The public lands e-bike rush

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
Mountain biking near Fruita, Colorado, BLM Colorado

Interior Department agencies are rushing to figure out how to allow electric bicycles across America's public lands. The rush is due to an order by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who gave agencies just 30 days to write e-bike policies.

Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association sounded the alarm at the sweeping nature and speed of Bernhardt's announcement, which treats all three classes of e-bikes as the same. “Not even considering conservation in this decision, it goes against the Organic Act of the Park Service,” Brengel told Outside. 

National Parks Traveler editor Kurt Repanshek notes this morning that Bernhardt's timeline has already led to Cuyahoga Valley National Park offering just one week for the public to weigh in on whether to allow e-bikes on some trails. That's a week more than Bryce Canyon National Park gave the public, which created confusion on Monday by announcing e-bikes could use the park's Shared Use Path, while its website said the opposite.

Quick hits

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Quote of the day
 Anyone who has ever worked on a wilderness campaign knows that once a motorized use has been established in an area, you draw the boundary around it.... Practically speaking, you’re pretty much eliminating the possibility of new wilderness areas on BLM land. For people who care about wilderness, they should be concerned about this.”
—Brad Brooks, The Wilderness Society
Outside
Picture this

@interior

Cotton candy clouds dance over the rugged landscape at City of Rocks National Reserve #Idaho #FindYourPark
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