| 08/25/2003 | The Cactus Forest Trail at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, is slated to reopen to bicycle use on Sept. 19. The 2.5-mile trail - the first legal singletrack open to bikes in a National Park - was closed in April 2002 following a legal threat by an environmental watchdog group.
The International Mountain Bicycling Association led the effort to reopen the trail. Buoyed by a grant from the Bikes Belong Coalition, IMBA enlisted the support of the D.C. law firm, Hogan & Hartson. IMBA leaders met many times with National Park Service leaders in Denver and Washington and also worked with Saguaro National Park staff. Local Tucson advocates also contributed to this positive resolution.
The trail, which had been a successful shared-use model for more than a decade, was declared off-limits to bikes when the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) challenged its legality, saying that the Park Service didn't follow agency regulations when it opened the trail to bicyclists in1992.
Off-road National Park bicycling opportunities fall under a rule that mandates an expensive, elaborate and lengthy process to open any National Park trail to bicycle use. Park Service officials say this process often takes three full years. To their credit - and mindful of IMBA's input - NPS completed the Cactus Forest review in less than 16 months. The final rule that set the stage for the trail's reopening was posted Aug. 20 in the Federal Register.
"We're glad the trail is about to reopen," said IMBA executive director Tim Blumenthal. "But when we review all the steps that had to be followed, we come to one conclusion: what a waste of taxpayer money and Park Service staff time.
"The Cactus Forest Trail has been ridden safely and without resource impacts for 11 years," Blumenthal continued. "The Park Service conducted public hearings before opening it and monitored the trail carefully during its first year. Local mountain bikers helped maintain it. The trail has been successful from day one and should never have been closed."
PEER also questioned the legality of other National Park bicycling opportunities - a claim that IMBA successfully countered. As of this writing, no other NPS trails have been closed to bicyclists.
IMBA continues to work with the National Park Service and Hogan & Hartson to improve bicycle access on appropriate National Park dirt roads, doubletracks and trails. IMBA views mountain biking as a National Park solution that gets visitors out of their cars, outdoors, and away from congested parking lots and visitor centers.
Contact: Jenn Dice, IMBA government affairs director
jenn@imba.com, 303-545-9011www.imba.org
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