IMBA Attends BLM National Trails Training Forum

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 5
December 1999

IMBA advocacy director Jennifer Lamb represented mountain bicyclists at a forum of diverse trail organizations and land management agencies held in late September at the BLM's National Training Center in Phoenix. The purpose of the forum was to discuss the need for a national framework to provide trail construction and management training.

Representatives from trail groups included the Backcountry Horsemen of America, IMBA, the Rails to Trails Conservancy, the American Motorcyclist Association, American Trails and the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council. Agencies represented included the Forest Service, the BLM, the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Federal Highway Administration and Arizona State Parks.

The group, titled the National Trail Training Partnership, explored the possibility of cooperative training efforts between trail organizations and public agencies. NTTP agreed on a vision statement that defines its purpose: "Trails that meet public needs and desires while addressing environmental, economic and social considerations."

A three-year action plan was established. It includes: identifying existing trails training programs, developing criteria to classify trails training programs, identifying gaps in existing trails training programs, developing the necessary agreements to promote and accomplish training, developing a NTTP web site, developing an informational event, such as a satellite broadcast, and designing a trails training course.

IMBA, through its widely recognized Trail Care Crew program, Trailbuilding Schools, National Mountain Bike Patrol and nationwide network of dedicated volunteers, has an important role to play in the NTTP. IMBA's presence at the meeting was important. It helped to increase the visibility of mountain bikers with the federal land management agencies, and it built IMBA's credibility as a national user-group organization that should be a participant in federal level trails planning and policy discussions.

For more information, feel free to send an email to Jen Lamb at .