The Radavist

As reported in the Sustainable Trails Coalition last week, there’s been a bit of development in the often debated topic of whether or not bicycles should be allowed in designated wilderness areas:

“Agency staff testified before a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee regarding S.1695 – the Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act, introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R.–Utah). Click here for video of the full testimony.

S.1695 would remove the agencies’ blanket bans on bicycling in Wilderness and revert to the Forest Service’s 1981 rule, allowing line officers to treat bikes as they do horses, hikers, campers, and hunters—i.e., allow or prohibit access based upon local conditions.”

This is a massive undertaking, with many details that would need to be ironed out if it passed.

Read the full report and many more details at Sustainable Trails Coalition.

e-Bikes aren’t going anywhere. They are a part of cycling and they’re here to stay. That means various forestry management departments are trying to find out what regulation these electronic bicycles need. I’m well are this is a heated topic and there are a lot of opinions about e-bikes, so now’s your time to let your voice be heard.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service is requesting public input on proposed updates to the agency’s internal directives on how e-bikes are managed on national forests and grasslands. These proposed updates are in alignment with the Secretary of Agriculture’s direction to increase access to national forests and grasslands, and would provide needed guidance for line officers to expand e-bike access while protecting natural resources and other forest uses.”

Read more at the USDA website, where you can learn how to submit a public comment.

If you’ve read the above-linked memorandum, then you see how important it is what we VOTE!