IMBA Seeks Utah Wilderness Comments From Members

IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 1
March-April 1998

IMBA has been asked to join the Utah Wilderness Coalition -- the group of environmental and recreation organizations that is advocating the designation of 5.7 million acres of southern Utah public land as new federal Wilderness.

Designated Wilderness has always been a topic of concern for IMBA's board of directors, staff and membership at-large. Since 1984, bicycle use has been prohibited in all federally designated Wilderness. The federal Wilderness designation is widely recognized as the most powerful regulatory tool in preserving public land and protecting it from development.

IMBA members and the mountain biking public have expressed a variety of carefully crafted opinions about Wilderness in general. Many of you have also shared your thoughts on IMBA's ideal role -- if any -- in supporting or opposing new Wilderness proposals. Most recently, IMBA members have addressed the politics and boundaries of potential new southern Utah Wilderness in email discussions on IMBA's email listserv.

IMBA's board of directors have expressed general (though not formal) support for the following four principles to guide our analysis of new Wilderness proposals:

1. IMBA will formulate its positions on new Wilderness proposals on a case-by-case basis, just as we do with all major land management proposals.

2. IMBA is committed to preserving bicycle access to trails and roads where off-road cycling is a traditional or desirable use.

3. IMBA believes that a federal land designation can and should be created that assures conservation while, at the same time, allowing low-impact recreational activities such as mountain biking.
4. IMBA supports the concept that not all trails on public land must be open to bicycle use.

In conjunction with our spring board of directors meeting in Park City, Utah, IMBA will conduct a public forum on Utah Wilderness. This gathering will be held Saturday morning, April 25, 1998, in Park City, Utah (at a site to be announced by March 25) . During this moderated meeting, IMBA members and other interested parties will be invited to share their concise thoughts on the following questions:

1. 1. Should IMBA join the Utah Wilderness Coalition?

2. If not, what role, if any, should IMBA take in supporting or opposing new southern Utah Wilderness proposals -- plans that propose anywhere from 1.9 million to 5.7 million acres of new Federal Wilderness?

If you would like to attend the forum, please submit your written comments (no more than 500 words) along with a statement saying you plan to be there by April 10. The agenda will include presentations from the UWC, IMBA and the BLM, followed by 5-10 minute presentations from those IMBA members who have submitted written comments and are present. We will also make available comments from IMBA members who are unable to attend. Finally, we'll have an open discussion led by a moderator.

Inevitably, general thoughts about the connection between mountain biking and Wilderness will be shared at this gathering, as will opinions about IMBA's optimum role in Wilderness evaluations and politics. But participants will be encouraged to focus their public comments on question number one.

IMBA members who can't attend this public forum are encouraged to share their thoughts on these two questions with IMBA by letter, fax or email. Again, comments should not exceed 500 words and must reach IMBA's headquarters by April 10. Comments received after this date can't be reviewed.