Forest Service/IMBA meeting report

[jfromlv]

Last night was the trail discussion meeting at the Ontario Convention Center. I do not know too many faces from here, so I do not know if others were there, but I saw Dirttorpedo and CycleCC there. The guy from the Forest Service had put together a presentation, which I was pleasantly surprised, contained a lot of all-mountain, freeride, downhill pictures and statistics. This was aimed at being a brainstorm meeting, to get ideas and input from local cycling communities. This was the 3rd, out of 6 total, meeting being held throughout the state.
The meeting started with the presentation, which lasted about a half hour. It was then time to discuss, at the round tables we were sitting at, some trail issues, pertaining to the National Forest, we would like to see addressed. The idea was, to list a bunch of ideas, then, each table, to pick there top 3 concerns/ideas, and share them with the rest. There was roughly around 50 people at the meeting. Of course, some equestrian and hiking advocacy groups got wind of the meeting, and seemed pretty upset that they were not invited. There were 3 people representing these other groups, all sitting together at their own table, with the exception of one guy who came in late with his young son. One lady in particular, was very outspoken and oppinionated, so I decided to go sit at their table for the discussion.
I went over and introduced myself, the guy with his son, and one lady, who ended up being the President of LA Trails Project, were very friendly. The other two, would not even say hello, and talked amongst themselves the entire time. The lady from LATP, Mary, was very knowledgeable, was able to talk and share ideas, and wants to help find some middle ground for multiple trail users. The other two at the table had their own agenda, and did not want to see any other view other than their own. The guy with his son was a fellow MTB'er, and was much more knowledgeable than myself, as to trail advocacy, maintenance, etc.
I am sure that I had a much different experience, compared to those who were sitting amongst fellow cyclists, but I felt like someone needed to sit among the "tire-haters". I think that this was definitely a step in the right direction, speaking of the Forest Service. The guy heading this up is a MTB'er, and knows about the technological advances in bikes, and how that effects the way trails are ridden. More info. at USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region.

[CalEpic]

Thanks for representing.

C

[CC]

Thanks Jason, very good explaination of the meeting format.

As Jason mentioned after the presentation we were asked to participate in a round table discussion. I thought this was an excelent idea, it really showed how much the Forest Service was interested in getting feedback from the mountain biking community, as well as other groups that use the trails.

The table Chirs and I sat at was one that everyone was a mt biker. There was a P.E teacher from Redlands with his son and a fellow mt biker, 2 individuals that were mt biking trail avocates, a guy from the hi desert and Chris and I. So it was a good representation and everyone was pro mountain biking, but also everyone seems very open to sharing the trails.

The three main topics that seemed to over lap in our brainstorming session was: Educations, mt biking parks and linking trails. We came to the conclusion that educations should be a top priority because the mt biking community was growing so rapidly with the advancement in technology not enough education was getting out as far as trail etiquitte. This included education starting right at the bike shop, as well as posting signs at various trail head to denote the type of trail and level of difficulty.

Everyone also felt that it was important for the Forest Service to consider riding parks, like the one in Colorado and Canada. Because these could provide an area for riders to ride many different types of trails and possibly ladder, etc, with it being maintained, so that it would help preserve the more wilderness trails. And that these parks should not be built like the skate parks, but they should be built with a lot of input from the mt biking community.

Lastly, many of us were interested in the Forest Service linking trails throughout the National Forest system. There are many trails in the San Bernardino mountains that are already linked. However, there are no huts for multiday use rides.

I was very impressed with the presentation that the Forest Service presented, as well as there open mindedness to the mountain biking community. I think they realize that were not going away.

One thing I would like to mention is that if you have a chance to attend a meeting of this sort in the future, please make every attempt to go. It is so important that we as a community start to get organized and not put it off on others to speak our mind. If we don't let our concerns be known we might end up with limited trail access in the future or being restricted to just fire roads.

[ShinKen]

Thanks much guys!! U guys rock. maybe next time I can make time to show up.

[mp3]

Much appreciated!

[dstepper]

I had wnated to attend, then I started to think about the traffic between Laguna and Ontario that time of day.

THX to those that attended, hope they have a simular meeting closer to the coast.

[dhshuttlemonkey]

Thanks for representing guys & CC.

[Innes]

I was there last night, and maybe I missed it, but was there any mention of if and when there would be some sort of follow up to last night's meeting?

[jfromlv]

Originally Posted by Innes

I was there last night, and maybe I missed it, but was there any mention of if and when there would be some sort of follow up to last night's meeting?

I think he said the website would be updated with info. taken from the meetings. No mention of a follow up.

[dirttorpeedo]

check the forestry website.