National Trails Symposium celebrates success, honors IMBA

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 1
March 1999

Mountain bike advocacy and the work of IMBA received accolades at the 1998 National Trails Symposium, held in Tucson in mid-November. Among the highlights:

• The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew program received a National Trail Award from conference sponsor American Trails.

• IMBA Executive Director Tim Blumenthal spoke to the 600-plus attendees about trail sharing.

• IMBA leaders presented workshops on increasing ethnic, gender and age diversity in the trails movement, alternatives to Wilderness for protecting lands, trail management on the "urban fringe," and building partnerships.

• IMBA board member and conference Co-Chair Steve Anderson received special recognition in the keynote speech, presented by Will Rogers, Executive Director of the Trust For Public Lands.

• IMBA held a board meeting where we discussed issues with leaders of the US BLM, the Rails to Trails Conservancy, and Arizona bike activists.

• Mountain bikers enjoyed good daily rides on public lands surrounding Tucson.

Peer recognition ranks among the most sincere forms of flattery. IMBA and Subaru were honored to receive the "State of the Art Technology Award" from American Trails. It recognized the Trail Care Crew Program.

Trails and urban sprawl

The conference devoted considerable attention to the issue of urban sprawl, which is highly visible in Tucson. It was the central theme for Rogers' keynote address. He noted, " Sprawl and rampant growth around our cities and in our rural communities is consuming our important landscapes: the places that give us a sense of home and our communities their sense of identity. And what are we getting in return? Landscapes of nowhere and everywhere; strip malls, shopping centers and seamless tract housing mcplaces."

Despite the big challenges facing natural landscapes and trails, there are reasons for hope, Rogers suggested. "More than ever before, people are aware of and care more about land conservation ­ parks, trails and open space protection." He noted the great success of open space bond and taxation initiatives throughout the nation in last November's election.

The National Trails Symposium has been held every two years for more thanthree decades. It is the one national event that brings together all types of trails users, including both motorized and non-motorized, along with land managers, conservationists, and politicians. Rogers suggested that the trails movement build on this breadth: "We all need to support the vision of a unified and holistic system of lands and natural resources that stretch from inner city parks and community gardens along urban trails, greenways and watersheds to regional open lands to working landscapes and to outlying rural and wilderness areas ­ hopefully all connected by trail systems. There is no reason to created theoretical boxes around our different landscapes."

Signs of success

With billions of dollars allocated to trails through TEA-21 Act passed last summer, and a major rejuvenation with full funding for the National Recreational Trails Fund, the trails movement is riding high. At the Symposium, perhaps the strongest signal of this came from the U.S. Department of Transportation. John Horsley, Deputy Associate Secretary of Transportation, explained the Administration's new Millennium Trails Program, which includes significant funding plus support from the First Lady. The official recognition by top federal officials demonstrated that the trails movement has arrived as a full player on the American political scene.

Personal connections

For participants, perhaps the best aspect of the Symposium was the opportunity to talk with a variety of people who share similar goals. As IMBA activist Mark Flint later wrote, "One of the things the Symposium did for me was reconnect me with the reason I like to ride on trails. Listening to people talk about their trail experiences, in sessions and in conversations during meals and breaks, reminded me that getting out on a trail is more than the challenge of riding it, or achieving a destination. It's more than the sights we see, the air we breathe, the sounds we hear, or the silence we enjoy. When we are out on trails we are fulfilling a fundamental need to connect with Nature. We are renewing our spirit, nourishing the soul.

"Sometimes we get caught up in our advocacy work, or in the need to get in a workout on the trail, and we lose sight of where we are. But even at that level we are still affected, just by being there. If we can focus a little on the connection and stop now and then to relax, take a deep breath and soak it all in, we can really help that renewal process. Trails take us to the places we need to go to be in tune with the universe. They are, as one presenter put it, sacred lines through time and space.

"It's no accident that the theme of this year's National Trails Symposium was 'Trails and the American Spirit.'"

IMBA's Tim Blumenthal, Holly Hill, and Ric Balfour pose with the State of the Art Technology Award at the National Trails Symposium.