IMBA state reps report
IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 3
August 1999
By Dan Vardamis
Throughout the year IMBA representatives submit reports about the latest trail news in their state. The reports keep IMBA staff apprised of potential issues brewing throughout the nation. This allows IMBA to offer help on an issue in its early stages. Better to prevent a closure than try to reverse it.
The reports also provide information about tactics used to keep trails open in one part of the nation that might apply somewhere else. For example, a method used by a club in Maine to deal with a trail crossing over a marshy field might be used by a club in Oregon faced with the same problem. Our advocacy department disseminates this information.
Finally, the reports offer new and improved ways to deal with trail issues. Mountain bike trail advocacy is relatively young and new techniques are continually being developed. The state rep reports help ensure that IMBA stays current and keeps learning and spreading new ideas.
IMBA representatives recently submitted summer solstice reports. Here are some of the highlights:
Vermont - A major long-term issue that the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) and state rep Gary Kessler are working on is changing the present policy on state land that limits bike access. Currently, mountain bike access is limited to gravel roads, unless approved by the Vermont Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Kessler also reports that the state is acquiring the development rights to a large tract of land in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. VMBA is designating mountain bike corridors on the land that will allow construction of future trails.
Wisconsin - According to Wisconsin state reps Rita Nygren and Scott Frey, the Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycling Association's (WORBA) spring membership drive added more than 200 new and renewing members, bringing the total membership for this outstanding club to 865. WORBA also reported 2,088 hours of volunteer trail work midway through '99. In addition, recent patrol classes in Wisconsin gained the National Mountain Bike Patrol 24 new patrollers,
Iowa - Local mountain bike enthusiasts have received approval to develop trails on land owned by Luther College in Decorah. The trails will be built and maintained by students of the college. State rep Rick Knoke reports that Decorah has some of the most scenic and challenging terrain in eastern Iowa, so local mountain bikers are very excited about this development. Also, after years of negotiation, the Central Iowa Trails Association (CITA) has succeeded in their bid to have the Des Moines river trail designated for mountain bike use. The new trail, named the Sycamore trail, serves metropolitan Des Moines.
North Dakota - The recent opening of the Maah Daah Hey Trail near Medora is big news. State rep Steve Stelton reports that this 120 mile trail crosses some of the wildest terrain in the western hemisphere the Badlands as it winds from the northern segment of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the southern unit. The trail's construction was a joint effort of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the North Dakota State Parks and Recreation Department and IMBA's member clubs the Badlanders and the Dakota Roughriders (see story page seven).
Colorado - State rep Bill Harris reports about exciting new trails west of Grand Junction. The Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (COPMOBA), working with enthusiastic managers at the US Bureau of Land Management, is building new singletracks to complete Mary's Loop and Lion's Loop. Until now, riders either backtracked or returned to the start on a smooth gravel road. The new trails will offer challenge and a completely auto-free loop. Mary's and Lion's are the beginning of the famous Kokopelli's Trail.
That's all for this edition. We will have more state rep reports for you in future issues of ITN. Good work to all our clubs and state reps around the United States and abroad!
