Bureau of Land Management Seeks Public Comment on Draft National Mountain Bicycling Strategic Action Plan
For Immediate Release
08-19-02
Contact: Jenn Dice, IMBA advocacy director
303-545-9011
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released their draft National Mountain Bicycling Strategic Action Plan August 19 for public comment. The draft plan describes how the BLM will manage and support mountain biking on the 263 million acres of public land the agency oversees.
A team of BLM leaders and advisors developed the draft plan. Long-time IMBA advocate Mark Flint of Tucson, Arizona, participated.
The BLM decided to produce a National Mountain Bike Strategic Action Plan last year following a flood of comments provided by IMBA staff and members on the BLM's Off-Highway Vehicle Strategy. That plan originally proposed to group mountain bike management with that of off-highway vehicles.
IMBA encourages mountain bikers to carefully read this draft action plan and submit concise written comments by the Sept. 25 deadline. The plan's goal is to:
- promote consistency among BLM states and field offices
- maximize the use of existing staff, resources, volunteers and partnerships
- recognize the changing demographics, increasing populations, emerging technologies and issues unique to mountain biking
IMBA is grateful for the BLM's careful deliberation and research in shaping this plan. The BLM mountain bike strategy team attended IMBA's Summit in Moab, Utah, in April to gather feedback from mountain bike leaders. IMBA believes this plan offers excellent, constructive advice to local managers. It sets positive, proactive direction for the agency with regard to managing and providing opportunities for mountain biking.
IMBA disagrees with the plan in only one regard: It proposes the future development of new regulations for "mechanized" recreation. IMBA supports appropriate regulations of bicycling, but we believe such regulations must be promulgated for all non-motorized recreation together, not for bicycling alone.
Points to make in your letter:
- Thank the BLM for their thoughtful, positive approach to bicycling.
- Request that the Regulations section of the plan be changed. The plan should not call for development of separate bicycling regulations. Instead, it should enourage new regulations that address all muscle-powered recreation collectively, including hiking, horseback riding, and bicycling.
- Feel free to offer suggestions for management and suggestions for providing mountain bicycling opportunities.
Submit your comments electronically to the BLM's website at www.blm.gov or via the mail to:
Tim Smith, Team Lead
National Mountain Bicycling Strategic Action Plan
BLM-California State Office
2800 Cottage Way, Room W-1834
Sacramento, CA 95825-1886
To read the Draft National Mountain Bicycling Strategic Action Plan Click Here (pdf 212k).
