Considering that all trails are essentially "damage" to the environment what do they expect the impact will be from ebikes. What is typically ignore in all these studies is the impact or erosion after the vegetation is worn away on any trail / path. When I use to volunteer to do train maintenance it was always clear that significant rain falls had by far the biggest impact. If that is ignored then any study is intentionally biased because this impact is true regardless even if only hikers are allowed on the trail.
US National Park Service Announces Policy for Electric Bicycle Use in National Parks
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"if they adversely impact park resources or other visitors" is kind of key in this but my guess is the superintendents will base decisions exclusively on their subjective view of ebikes as "motor vehicles" or just another type of "bike."Sorry to post this update. I wrote the following in another thread. Pasting here:
The Department of the Interior under the current administration has moderated a bit since the DOI made new rule in 2020 regarding ebikes. I'm grateful for the access we have, but these things can change. As far as I know most trails that opened in the past 2 years are still open. Never hurts to let them know where you stand on the issue.
DOI order June 30, 2021
July 1, 2021
Superintendents across the National Park System have been given permission to reverse course and deny trail access to e-bikes if they adversely impact park resources or other visitors.
That guidance from Shawn Benge, the acting director of the National Park Service, comes nearly two years after former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt ordered parks to allow the motorized bikes on trails that muscle-powered bikes already were allowed on.
In the order sent Wednesday to regional directors, associate and assistant directors, superintendents, and the chief of the U.S. Park Police, Benge wrote to "remind superintendents that they have the discretion to allow e-bikes or not; and (3) direct superintendents of park units that allowed e-bikes on trails or administrative roads under the rescinded e-bike policy to reconsider that decision..."
UPDATED | National Park Service Gives Park Superintendents Authority To Ban E-Bikes
Superintendents across the National Park System have been given permission to reverse course and deny trail access to E-bikes if they adversely impact park resources or other visitors.www.nationalparkstraveler.org
You're completely wrong if you think that land managers don't understand how weather impacts their trails.
One of the biggest problems I see is that there haven't been any actual studies conducted that accurately show the impact, or lack thereof of ebikes on trails, or on other user groups, so that a Environmental Assesment will be required for any NEPA to proceed, which will take time. NEPAs already take significant time and money, which means it'll be years before we get anywhere.
jabberwocky
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Yeah... they are well aware of how that works. FWIW, IMBA literally wrote the book on this. Standard trail design for the last 20 years has been avoiding fall-line trails and benching trail so that it can be constantly sloped to shed water and keep it from building up volume and velocity down the trail itself. The issue with heavy use (or riding wet trail, or riding powered/heavy vehicles on singletrack) is you wear away the tread in the center of the trail, which starts to capture water and direct it down the trail itself. Subsequent erosion quickly accelerates the problem. A large majority of the trailwork my local club does is knicking trails where that process has started to redirect water off the trail tread and build up problem areas so water properly sheds again.
Predictable result is predictable.
Pine_marten
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The National Parks have become a crowded mess complete with traffic jams. The National Forests are where you want to be!
Mr. Coffee
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Depends on the National Park. But just keep on thinking that because it means more room for me!
Depends on the park. I live just a few miles from a section of Acadia National Park and often ride over there from my house and ride the road loop along the ocean as well as the gravel groomed trails through the woods. This past weekend the weather was perfect and I rode there around noon on Sat. On the trails that I rode on twice both before and after doing the road I encountered a total of 4 people that were walking and 0 bikes.
6zfshdb
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As a result, some NP's now require reservations. My wife and I were in Arches last week and made a reservation on line back in March. Our visit was on a Saturday and there was no wait to get in! Two years ago, we waited over 2 hours!
Pine_marten
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Yes, it is the same with our state parks. I am spoiled because we have so much National Forest here.
There are 2 places in Rainier National Park that you can ride. Both are/were roads that have been closed due to forces of nature. I rode the Westside Road on my non-electric bike. It starts near the southwest entry. It was paved but was closed due to landslides. It's pretty cool, I saw hikers but no bikers but there are bike racks up there. I think you can also ride on the Carbon River Road. It was closed due to river erosion. I think some parts have a very narrow section left that hasn't been eaten away by the river so they reccomend that you walk that. I didn't ride there and don't know the ebike regs on either of these spots.
I rode Hurricane Ridge Road in Olympic NP 2 years ago on my regular bike. It's not a trail but the main paved road so I'm sure they allow eBikes. I was camped out at Heart O The Hills Campground which is at about 1700'elevation. I pedaled furiously the 3500' vertical gain from there to reach the top which is just about a mile high. I averaged 3.5 miles per hour for 12.5 miles which is really just a brisk walk. The road is unrelenting. The way down was really different. Overheating bicycle brakes smell just like auto brakes. You learn something new every day.
I rode Hurricane Ridge Road in Olympic NP 2 years ago on my regular bike. It's not a trail but the main paved road so I'm sure they allow eBikes. I was camped out at Heart O The Hills Campground which is at about 1700'elevation. I pedaled furiously the 3500' vertical gain from there to reach the top which is just about a mile high. I averaged 3.5 miles per hour for 12.5 miles which is really just a brisk walk. The road is unrelenting. The way down was really different. Overheating bicycle brakes smell just like auto brakes. You learn something new every day.
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
Storm erosion is, I'm sure, a huge concern for the NPS. Especially what contribution human alterations of the land had to the damage.
Its a very different concern than what user groups are allowed and where though. Natural processes are, well, natural. Alterations and damage that humans cause are within their control and a major part of the reason for management of the land in the first place. Arguing that historic flooding wrecked things so it shouldn't matter if ebikes come in an wreck things too isn't a winning argument. It makes about as much sense as saying that wind blows down lots of trees in national parks, so the NPS shouldn't be concerned if people come in and cut some down.
Would be nice to get some actual studies on natural surface trail damage by ebikes. Maybe IMBA has something in progress. They had a few good studies done in the late 90s/early 2000s on MTB vs hikers vs equestrians that were useful in advocacy.
I've been through a couple of 100/500 year flooding events and trails that were designed correctly to shed water were untouched while roads were getting nuked. Using storm damage as a reason to ignore user damage is a strawman.
Besides the impact of bike and ebike tires on the ground, the impact of riders on other users is a large component of access. It's easy to say that it's the same as acoustic bikes, and that is true if the speeds are the same, it's here that idiots with high powered ebikes annoying other users can ruin it for the rest of us.
Besides the impact of bike and ebike tires on the ground, the impact of riders on other users is a large component of access. It's easy to say that it's the same as acoustic bikes, and that is true if the speeds are the same, it's here that idiots with high powered ebikes annoying other users can ruin it for the rest of us.
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