scratchy
19-12-2006, 11:24 AM
This forum member hardly needs an introduction. An active member of the forum, I introduce to you Sammydog!
Name: Leonard Allen
Age: 30
Location: Newcastle, NSW
Style of tracks: I personally don’t do a lot of trail building, being a Council worker, all I am good for is leaning against a shovel (not actually using it).
Background: I’ve been riding bikes since the early 90’s (I still think Proflex are a work of art) and have continued to do so other than a small break in the late 90’s. I love nothing more than getting out and riding (DH, XC, DJ, you name it) as much as possible and can be found at most state/national DH rounds making others feel fast. Meet the Fairies, probably a good description of me as a rider.
I currently work within everyone’s favourite scapegoat when it comes to the destruction of local trails, that’s right I am a Council employee. I’ve been a Town Planner within Local Government for far too long, but this has given me a pretty good insight into the constraints of a manager of public land.
I’d probably like to add here that Councils (or other Government Dept’s) aren’t the big bad monster people make them out to be. They aren’t out looking for trails to destroy, most don’t have the resources to go looking and only act on written complaints. That said Councils do have responsibilities as a land manages and your seemingly innocent trail main contravene any number of state/federal/local planning and environmental legislation/policies. For better or worse they are bound by these laws/policies, if you don’t like it, get active and start lobbying your local Council.
Most parcels of Council controlled land will be subject to a Management Plan, and it is more than likely that Mountain Bike access isn’t included in this management. The reason for this stems from the fact that when the plans were written, the authors were unaware of, or there was no, demand for mountain bike trails. More and more, Councils are realising there is a need for access and are amending management plans, but this doesn’t happen without it being brought to the Councils attention. How it gets to the attention of Council is up to us.
But back to me.
On the side in my spare time, I am the President of the Hunter Mountain Bike Association (http://www.hmba.asn.au).
As I said above, I don’t get into a lot of trail building, I help out where I can, but advocacy is where I have found my self more useful. I stumbled into the whole trail advocacy thing a bit over two years ago when a ranger in a National Park walked up and said “You guys won’t be in here much longer”.
This prompted me to try and work with the NPWS to develop a strategy in our area that would allow the retention, maintenance and continuing use of the trail network. In doing so the group Glenrock Trail Alliance (http://www.glenrocktrailalliance.tk) was formed as a tool to inform the masses of issues and to also get people involved in the process. This work is ongoing, however, the Mountain Bike community in Newcastle has finally been recognised as legitimate stakeholder by the National Parks.
More recently through we have kicked off discussions with the State Forests to develop a Mountain Bike specific area to be leased by HMBA. The vision here is to develop an area capable of hosting major events, while still catering to the weekend warrior.
Mistakes made?: Not adequately communicating the state of play in regards to access negotiations to the local Mountain Bike community. Not sure if this is a mistake as such, but it is a shortcoming in some of the processes to date and something I have learnt from. NPWS have recently agreed to a request and constructed a noticeboard at the park entry to help with this.
Favourite Tool:
• Email, really this is the best form of communication.
• An understanding of the policies of the organisations being dealt with
• A really thick skin and good patience.
• As for real tools, is there anything that a McCloud can’t do? Especially when someone else is using it.
Free Fairy or Pro Fairy Free Fairy
Online Resources: Has to be www.imba.com really. Everything you need is there.
Your Topic The Local Clubs input in trail advocacy:
I think a lot of people are very passionate about wanting to obtain legal trail access and mtb facilities but aren’t sure how to go about it. My gut feeling is that this uncertainty leads people to not pursue what they think is right.
Something that I realised very quickly was that being backed by the local club got my foot in the door with local land managers a lot quicker than would be normally expected.
When I started out with the whole trail advocacy caper I wasn’t on the local clubs committee, that all came later. What I was was a punter who had concerns that they didn’t think was being met or addressed by the club. I raised these with the club, and to the clubs credit, was given the backing by the committee of the day to start talks.
Even with the foot on the door, it took a good two years to really gain the trust of the Local Land Manager (in our case the NPWS). Fortunately now we are at a point where they contact us with questions and to discuss issues.
I guess where I am going with this is that if you have an access issue in a particular area, approach the local club and get them involved. This gives instant strength in numbers, and access to the resources of MTBA.
The other thing I have found is that the club backing gives you some form of legitimacy in the whole process. Again this probably stems back to the backing of numbers of representatives within the organisation.
Remember, clubs aren’t (or shouldn’t be) all about racing, Trail Advocacy is a very important aspect of club business, if your club isn’t doing it where there is a perceived need, get involved and make it happen.
If anyone ever wants assistance in getting started, send me a PM and I would be more than happy to assist.
General Rant One thing that really gets to me is people who are aware of access issues in a particular area, but for one reason or another do not care or know any different, and in doing so work against the efforts of groups trying to legitimise trail access.
I don’t think anyone could put their hand up and say they don’t ride illegal trails, in fact if we didn’t ride illegal trails I suspect that very few of us would have anywhere to ride. I would point out though, that I do not in any way advocate the construction of illegal trails, sure maintain what’s there, but don’t go putting more in where the land owner isn’t going to want them.
But, if efforts are being made in a particular area by a club or individual to secure access, that’s probably a good time to tow the line and do the right thing by the area. Even better get involved in the process and help fight the fight.
Unfortunately I see far too many riders who are aware of access issues, but can’t see past their immediate short term riding gains to respect the work of those trying to make the trails a permanent and long term fixture.
That is what I see as the biggest impediment to legalised trails in a lot of areas, and I fear that even with legal trail access a lot of people will step outside the bounds of what has become legitimate.
Name: Leonard Allen
Age: 30
Location: Newcastle, NSW
Style of tracks: I personally don’t do a lot of trail building, being a Council worker, all I am good for is leaning against a shovel (not actually using it).
Background: I’ve been riding bikes since the early 90’s (I still think Proflex are a work of art) and have continued to do so other than a small break in the late 90’s. I love nothing more than getting out and riding (DH, XC, DJ, you name it) as much as possible and can be found at most state/national DH rounds making others feel fast. Meet the Fairies, probably a good description of me as a rider.
I currently work within everyone’s favourite scapegoat when it comes to the destruction of local trails, that’s right I am a Council employee. I’ve been a Town Planner within Local Government for far too long, but this has given me a pretty good insight into the constraints of a manager of public land.
I’d probably like to add here that Councils (or other Government Dept’s) aren’t the big bad monster people make them out to be. They aren’t out looking for trails to destroy, most don’t have the resources to go looking and only act on written complaints. That said Councils do have responsibilities as a land manages and your seemingly innocent trail main contravene any number of state/federal/local planning and environmental legislation/policies. For better or worse they are bound by these laws/policies, if you don’t like it, get active and start lobbying your local Council.
Most parcels of Council controlled land will be subject to a Management Plan, and it is more than likely that Mountain Bike access isn’t included in this management. The reason for this stems from the fact that when the plans were written, the authors were unaware of, or there was no, demand for mountain bike trails. More and more, Councils are realising there is a need for access and are amending management plans, but this doesn’t happen without it being brought to the Councils attention. How it gets to the attention of Council is up to us.
But back to me.
On the side in my spare time, I am the President of the Hunter Mountain Bike Association (http://www.hmba.asn.au).
As I said above, I don’t get into a lot of trail building, I help out where I can, but advocacy is where I have found my self more useful. I stumbled into the whole trail advocacy thing a bit over two years ago when a ranger in a National Park walked up and said “You guys won’t be in here much longer”.
This prompted me to try and work with the NPWS to develop a strategy in our area that would allow the retention, maintenance and continuing use of the trail network. In doing so the group Glenrock Trail Alliance (http://www.glenrocktrailalliance.tk) was formed as a tool to inform the masses of issues and to also get people involved in the process. This work is ongoing, however, the Mountain Bike community in Newcastle has finally been recognised as legitimate stakeholder by the National Parks.
More recently through we have kicked off discussions with the State Forests to develop a Mountain Bike specific area to be leased by HMBA. The vision here is to develop an area capable of hosting major events, while still catering to the weekend warrior.
Mistakes made?: Not adequately communicating the state of play in regards to access negotiations to the local Mountain Bike community. Not sure if this is a mistake as such, but it is a shortcoming in some of the processes to date and something I have learnt from. NPWS have recently agreed to a request and constructed a noticeboard at the park entry to help with this.
Favourite Tool:
• Email, really this is the best form of communication.
• An understanding of the policies of the organisations being dealt with
• A really thick skin and good patience.
• As for real tools, is there anything that a McCloud can’t do? Especially when someone else is using it.
Free Fairy or Pro Fairy Free Fairy
Online Resources: Has to be www.imba.com really. Everything you need is there.
Your Topic The Local Clubs input in trail advocacy:
I think a lot of people are very passionate about wanting to obtain legal trail access and mtb facilities but aren’t sure how to go about it. My gut feeling is that this uncertainty leads people to not pursue what they think is right.
Something that I realised very quickly was that being backed by the local club got my foot in the door with local land managers a lot quicker than would be normally expected.
When I started out with the whole trail advocacy caper I wasn’t on the local clubs committee, that all came later. What I was was a punter who had concerns that they didn’t think was being met or addressed by the club. I raised these with the club, and to the clubs credit, was given the backing by the committee of the day to start talks.
Even with the foot on the door, it took a good two years to really gain the trust of the Local Land Manager (in our case the NPWS). Fortunately now we are at a point where they contact us with questions and to discuss issues.
I guess where I am going with this is that if you have an access issue in a particular area, approach the local club and get them involved. This gives instant strength in numbers, and access to the resources of MTBA.
The other thing I have found is that the club backing gives you some form of legitimacy in the whole process. Again this probably stems back to the backing of numbers of representatives within the organisation.
Remember, clubs aren’t (or shouldn’t be) all about racing, Trail Advocacy is a very important aspect of club business, if your club isn’t doing it where there is a perceived need, get involved and make it happen.
If anyone ever wants assistance in getting started, send me a PM and I would be more than happy to assist.
General Rant One thing that really gets to me is people who are aware of access issues in a particular area, but for one reason or another do not care or know any different, and in doing so work against the efforts of groups trying to legitimise trail access.
I don’t think anyone could put their hand up and say they don’t ride illegal trails, in fact if we didn’t ride illegal trails I suspect that very few of us would have anywhere to ride. I would point out though, that I do not in any way advocate the construction of illegal trails, sure maintain what’s there, but don’t go putting more in where the land owner isn’t going to want them.
But, if efforts are being made in a particular area by a club or individual to secure access, that’s probably a good time to tow the line and do the right thing by the area. Even better get involved in the process and help fight the fight.
Unfortunately I see far too many riders who are aware of access issues, but can’t see past their immediate short term riding gains to respect the work of those trying to make the trails a permanent and long term fixture.
That is what I see as the biggest impediment to legalised trails in a lot of areas, and I fear that even with legal trail access a lot of people will step outside the bounds of what has become legitimate.