: MTB’s in the press….

By: g | No Comments » |

Published in SMH Online October 10th, 2009

Article written by: Josephine Tovey, Urban Affairs [original here]

Pedal extremities: walkers v cyclists in parks

“A NEW skirmish is taking place over Sydney’s national parks, this time between unlikely foes.

Cyclists are at loggerheads with environmentalists over whether mountain biking should be allowed in the parks. Until recently the sport has been limited to fire trails but now cyclists are seeking deeper access to bushland on dedicated tracks.

”You’ve got all this brilliant bushland but you’re not able to use it,” said Rob Rainton, from the Northern Beaches Mountain Biking Group.

But conservationists say mountain bikes have no place in national parks because they cause serious damage to the environment. Ken Higgs from the National Parks Association said bikes formed erosion gullies and destroyed plants.

”They travel fast, accelerate hard, turn sharply, brake hard and skid frequently,” he wrote in a letter to the NSW Government in July. ”These activities cause significant disturbance to the ground and any nearby vegetation.”

The issue came to a head three months ago when the National Parks and Wildlife Service blocked trails and issued fines to cyclists illegally riding on walking tracks in the Garigal National Park around Middle Harbour.

The NPWS has called a meeting with both groups later this month to try to reach a compromise.

The cyclists, backed by Manly MP Mike Baird, hope dedicated, sustainable cycling tracks can be established in the park.

Bob Conroy, the service’s executive director of park management, said he was open to dedicated trails in the Garigal park. A trial was under way in the Royal National Park south of Sydney.

But Judith Bennett of the NPA said national parks were not the place for the sport. ”The primary purpose of a national park is the conservation of the environment; that’s the law,” she said. ”If people can visit the park in ways that don’t damage it, that’s great, but it’s secondary.”

There are dedicated trails in several regional national parks, including Kosciuszko and the Blue Mountains.”

Twenty Six Inches’ Reply: Leonard Allen, Trail Advocacy

An interesting article from Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald.

Once again we see the usual arguments against mtb coming to the fore, from the NPA.

“…But conservationists say mountain bikes have no place in national parks because they cause serious damage to the environment. Ken Higgs from the National Parks Association said bikes formed erosion gullies and destroyed plants.”

This argument may have some merit, sure that sounds strange from a mtb group, but this is only because many trail systems are not built to be sustainable. This shouldn’t however be an argument to remove a user from a park. I could show you many examples of walking trail in National Parks (yes I am a walker as well) that suffer from severe erosion. Again, these issues are more down to trail design than it is the walkers themselves.

For the good of national parks, groups like the NPA need to move away from the mindset that the current trails are eroded therefore the entire sport is an issue. Lets look towards actually managing the parks, exclusion is NOT a for of management, in a sustainable way. Properly planned, built and maintained trails eliminate most of the concerns raised by the NPA for both walking and cycling trails. The issue we have currently is that the trails are not designed for a cycling use, or any use for that matter and that suits the propganda of the NPA.

The issue of cycling access needs to be looked at on a case by case basis depending on the park and its inherent constraints. A park bounded by urban development will always have more pressure upon it than a remote park. This is where the uses need to be managed. Exclusion leads to illegal use which in the long term will always be to the parks detriment. Sustainable trails are the only solution to this issue.

Fortunately there are examples popping up where the NPWS have looked at the issue in a level headed way in an attempt to proactively manage a park and the impacts upon it.

 

Tags:Bike: MTB Advocacy,mtb,NPWS,nsw


Share the love...?



Tweet

Leave a Reply...

You must be logged in to post a comment.