[boxxerace]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32407388/ (AP article)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Forest service, mountain bike riders check out an illicit trail on national forest land near Lake Tahoe.

The U.S. Forest Service is cracking down after renegade bikers secretly cut up to 30 miles of trails in the Tahoe backcountry over the last decade.

Agency officials said a hardcore group of bikers seeking access to steeper, more demanding terrain is to blame for bootleg trails in national forests across the country, including in California, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina and Utah.

"It's a national problem," said Garrett Villanueva, engineer for the agency's trails program at Lake Tahoe. "Some places the problem is more pronounced than others."

Forest Service officials said illegal trails cause erosion, threaten water quality, and disturb vegetation and archaeological sites. The trails also pose a safety threat.

This just in, the Forest Service is guaranteeing American's safety whilst traveling between the pines on US Forest Service (managed) land.

I call Bull-shat! The only and real reason the Forest Service is whining about the trails is that they were not consulted in the construction of the trails. This has little to do with erosion and everything to do with politics.

 

[jonKranked]

This is an outrage, but there is an obesity factory (aka McDonalds) in every single neighborhood in the country and no one does a damn thing.

 

[profro]

I am not for illegal trails, but we need more terrain access for more trails. However doing it illegally in our National Forests is not the way to go about it.

I got a agree, its has nothing to do with erosion, safety, etc. A piddly little DH/freeride/xc trail does nothing to cause erosion on a large enough scale to cause water pollution.

"I'll bet another 10 to 20 miles (of illegal trails) are on the district that we're not aware of," Scheid said. "The knee-jerk reaction is to stop it, but we realize we can't do that. We then try to figure how to meet the demand in an environmentally sensitive manner."

In Colorado, the Forest Service recently closed an extensive network of bike trails around the Telluride Ski Resort, and hopes to see fewer illegal trails now that a private bike park is under construction there, said Judy Schutza, a district ranger in the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest.

At Tahoe, the Forest Service has cited six offenders this year and urged bikers to cooperate in building sanctioned trails. Offenders risk fines up to $5,000, six months in jail and restoration costs.

Other notable quotes...

 

[syadasti]

There is some erosion, but there are far worse legal USF environmental issues - equestrians (causing more erosion than hikers or bikers), fire fighters (fire suppression creates worse fires in the long term and changes the habitat pushing certain species out the picture), logging, grazing, and extraction rights (mining, oil, gas). The lack of predators from old extirpation programs has screwed things up and those other legal offenders plus politics which make things way off balance to the UFS true mandate. So the reality is that MTBs are the least of their concerns if they want to be responsible stewards of their forests.

 

[eaterofdog]

Now that there's an article, there will be a thousand people out there trying to find those trails, and building more if they can't find them.

 

[IH8Rice]

There is some erosion, but there are far worse legal USF environmental issues - equestrians (causing more erosion than hikers or bikers), fire fighters (fire suppression creates worse fires in the long term and changes the habitat pushing certain species out the picture), logging, grazing, and extraction rights (mining, oil, gas). The lack of predators from old extirpation programs has screwed things up and those other legal offenders plus politics which make things way off balance to the UFS true mandate. So the reality is that MTBs are the least of their concerns if they want to be responsible stewards of their forests.

mtb'rs seem to be easier to blame than all of the above.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Yeah great...

All the forest service does all day is build damned roads and they're worried about some rouge trail builders?

 

[IH8Rice]

Yeah great...

All the forest service does all day is build damned roads and they're worried about some rouge trail builders?

i believe they called them pirates

 

[Jim Mac]

i believe they called them pirates

True, I subcontract out to Somali's all the time when it comes to trail building.

 

[IH8Rice]

True, I subcontract out to Somali's all the time when it comes to trail building.

nothing says "volunteers welcome" like a AK47 and RPG's

 

[SkaredShtles]

What the FVCK kind of "trail" is illustrated in that picture??? Are people reall building pirate 4x trails in Tahoe??

 

[johnbryanpeters]

One way or the other, if people continue to bootleg, we'll encounter resistance when trying to build and maintain legitimate trails. Getting permission is slower but it has better results.

 

[BurlyShirley]

One way or the other, if people continue to bootleg, we'll encounter resistance when trying to build and maintain legitimate trails. Getting permission is slower but it has better results.

You are right of course, but that doesn't mean we can't talk trash about the Forest Service.

 

[TN]

So the FS can lease logging & mineral rights with no environmental impact, but these mountain bikers are destroying the forests?

 

[X3pilot]

So the FS can lease logging & mineral rights with no environmental impact, but these mountain bikers are destroying the forests?

Right. But then again, most of those users got legal permission to destroy the forest. I think that's the bigger issue. Just ask the FS nicely and pay off some politicians BEFORE you rip the woods apart.

Until MTB has the $$ and the credibility factor with the government (i.e. the Buffy's Daddy can pay off Senator X so Buff can ride her horsie factor) and people get the Dew Tour image of all bike riders (Ass backwards cocked hat, several lip rings and ass sagging shorts/pants) out of their heads, this will be a continuing issue.

 

[sanjuro]

At least I rode Jackie Chan's!

 

[CRoss]

What the FVCK kind of "trail" is illustrated in that picture??? Are people reall building pirate 4x trails in Tahoe??

Looks like a typical freeride trail built in the northeast. It is very common for the lips and landings of the jumps to be 5'+ wide.

 

[kidwoo]

One way or the other, if people continue to bootleg, we'll encounter resistance when trying to build and maintain legitimate trails. Getting permission is slower but it has better results.

Not necessarily.

Bootleg canyon (nevada)

Post canyon (oregon)

Teton pass area (wyoming)


All places where illegal building led to legitimate trail networks, backed by public agencies/land managers.

Of those, only the teton pass trails are in cooperation with the FS.

 

[jimmydean]

Just work with them, it's much easier that way. Look at the Blackrock freeride area in Falls City, OR.

 

[chicodude]

What the FVCK kind of "trail" is illustrated in that picture??? Are people reall building pirate 4x trails in Tahoe??

Jumps. Ya know, you pedal real fast and then jump from one pile of dirt to another

Now that there's an article, there will be a thousand people out there trying to find those trails, and building more if they can't find them.

Can't. They leveled the whole trail.

At least I rode Jackie Chan's!

I concur. fun while it lasted.

 

[lovebunny]

everyone should watch the freedom riders. its about the guys in wyoming who went from building illegal trails to actually working with the forest service and making and maintaining a bike park. its a really inspiring video that i think everyone needs to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XcdyR95babg&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XcdyR95babg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

 

[cneums]

this is why i love the movie freedom riders. those dudes are heroes in my mind. like jon said, there are far more destructive things that are supported in the name of making money. and when it comes to that in relationship to riding, **** paying to go to a mountain to ride, why can't i ride my bicycle non-destructively on national parks that i partially pay to maintain with taxpayer money? lets see..10 dollar fee to get into a park vs. 50 to ride at a resort, plus the exorbitant fees they charge...

 

[jimmydean]

everyone should watch the freedom riders. its about the guys in wyoming who went from building illegal trails to actually working with the forest service and making and maintaining a bike park. its a really inspiring video that i think everyone needs to watch.

That's sort of how Falls City started, only the illegal trails were all over and were sketchy, too. Falls City was authorised from the start.

http://brmba.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=11

 

[kidwoo]

That's sort of how Falls City started, only the illegal trails were all over and were sketchy, too. Falls City was authorised from the start.

http://brmba.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=11

So then there's ANOTHER example of illegal building leading to legitimacy.

Hate to say it but that's the best way to demonstrate public need/want. Especially with the forest service, those people rarely get off their asses until it's thrown in their faces.

And never discount the teton ranger districts willingness to work with the jackson guys. There are bike riders all over the country willing to build. The FS management that works with them is the rarity, not the other way around.

 

[BikeMike]

I don't support building illegal trails. However, the Forrest Service is full of crap. The number of drainages that have been completely changed by logging roads is innumerable. The metric tons of soil that have been shifted in an altered pattern due to logging roads at even a single site would dwarf the net amount of soil moved by mountain bike trails and their environmental effects would pale in comparison. The number of lakes that have been choked by runoff as result of logging activities...well, I have no idea what the actual number would be...but I have yet to hear about a lake being choked by runoff from a mountain biking trail.

The USFS sucking at decision making and resource allocation, embodied. Write (handwrite, courteously) to a/your senator peebles.

 

[TheTruth]

Hunger strikes?