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Mountain Bike Advocacy: Support Wilderness B – Same Protection, Except with Bicycles

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Mike McCormack suggested we “like” a little Facebook Page called Wilderness B, which promotes the concept of wilderness protections for prized forest land, except that it would allow mountain bikes.  If you’re a fan of this site, you’re undoubtedly on the side of cycling and at least remotely aware that mountain bikers in general are excellent stewards of the land, devoting countless hours of their time toward preserving and building sustainable trails…and those are usually trails that are open and welcoming to hikers, too.

That’s great, but what can a simple Facebook page do?  Well, it’s a pretty sure bet that if Mikey’s behind it in any way, action will take place.  After all, he spearheaded the efforts to keep many of the trails around Breckenridge open after non-riders from nearby towns threatened to close them to cyclists, and he did it largely by orchestrating a large, cohesive voice in the social media universe and brought people together when it mattered. Thanks to those efforts, epic rides on the Colorado Trail and races like the Breck Epic are possible.

So, for now, brothers and sisters, the least you can do to help things move in the right direction, is simply “like” this page.

For the full mission statement behind Wilderness B, hit more

Wilderness B – a movement to create awareness among elected officials of the need to update public land protection’s acknowledged historical gold standard by creating a sister designation that provides ALL of Wilderness’s protections, yet allows bicycles.

Why? Because mountain bikers are staunch preservationists and to date the Wilderness lobby has self-servingly lobbied against the inclusion of bicycles despite the fact that science and US Forest Service studies have repeatedly debunked their claim that bikes have more impact then hikers. The truth? Bikes have LESS impact.

Our protected public lands are at risk. From development, be it mining, timber or other commercial interests. The Wilderness movement asks us to support their efforts to protect more land, and in doing so forever restrict our own access.

Enough.

It’s time for the ranks of backcountry stewards to recognize the incredible body of work the mountain bike community has compiled over the past three decades. A collective voice in the service of public lands protection is exponentially more powerful than the fragmented and contentious dialogue characteristic of old guard Wilderness advocates portrayal of the mountain bike community.

Please join this page. Please ask your fellow mountain bikers to do the same. The power of numbers can and will give our elected officials pause to fully consider the issue rather than continuing to take their land preservation cues from an aging and well-funded hiking lobby.

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topmounter
topmounter
13 years ago

I like this MUCH better than IMBA’s ongoing appeasement strategy.

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