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.
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