Last time we had an opportunity to have our voices heard was back in 1992, when the current mountain bike policy and restrictions were re-implemented. There were about 30 people at the meeting, (Bill, Tim, Christy, Doug, Jeff I specifically recall being there, I think some of the FAT and Merlin gang was there too.) Over 2/3's of those present were mountain bikers. The rest were hikers and horse folk, and there was one particularly nasty representative from the equestrian contingent there. (Whose proclamation of, "I don't hate bikes - I have a hybrid, but the Blue Hills should be preserved for horses only" - brought howls of protest from both hikers and cyclists alike.)
Our input was mostly ignored, although I can fairly confidently say that without that representation there, mountain biking may very well have been limited to paved roads only. (That was what the horse riding contingent wanted).
That meeting was announced last minute - the morning of the meeting. Many phone calls were made that day amongst shops and bike builders. We got about 20 people to show up and be heard.
This is an opportunity to make sure appropriate policy is re-drafted - such as the trail closure being shifted from (12/31 through 4/15 ) to a more reasonable and practical 3/1 until Memorial Day weekend. (Mud Season, as opposed to frozen ground season). Between the advance notice, email lists, forums facebook and twitter etc - we should be able to make this work better - combined with 17 years worth of usage proof showing that mountain bikes have in fact *not* destroyed the Blue Hills. If anything, usage has gone down and many trails that exist are becoming overgrown. It's about time the Chickatawbut section was opened up and bikes were allowed on more single track.
Eric Heinrich
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Cobble" <cobblestv@gmail.com>
To: "mtb-semass" <MTB-SEMass@yahoogroups.com>, "Mountain bike church" <MountainBikeChurch@yahoogroups.com>, mtb-boston@yahoogroups.com, mbrclist@massbayroadclub.org, "Blog entry" <cobblestv.mountainbikechurch@blogger.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 12:28:11 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [MountainBikeChurch] Fwd: Public meeting for Blue Hills Resource Management Plan [1 Attachment]
If you enjoy the Blue Hills, please try to attend!
From: Comments, RMP (DCR) <Rmp.Comments@state.ma.us>
Date: Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Subject: Public meeting for Blue Hills Resource Management Plan
To:
Attachment(s) from Steve Cobble
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