{"id":3386,"date":"2016-11-02T10:51:12","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T17:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=3386"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:31:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:31:26","slug":"mountain-bike-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=3386","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Bikes and the Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Mountain bikers don\u2019t need to ride in wilderness areas<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BY JOHN WHEATON<\/p>\n<p>Like many mountain bikers, I used to share the opinion that bikes should be allowed on any trails on public land, including wilderness areas. Why shouldn\u2019t I be allowed to ride my bike anywhere that I want? I was a Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association board member for three years, and ride regularly around the West. My sense of entitlement to public land use came naturally.<\/p>\n<p>However, that sentiment is rooted in an ignorance of why the Wilderness Act was passed, coupled with a lack of knowledge about how much access mountain bikers already have. Legislation sponsored by Utah Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch (S. 3205) panders to this lack of awareness \u2014 and the entitlement that it breeds.<\/p>\n<p>Gutting one of our nation\u2019s bedrock conservation laws, the bill will open designated wilderness areas to mountain biking, a move that should be soundly opposed. Public lands are treasured by everyone, not just mountain bikers, and are designated for many reasons, not just recreation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/opinion\/readers-opinion\/article111451032.html#storylink=cpy\">Read more here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Idaho\u2019s new wilderness helps drive mountain bike bill<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BY MICHELLE L. PRICE<br \/>\nThe Associated Press<br \/>\nAND ROCKY BARKER<br \/>\nrbarker@idahostatesman.com<\/p>\n<p>SALT LAKE CITY<br \/>\nMore than 100 million acres of America\u2019s most rugged landscapes designated as wilderness are off-limits to mountain bikers, but two Utah senators have introduced legislation that would allow bikers to join hikers and horseback riders in those scenic, undisturbed areas.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal is controversial within the biking community and opposed by conservationists who say bikes would erode trails and upset the five-decade notion of wilderness as primitive spaces.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/biking\/article93936307.html#storylink=cpy\">Read more here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Should America\u2019s wilderness be open to mountain bikes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BY ROB HOTAKAINEN<br \/>\nrhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON<br \/>\nFor most environmentalists, nothing is more sacred than America\u2019s wilderness: 109 million acres of land in 44 states protected by Congress and \u201cuntrammeled by man,\u201d where only hikers and horseback riders are allowed.<\/p>\n<p>But many of the nation\u2019s mountain bikers want in, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s talk about the science here for a second: A mountain bike tire is essentially as much damage as a bunch of hikers going up a trail with all their hiking poles, and it\u2019s less damage than equestrian use,\u201d said Eric Brown, trail director for the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition in Bellingham, Wash.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/news\/politics-government\/article103715637.html#storylink=cpy\">Read more here:<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mountain bikers don\u2019t need to ride in wilderness areas BY JOHN WHEATON Like many mountain bikers, I used to share the opinion that bikes should be allowed on any trails on public land, including wilderness areas. Why shouldn\u2019t I be allowed to ride my bike anywhere that I want? I was a Southwest Idaho Mountain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-around-the-campfire","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3388,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386\/revisions\/3388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}