Wilderness Workshop Statement on BLM E-bike proposal for the Colorado River Valley Field Office
Today, the Bureau of Land Management’s Colorado River Valley Field Office (BLM CRVFO) announced a proposal to allow motorized mountain bikes, also known as e-bikes or eMTBs, on backcountry trails on our public lands – including many trails that human-powered recreationists such as mountain bikers and hikers have sought to keep non-motorized. This blanket approval would apply without exception to the more than 220 miles of designated mountain biking trails across the BLM field office in Eagle, Garfield, and Pitkin counties. This change threatens wildlife and natural systems and disregards decades of collaborative efforts to designate quality non-motorized trail opportunities across Western Slope communities.
Wilderness Workshop opposes this blanket proposal to allow motorized recreation for all trails currently used only by non-motorized bikes. While e-bikes offer clear benefits in appropriate settings, such as an alternative to automobiles that reduces our community’s carbon footprint or as a great way to explore dirt and gravel roads, they are by definition motorized vehicles and should be evaluated accordingly. Like all forms of recreation, e-bikes have impacts when used in the backcountry, and their use should be thoughtfully managed and balanced with other resources and uses on a case-by-case basis. E-bikes can impact wildlife and people more than non-motorized mountain bikes by enabling riders to travel faster and farther through natural systems and habitats.
“While many of us enjoy the benefits, conveniences, and fun that e-bikes offer, the BLM’s proposal essentially provides blanket approval for a new motorized use across all trails open to mountain bikes in the CRVFO,” said Juli Slivka, Senior Director of Policy and Programs at Wilderness Workshop. “The potential impacts associated with this far-reaching change deserve a far more focused and tailored approach. Wilderness Workshop would welcome a process that gives communities, recreational users, and natural resource experts the chance to evaluate opportunities to extend e-bike use in specific trail networks on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately, this proposal misses the target by bluntly declaring more than 220 miles of currently non-motorized trails as instantly and uniformly suitable for motorized use. A more responsible approach would engage with those who use these trails to determine which should be open to e-bikes and which have wildlife and recreational values that should be protected and reserved solely for non-motorized biking.”
We encourage all to oppose this blanket approval and ask BLM to commit to a responsible process that takes a closer look at where the use of e-bikes is appropriate and where it is not.
For more information:
Richard Mylott, Wilderness Workshop Communications Manager
970.581.8244 | richard@wildernessworkshop.org
