Help reverse the mountain bike ban in the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont
Action Alert
For Immediate Release
06-05-05
Contact: Gary Sprung
303-545-9011
IMBA and New England Mountain Bike Association urge all mountain bikers to submit comments to the U.S. Forest Service regarding the draft plan for the Green Mountain National Forest.
Don't delay! To impact the key players, your comments must be received by July 5th.
Key Facts
- Bikes are allowed on only 37 miles of the forest's 906 miles
of trail.
- Congress has already designated six Wilderness areas
totalling 59,421 acres in this small national forest.
- Wilderness advocates want another 79,000 acres of new
Wilderness. IMBA wants ALL of those roadless lands preserved, some as
Wilderness, some using diverse designations such as National Protection
Area or National Conservation Area.
- With only very minor exceptions, every other national forest allows bicycling on roads and non-Wilderness trails, unless specially designated closed.
What To Say:
- Insist that the US Forest Service reverse its current policy
of prohibiting bicyclists from trails and even roads unless they
are
specifically posted open. - Suggest that all trails and roads should be open to
bicyclists unless they are designated closed.
- Let the National Forest Service know that you support Alternative E of the Green Mountain National Forest Plan Revision, because Alternative E allows for the greatest potential for future mountain bike opportunities.
Where to send your letters
Forest Plan Revision
Green Mountain National Forest
Email:
Postal mail:
231 N. Main St.
Rutland, VT 05701
website of the Green Mountain National Forest:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/gmfl/index.htm
forest plan revision website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/gmfl/nepa_planning/plan_revision/index.htm
We need your help, and urge you to send in letters and emails by July 5th. This is an important opportunity to increase access for mountain biking so that we can enjoy this area. Act soon: we can't miss this chance to help mountain biking in Vermont.
The 40,000-acre Glastenbury Roadless Area could be a prime mountain biking area, if not for the Green Mountain N.F. bike ban. Please help IMBA protect both the land and bike access.
Bikes should not be banned
Bikes are essentially banned in the Green Mountain National Forest, and the Forest Service's new draft plan codifies this unusual policy. The Green Mountain National Forest is the only national forest in the United States to have such a strict policy towards bicycling. The plan goes further: It adopts the extreme policy of banning bikes from roads as well as trails.
The Forest Service might respond that the ban is not absolute; that it's just a "closed-unless-designated-open" policy; that in the preferred alternative 69% of the land will be available for possible bicycle trail development. But why build new trails for bicycling when there are hundreds of miles of existing trails that are suitable? Currently, bicyclists are only allowed on a paltry 37 miles of a 906-mile trails system.
Equestrians fare even more poorly. They only get a 14 miles of trail. In contrast, snowmobilers are allowed on 471 miles, and hikers on 349 miles.
Compare this policy to the nearby White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine, where mountain bikers are allowed on just about every non-Wilderness trail.
The US Forest Service is, by law, a multiple-use agency. For recreation, that should mean that people learn to share trails. These lands are not just for hikers and snowmobilers. It's time for the Green Mountain National Forest to live up to its multiple-use mandate and reverse its policy. They should follow the National Forest Service tradition that non-Wilderness trails are open to bicycling and horses unless officially closed.
Tell the US Forest Service that you wish their "Standards and Guidelines" to state that "mountain biking is a permitted activity on all roads and trails unless they are designated as closed." An "open unless posted closed" policy would bring the Green Mountain National Forest more in line with other National Forest plans.
Preserve future bike access by supporting Alternative E
The US Forest Service currently prefers Alternative E, a recommendation we also support. This option is favorable to mountain bikers since it designates the least amount of new acreage to Wilderness Study Area, which in this case bans bicycling. Alternative E keeps the door open for more favorable riding opportunities in the future, especially in the Glastenbury area which is covered in old roads and trails suitable for mountain biking. Mountain bikers support the protection of roadless areas, but not strictly through Wilderness designations that prevent bicycling opportunities forever.
The Forest Service and Congress can use a diversity of designationsto protect land. The Forest Service should recommend that some areas be protected as Wilderness, but areas suitable for bicycling should be preserved as national conservation areas or protection areas.
However, all the draft plan's Alternatives codify the mountain bike policy as "closed" to bikes unless specifically posted "open." It is critical that mountain bikers speak out against this.
If you can do more, fax or email Congress
If you are from Vermont, your voice is especially important. If you are from out of state, write to Vermont's members of Congress about the tourism value of trails for bicyling. Bicyclists spend considerable money and travel long distances to ride trails in national forests like the Green Mountain.
Senator Patrick Leahy
199 Main Street,4th Floor
Burlington, VT 05401
fax: (202) 224-3479
voice:
(802) 8632525
(800) 642-3193
Senator James Jeffords
30 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
fax: (202) 228-0776
voice: (802) 658-6001
web contact form: http://jeffords.senate.gov/contact.html
Representative Bernie Sanders
1 Church Street
Burlington, VT 05401
fax: (202) 225-4115
voice: (802) 862-0697
web contact form: http://www.house.gov/formbernie/forms/contact.html
