White Mesa trail on BLM land in New Mexico. Photo by Speedman.
On Friday the US Bureau of Land Management issued its Wild Lands policy and according to BLM Director Bob Abbey, this new designation could allow mountain biking in designated Wild Land areas. Not to be confused with Wilderness designations where mountain bikes are still prohibited, Wild Lands gives the BLM a new designation for federal lands where land use decisions are made on a case by case basis. So Wild Lands won’t all be open to mountain bikes – but many of them may be.
The Wild Lands designation also differs from existing Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in that WSAs are managed “to retain their wilderness characteristics until Congress makes a decision to designate the areas as Wilderness or to release the areas for non- wilderness uses.” Wild Lands designations, on the other hand, will be established after a public input and planning period where non-wilderness uses (like mountain biking) will be considered. These uses can be amended over time and Wild Lands can potentially become (bike-restricted) WSAs or Wilderness areas in the future.
Admittedly I’m no public policy expert and I’m interested to hear IMBA’s perspective on the new guidance. The New York Times posted a good article explaining the policy and you can also read the official BLM release and this Q&A document about Wild Lands.
What do you think? Is the new BLM guidance a good thing or bad thing for mountain bikers?
