Ask for More Biking in Grand Teton National Park Today!

Action Alert

For Immediate Release
07-14-05
Contact: Mark Eller, IMBA Communications Specialist

303-545-9011

Deadline August 1

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) urge mountain bikers nationwide to ask for improved bicycling in Grand Teton National Park and the Jackson, Wyoming, area. With your help, Grand Teton and Jackson could become a model trail community.

Grand Teton National Park is creating a new transportation plan and public comments must be submitted by Aug. 1.

Cyclists are urged to send a letter to Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott and tell her that you support the Improved Alternative 4 transportation plan.

Improved Alternative 4 will create a trail system from the town of Jackson to Colter Bay and from Teton Village to Moose, totaling 50 miles of continuous pathways and enhanced access to more than 40 miles of dirt roads, some of near-single-track quality.

IMBA also suggests you ask the superintendent to consider improving singletrack and narrow trail access for mountain biking where appropriate and in accordance with IMBA's recent partnership agreement with the National Park Service.

Learn more about the plan and send a letter.

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Ask for More Biking in Grand Teton National Park - Deadline Aug. 1

Cyclists are urged to send a letter to Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott and tell her that you support the Improved Alternative 4 version of the Grand Teton Transportation Plan.

IMBA is working with the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) to lobby for alternative modes of transportation in Grand Teton National Park. The park is poised to be a model pathway and trail community. Read more about NPCA's vision for a model park transportation system.

Act Now:

1. Write a letter using the sample text below.
2. Select additional points most important to you to cut and paste into your letter.
3. Customize your comments by describing personal experiences, hopes and desires regarding mountain biking in Grand Teton and other national parks. Your personal comments are important!
4. Print and mail the letter to Grand Teton Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott.
5. Make sure your letter is postmarked by Aug. 1.

SAMPLE LETTER

(YOUR NAME)
(YOUR ADDRESS)
(CITY, STATE, ZIP)

(DATE)

Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott
c/o Transportation Plan Draft EIS
Grand Teton National Park
P.O. Drawer 170
Moose, WY 83012

Dear Superintendent Scott:

I am writing to express my support for increased bicycle access in Grand Teton National Park in the Transportation Plan/Draft EIS. Adopting an Improved Alternative 4 would make the park a model for environmentally friendly transportation, while enhancing recreation.

[Insert personal experiences or desires for Grand Teton and national parks in general]

[Cut and paste additional points here]

Specifically, please make the following routes open to bicycles:

• RKO River Road (existing two-track currently open to cars and bikes) 16.8 miles
• East Side 2-Track (existing two-track currently open to cars and bikes) 8 miles
• Gros Ventre Campground Black Tail 2-Track (open old road to allow bikes) 3.1 miles
• Mormon Row (existing gravel road open to cars and bikes) 3 miles
• Colter Bay to Jackson Lake Lodge (administrative road open to concessionaire and NPS staff, please open to bikes) 5.5 miles

Please consider new singletrack trail:

• Jenny Lake to Snake River Singletrack (old road converted to a new trail) 2.8 miles
• Wherever Park staff deems appropriate
• Outside of formally designated Wilderness

Thank you for considering my comments. I request that Grand Teton National Park support alternative forms of transportation by adopting an Improved Alternative 4. Please consider expanding opportunities for mountain biking at Grand Teton National Park.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

cc: Senator Craig Thomas (WY)
Attn: Shawn Whitman
307 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Additional Points You Can Use to Customize Your Letter

All Letters Should Include:

• Thank the Park for considering bicycling opportunities in the draft plan.
• Please support an Improved Alternative 4.
• Mountain biking is an appropriate, low-impact, muscle-powered activity that provides visitors a safe, healthy way to enjoy Grand Teton National Park.

Why Bicycling is an Appropriate Activity at the Park:

• Bicycling on paved roads, paths, dirt roads and trails gets visitors out of their cars to explore and enjoy the park.
• Bicycling combats the nation-wide epidemic of obesity, providing a healthy way to exercise.
• The Park already has hundreds of miles of trails for hikers. It is appropriate to consider more road and trail cycling opportunities.

Treat Hikers and Bicyclists the Same:

• Park management should treat user groups equally. Science indicates that the impact of hiking and biking on wildlife, vegetation and trails are about the same.
• The park's description of cyclist-grizzly bear relationships singles out interactions where the bear behaved aggressively. The draft plan makes no mention of bear-hiker encounters, though they certainly occur.
• The study by Herrero and Herrero on bicyclist-grizzly interactions referenced in the Grand Teton draft EIS concludes that:
• "We found no ecological rationale for treating cycling parties differently than hiking parties within [our data]."
• "There is no ecological rationale that we are aware of for managing cyclists to lessen habitat disturbance (i.e. increase habitat effectiveness) without also managing other user groups (e.g. hikers) and developments."
• Bicycle access can be planned and designed to minimize sudden encounters with grizzly bears and other wildlife. Trails, paths or dirt roads that encourage slower riding, have good sight lines or are seasonally closed to all user groups minimize risk to humans and animals.
• In many areas of the American and Canadian Northern Rockies, mountain biking and grizzlies coexist with minimal management issues.

Shared Use Trails Work:

• Successful mountain bike management in hundreds of protected areas across the country proves that it is possible to minimize user conflict and disturbance to wildlife.
• Mountain biking is an accepted and popular activity in other National Park units.
• Shared-use trails are successful on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management, as well as state and local land.

A Note on Public Comments:

The National Park Service often makes comments, including names and addresses, available for public review. If you do not wish this, please request this in your letter.