available at: imba.com/resources/science/impact_summary.html.

When the topic of bicycles and Wilderness is debated by the conservation community, views are often split. The Spring 2003 edition of Wild Earth, a biodiversity and conservation publication of the Wildlands Project, invited six environmental advocates to weigh in on the issue. You can get a sense for both sides of the argument and those on the fence."

Pictures above (top to bottom) are from the IMBA website, of the Meiss Meadow Trail near Tahoe, Mt Lola trail in Castle Peak, and the Tahoe Rim Trail...all threatened by Wilderness designations.

Wilderness & Trail Closures

Wilderness proposals are not voted on by the public, but by Congress (fat pale vampire-like people who have never even been on a trail). Yet, with a stroke of a signature, they can close millions of acres and thousands of miles of trails off to everyone but hikers and horseman. Somehow they think that a 1500 pound horse with hooves does less damage that a bikerider with a 25 pound bike (with the weight dispersed over soft rubber.) Anyone who claims this, has NEVER been backpacking in the Sierras, where trails have become deep multi-lane trenches of pulverized horse crap. But, this is besides the point...

Designating the lands as "Semi-primitive Back Country Recreation" areas instead of Wilderness would allow protection for the lands and ensure continued shared use of public lands. Closing more trails to multiple use would only serve to concentrate use and exacerbate problems on remaining trails. In many places, the only trail maintenance is done by mountain bikers and motorcycle riders. Trails would literally disapear without these users. But the special interests with deep pockets, powerful hollywood-type environmental groups and rich horseman groups, are lobbying congress to close access.

Chris Horgan of Stewards of the Sequoia is fighting the good fight. He realizes how threatened our access to public land and trails really is. He says this: "Every form of recreation on public lands has one thing in common, access. Without access one cannot enjoy mountain biking or dirt biking or camping or hunting or fishing or horseback riding or hiking. The issue is not OHV use. It is whether we stand united for access for all or whether we allow access to be restricted to a few. Do we encourage volunteerism or encourage intolerance?" You can read more about it and sign the petition at www.access-advocates.org NONE of the proposed wilderness areas are recommended by the Forest Service (they are supposed to be the experts) but congress tends to listen to the special interest groups with the money. Get involved - this is happening everywhere!

Do you want trails to ride on?

This is SCARY, for real. Soon Congress will be voting on Barbara Boxer's newest California Wilderness Bill - this will immediately close down thousands of acres of public lands to mountain biking all over California. Read a summary here and please sign the petition! Our elected officials need to know that banning mountain biking is NOT appropriate. Our lands can be protected through other designations, besides the anti-mountain bike "Wilderness" designation.