Preserving The Environment - Blending Access Work And Conservation In New England

Mountain BIking Success Stories

IMBA Trail News
Volume 16, Number 2
Early Summer 2003

The New England Mountain Bike Association's (NEMBA) commitment to conservation has garnered respect and political clout in environmentally minded New England. Two recent NEMBA accomplishments reflect particularly well on the group and the sport of mountain biking.

NEMBA is in the process of raising $200,000 - mostly from individual mountain bikers - to purchase a hilly, wooded 47-acre land parcel near the headwaters of the Charles River in Milford, Massachusetts. NEMBA hopes to close the deal in October, then build tight, shared-use singletrack trails there, and place the acreage under permanent conservation reasement. This bold, well-publicized and unprecedented campaign should inspire similar efforts by other mountain bike groups.

NEMBA's solid conservation work earned additional recognition on April 22, when the New England office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented NEMBA with their 2003 Environmental Merit Award, recognizing the group's "...commitment, teamwork, and perseverance... to bring about meaningful and lasting environmental protection and improvements."

More info: www.nemba.org