Aldo Leopold
· Wildlife essay
· US is different than the rest of the world because of our background
· It is important to understand our background to understand our wilderness and wildlife
· Sportsmanship and gadgetry are too closely related. We need to stop relying on gadgets and focus more on experiencing nature.
o Making your own wilderness tools is much more rewarding than buying them
o Controlling animal populations and using gadgets to hunt is not hunting in the true wilderness
· We do need better industry and urbanization but we also need to keep some wilderness
o We need it for recreation
§ Canoeing and Packing
· We are quickly running out of wilderness which leaves us unable to do some of the things Leopold suggests to connect with wilderness
o Pack animals create the most trail damage per use and since we have so few trials now it is hard to use them like Leopold suggested.
· Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow
Mike
· Not much has changed with the mountain bike conflict since 1985 when mountain bikes were banned
· Rides Mountain bikes
· Previous president of Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance
· 2/3 of open space acreage in Boulder is in public ownership
· The board of trustees told the volunteers on the CCG (Scott and Guy) to “keep their opinions to themselves”
· Believes that the CCG wont come up with a solution for the mountain bike conflict
· Need to come up with a new definition/vision of wilderness because bikes are not allowed in wilderness
o We should still be able to protect land from logging, destruction of species, destruction of habitat, etc. while still allowing mountain bikers
· BMA also wants to protect land so they wish that they could work with wilderness organizations instead of against them
o Wilderness organizations are too stubborn and refuse to let mountain bikes in wilderness
· Should wilderness be taken care of on a national level or local level?
o Should a senator from NY be able to make a wilderness proposal for Montana?
o Local groups have a much better perspective of local wilderness problems
· Mountain biking is allowed on National land but not in wilderness areas
· Visitor master plan took 7 years and millions of dollars to put together
o Made BMA stronger because of its’ negative opinions about mountain biking
o Says “the want to make visitors feel welcome” was their number 1 goal but that was not the case
o BMA was able to win OSMP over by building a personal relationship between them OSMP and other recreation groups such as dog groups and horse groups
· Mining had more of a negative effect on the land than recreational users ever will
· Land does recovery from use
o Used ATVs to help build Picture Rock Trail and now there is no evidence left of ATVs
· Mike believes that if the land can recover from disturbance within 5 years than it is ok to disturb it on order to improve other regions
· BMA specifically met with people from other groups who the knew were more open minded
· Didn’t like CCG caucus process
o Each member should have been specifically picked from each group with the idea of open mindedness as a main deciding factor
· Boulder is not a destination mountain bike area.
o BMA is simply trying to make all trials accessible by bike instead of car
· 140 access points to the west TSA at this time
· Want to build a new trail near Eldorado Canyon to connect existing trails in hopes of eventually having a trail from the Mountains to the Plains
· One of the biggest problems facing mountain bikers is being able to build sustainable and rideable trials in the small pieces of land they are given.
o Ex) Cliff on one side and private property on the other
· Chunder-pile of rubble left behind when soil is washed away from trials
· Mike believes on repairing trials as soon as they start to get destroyed but the city and the county do not operate that fast
· Mike got Heil Valley Ranch trials shut down earlier this season because of bad conditions
o Citizens of Boulder do not get upset about trail closures if they are for legitimate reasons
· Both the city and the county are running out of trial money because it is being given to other places
· Speed differential is one of the main reasons for conflict between mountain bikers and hikers
· In a case study at the Spring Brook trail 94% of users had an enjoyable experience once trails were open to bikers.
o Opponents of mountain biking used this against them because they were shooting for 95% so it was “an utter failure”
1.) How does Leopold feel about using gadgets in the wilderness?
2.) Does Leopold support hunting and the sportsman use of wilderness?
3.) Why Does Leopold believe we need wilderness?
4.) What position did Mike previously hold on the BMA?
5.) About how much of Boulder’s open space is publically owned?
6.) What does Mike believe the CCG will conclude with the mountain bike conflict?
7.) Why are some of Leopold’s ideas about wilderness use no longer valid? What is an example of an activity he advocated that we can no longer do sustainably?
8.) How was the BMA able to win over OSMP and get them to add more about mountain bikers to the Master Plan?
9.) How long does Mike believe is an acceptable recovery period for a disturbance to the land?
10.) Currently how many access points are there to trails in the West TSA?
11.) What is the number 1 cause of conflict between mountain bikers and hikers
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