For Immediate Release
December 11, 2000
Contact:
303-545-9011
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released a draft plan that will
govern how off-highway vehicles (OHVs) can be used on BLM-managed public
land. The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is concerned
that the plan groups mountain bikes with motorized vehicles despite the
different impacts of the activities.
IMBA is against grouping mountain bikes with motorized vehicles because it
could lead to severe and unwarranted restriction of bicycle access. The
physical and social impacts of bicycle use are clearly less than that of
motorized use and IMBA believes bicycles should be managed separately.
"We're disappointed the BLM has chosen this route," said IMBA executive
director Tim Blumenthal. "We have worked as partners with the BLM for a
decade to carefully manage mountain biking. This plan is not consistent with
that partnership."
The Draft National Off-Highway Vehicle Management Strategy was released Dec.
4 for public comment.
IMBA is encouraging mountain bikers to submit comments on the plan before
the Jan. 3, 2001 deadline. The BLM has said it will finalize the strategy by
Jan. 19, 2001 - the last day of the Clinton Administration.
IMBA suggests the following points be included in comment letters:
Bicycling should be managed separately from motorized recreation. Explain
from your personal experience the fundamental differences between bicycling
and motorized recreation.
IMBA believes that bicycling should be grouped with other nonmotorized
recreation forms, such as hiking and horseback riding, in the management
guidelines for public lands. We agree that bicycling and all forms of
recreation need management. We will be happy to work with BLM to improve the
management of bicycling on the public lands, and we encourage the agency to
develop a bicycling strategy, or a nonmotorized recreation strategy, to
complement its OHV strategy.
The BLM did not sufficiently inform the public that bicycles would be
included in the plan during the initial comment period. Because of this,
many bicyclists did not comment. The deadline for additional public
comment, Jan. 3, 2001, is too soon for cyclists to adequately review the
plan and submit comments.
More than 10 million Americans enjoy mountain biking. BLM decisions made
today about mountain biking will impact our activity for years to come. Our
sport is big enough to warrant its own management plan.
The BLM, mountain bikers and the International Mountain Bicycling
Association have a long, positive history of cooperation that began in the
late 1980s and includes several formal agreements and joint projects. This
controversial plan to group mountain bikes with motorized vehicles could
harm this relationship.
The BLM plan fundamentally differs from a recently signed Memorandum of
Understanding between the U.S. Forest Service and IMBA, the Forest Service
pledged that it shall "Encourage the management of mountain bike use as
distinct from motorized activities when developing agency policy, forest
management plans, and travel management rules."
Send your letter by mail, email, or fax to:
BLM OHV Strategy Comments
U.S. Department of the Interior - BLM
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240.
Email:
Fax: (202) 452-5124
View the BLM Draft National Off-Highway Vehicle Management Strategy at http://www.blm.gov/ohv.
More on IMBA's relationship with the BLM can be seen in the Resources Section
