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Saturday 31 auguSt 2019
APNewsBreak: Coming to national park trails: electric bikes

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and out rules and systems to
DAVID SHARP minimize conflicts.
Associated Press In their letter, the outdoor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mo- groups complained the
torized electric bicycles decision to allow motorized
may soon be humming bikes on bike trails breaks
onto serene trails in nation- with policies dating back
al parks and other public to the early 1970s confining
lands nationwide. It's part cars, dirt bikes, all-terrain
of a new Trump adminis- vehicles and all other mo-
tration order — hotly op- torized vehicles to roads
posed by many outdoors and designated areas or
groups — that will allow the trails on public lands.
so-called e-bikes on every Interior's order allows mo-
federal trail where a regu- torized bikes that can go
lar bike can go. up to 28 mph to be classi-
Sales of the bikes, pow- fied as regular bikes.
ered by both pedals and Riders must use the motor
battery-driven small mo- only to boost their pedal-
tors, are booming, and ing to ride on the bike trails,
some aging or less fit peo- and not zip along on motor
ple have sought the rule power alone, the Interior
change. It will allow them statement said.
to whirr up and down bik- Bernhardt's order gave
ing trails in the country's agency officials 30 days to
roughly 400 national parks come up with public guid-
and other federally man- In this June 8, 2019 file photo, Janice Goodwin stands by her electric-assist bicycle at a gate near ance on how the new poli-
the start of the carriage path system where bikes such as her are banned inside Acadia National
aged backcountry areas. Park, in this photo June 8, 2018, in Bar Harbor, Maine. cy will be carried out by the
Interior Secretary David Associated Press National Park and National
Bernhardt signed the order Wildlife Refuge systems,
without fanfare Thursday, an option for people who ment Friday. that really changes the and on land overseen by
classifying e-bikes as non- want to ride a bicycle but Welcoming the change in experience," said Kristen the Bureau of Land Man-
motorized bikes and giving might not otherwise do so Bar Harbor, Maine, on Fri- Brengel, a vice president of agement and Bureau of
agencies 14 days to adjust because of physical fit- day, Gordon Goodwin, 69, the National Parks Conser- Reclamation.
their rules. ness, age, disability or con- said he and his wife look vation Association, a non- Adam Gariepy, manager
The e-bikes "make bicycle venience," National Park forward to riding the 57 profit that advocates for of the Bar Harbor Bicycle
travel easier and more ef- Service Deputy Director P. miles (92 kilometers) of car- the national park system. Shop, said Friday he's "ten-
ficient, and they provide Daniel Smith said in a state- riage paths that meander "It's pretty jarring" to those tatively happy" about the
throughout Acadia Nation- who take to public lands new rules. But he has res-
al Park. to escape city noise and ervations because some
The paths, offering stunning stress for nature, Brengel e-bikes like his can reach
views of lakes, mountains, said. "You're adding signifi- around 28 mph, he said.
forests and the ocean, are cant speed and a throttle That speed could be dan-
popular with bicyclists, but to those trails." gerous on trails that have a
e-bikes have had to stay on E-bikes are the fastest- mix of bicycle riders, horses
the park's roads instead. growing segment of the and carriages, hikers, fami-
"We're stoked. We're re- bicycle industry, with U.S. lies and pets.
ally stoked," Goodwin said. sales jumping 72% to $144 "It's a two-edged sword. It'll
"There's just too much traf- million last year, according be great for older folks who
fic on the main park roads to the NPD Group, which are afraid of the hills and
that you can't enjoy them. tracks bike sales. The mo- want to continue riding.
It'll be great to get in the torized bikes are popular But there should be some
park and see nature and with commuters and aging speed limit with them," he
all that stuff." baby boomers who might said.
But more than 50 hiking, not otherwise get out on a Park Service Deputy Direc-
horse-riding and other out- bicycle. tor Smith said the parks
door and conservation as- The bikes, which can cost "should be responsive to
sociations, including the $2,000 or more, combine visitors' interest in using this
Appalachian Trail Conser- the frame of a regular bike new technology wherever
vancy and Pacific Crest with lightweight batteries it is safe and appropriate to
Trail Association, objected and electric motors. do."
in a July letter to the Inte- In parks and other public But Brengel, the parks
rior Department. They say lands as on city streets and conservation association
the administration is funda- sidewalks, people moving official, noted the order
mentally changing the na- on vehicles powered by comes in a season when
ture of national parks with electric or gasoline engines thousands of volunteers
little or no public notice or frequently jostle for the right with trail groups have been
study. of way with people on foot in the parks all summer im-
"If you're hiking on a trail in or traditional bikes. In the proving trails.
Utah and you're rounding National Park Service, of- "You put a policy out like
a bend and something's ficials over the decades this, and it's a slap in the
coming at you at 20 mph, have tried to carefully sort face," she said.q