IMBA Supports Wilderness for Artic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska

Board of Directors Position Statement

March 2002 - The International Mountain Bicycling Association is a national and international education and advocacy organization with 450 member clubs, 32,000 individual members, and more than 200 corporate partners and dealer members. IMBA creates, enhances and preserves trail opportunities for mountain bikers worldwide.

Although bicycling is prohibited in Wilderness areas, IMBA supports preservation as Wilderness of many, appropriate federal lands pursuant to the Wilderness Act.

As an organization of outdoor enthusiasts, we value the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, as the ecological heart of this world-class wildlife refuge, an essential and integral part of one of America's most superlative wilderness expanses.

Mountain bikers demonstrate their personal commitment to reducing energy use every day. Our society needs to use oil and gasoline much more efficiently. Investments in alternative fuels and alternative transportation, including bicycling facilities, can more quickly and more permanently address America's energy needs than drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Moreover, there are wild places with such extraordinary natural value - like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and like the Arctic coastal plain - that their sacrifice cannot be justified in view of our moral obligation to preserve them for future generations.

Few of us will ever visit the Arctic coastal plain. That makes it no less important to us. Simply knowing that it remains protected adds depth and quality to our lives.

Therefore, the International Mountain Bicycling Association strongly opposes opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and endorses its permanent statutory designation as Wilderness.