A recently proposed amendment to the 1964 Wilderness Act would allow mountain bikes — as well as game carts, strollers and wheelbarrows — in designated wilderness areas.
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By Kelsey Dayton
WyoFile.com
A recently proposed amendment to the 1964 Wilderness Act would allow mountain bikes — as well as game carts, strollers and wheelbarrows — in designated wilderness areas. The proposed legislation has reignited the debate about the original intent of the Wilderness Act, what wilderness means and if bikes belong in it.
House Resolution 1349 would amend the Wilderness Act so it couldn’t exclude bicycles, strollers, wheelbarrows, survey wheels, game carts and wheelchairs from wilderness areas. (Wheelchairs are already allowed under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.) The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-California) on March 2 and referred to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, which McClintock chairs and on which Wyoming’s Rep. Liz Cheney sits. Cheney’s office did not return phone calls or respond to emails for this story.
The bill is similar to one introduced in 2015 by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), which died without a hearing. Opening wilderness trails to mountain bikes hasn’t been a priority within the bike community in Wyoming, said Tim Young, executive director of Wyoming Pathways. The organization has been focused on more pressing issues like preventing closures of existing trails and the Forest Service’s backlog of trail maintenance projects.
Young said he needed to study the bill more, but supports the idea that some wilderness trails would be appropriate for mountain biking. Bikes don’t hurt resources more than hikers and horses on backcountry trails, he said.
“Wyoming pathways represents all types of people-powered recreation, so we also support people who are hiking, the mountain bikers, cross-country skiers, anyone using human-powered ways to explore landscapes,” he said.
Young doesn’t think the bill is an attempt to gut the Wilderness Act, but instead clarify its intent. The Wilderness Act didn’t mean bikes, which weren’t popular at the time, when the authors banned “mechanical” travel in protected areas, Young said. Interpreting the language to ban bikes, one could also apply it to skis, which have mechanized bindings, he said.