Rochester Regional Group - Sierra Club* 

Executive Committee Action - November 3, 2008

Resolution on Mountain Biking In Rochester

and Monroe County Parks

Resolution Background  

 

          Off-road biking/ mountain biking is rapidly increasing in our parks, even though it is prohibited by law.  Commercial and recreational groups have begun building illegal bike trails, altering terrain and removing park facilities such as steps. Organized groups are scheduling illegal rides in some Monroe County parks and some group rides are even taking place at night.  In the Washington Grove “Forest in the City” there is a noticeable deterioration related to bike riding.

 

           An advocacy group, made up of mountain bikers and commercial interests, has been lobbying local governments to suspend the injunction against biking in parks. Urgent action is needed to ensure wise decision-making that will continue to protect the parks’ natural setting and the safety of park users.

 

Resolve

 

Whereas mountain biking or off-road bicycle riding and the construction of mountain bike trails in Rochester City and Monroe County parks is in conflict with the normal and primary uses of parks; and

 

whereas mountain biking has led to collisions, physical injury, and confrontations with other park users already; and

 

whereas mountain biking, as it is illegally practiced in our urban parks, is destructive of nature; and

 

whereas the geology of local city and county parks, glacial moraines with fragile soils, is susceptible to extreme erosion from  mountain biking,

 

 

We therefore resolve that   given the mission of the Sierra Club to preserve, protect, and restore our natural heritage, the Rochester Regional Group of Sierra Club

 

1.  supports the enforcement of existing park regulations prohibiting bike riding in parks

 

2.  urges our local government agencies to reaffirm and support the existing park laws particularly as applied to illegal mountain biking

 

3. recommend that illegal walking trail alterations made in City and County parks by biker riders be removed and trails be restored to their original appearance

 

4. finally we propose that, as a feasibility study, a mountain bike organization be permitted to construct one experimental mountain bike trail in Tryon Park at their own expense, to be policed and maintained exclusively by the trail builders, and that the organization accept all liability for all injury or damages to persons, animals or things caused by mountain bikes, bikers or other users of said trail, and that this trail be established on a one year only basis to demonstrate the impact of biking in a park.

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Vote Result:  11 for 0 against. Passed by Ex-Com unanimously on 11/03/08.

 

*  The Rochester Regional Group of Sierra Club has over 2,700 members in five counties surrounding the Rochester area.