How to save your favorite riding area from extinction

Cliff Krolick
For Active.com

At one time or another, we all have to face the unexpected. The unexpected for us was finding an obnoxious new sign posted with severe warning: "No Trespassing" at our favorite mountain biking area. It might as well have said "Punishable By Death."

It was a rude wake-up call. There we were, gathered around "The Sign" with a few others -- some angry, some in shock. So what's a poor rider to do? You may have had a similar experience.

Set the stage for the future

Now let's back up a bit -- a few weeks, a couple of months, maybe even a year or two. Consider all the hours you've been riding there: Did you encounter other trail users? Other mountain bikers? Did you ever stop and chat, or be neighborly?

Take it a step further: Did you consider the disposition of the area -- is it public or private, park, or state or federal land? Asking these sorts of questions, making friends with other users, and being respectful are extremely important if you want to preserve an area.

Let's say, being the inquisitive person that you are, that you took it a step further and through a bit of research, found out who owns the land. You graciously contacted them to know how much you appreciated being able to enjoy the land, and also mentioned that many others loved the place, kept it clean, and treated it respectfully. Of course, the owner was quite receptive to your call.

And let's say you also mention that if for some reason if they ever decide to sell the land, to please contact you because you and other appreciative users would be interested in having a chance to protect it for future recreational use.

Now, granted this might sound like a highly unimaginable and unlikely event, but this scenario isn't out of the question.

In many cases, if it's a large corporate owner, calling the corporation personally might not be the best approach. But, if you know of a national organization that might make the inquiry for you and your group, this could be a legitimate and more professional way to go about it. Point in fact: If you plan for the unexpected, it's entirely possible to pull off what may seem as impossible.

Formation of IMBA

I'm from the East and things are usually easier here ... we never encounter the "No Trespassing" signs here, right? Wrong!

Folks from the West are all too familiar with trail closures. As a matter of fact, back in 1988 a small band of California trail user clubs -- five to be exact -- decided they had had enough with the trail closures and joined together as one voice to form the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).

Trails were closing left and right, so joining together as one organization gave them power and a voice of legitimacy. Their first task: to develop an original trail etiquette document, known as "Rules Of The Trail."

At first it was a slow, uphill battle; dealing with closures, with trail users that were not respectful of other users, and continually having to inform riders about the Rules Of The Trail document -- the mountain bikers' Declaration Of Independence.

Over time, and with lots of hard work from organizations and communities, the open dialogue, and just plain neighborliness of IMBA's efforts, paid off.

The voice of mountain biking advocacy

Over 15 years old now, IMBA has a chapter club in almost every state and in many foreign countries. It has become a legal voice for mountain bikers primarily, but considers other recreational users as well. IMBA's legal defense team protects biker rights and brokers deals with state and federal agencies for continued trail access.

Some notable accomplishments include an agreement memorandum with the National Forest Service to gain trail access on 191 million acres, and the well-known Trail Care Crew, which travels around the U.S. to repair and construct trails.

Recently, IMBA has brokered another trail access deal with our National Park Service, opening up dirt roads in many national parks to mountain bikers. Our hats off to a small grass roots organization that has grown into the voice for mountain biking advocacy around the world.

Case in point

In 1973, I landed in one of those small towns in nowhere America -- Parsonsfield in southwestern Maine, population 1,200. Not many folks, but plenty of forest land. It took at least 30 minutes on car-free paved roads to drive from one end of the town to the other -- that's a lot of land! I bought some acreage and built my home there, where instead of having 10 houses within a mile, there were only two or three.

A valuable resource
I could walk out my door to nothing but fire roads, trails, old stone walls, and deserted cemeteries for miles and miles -- very few homes. I learned that the land around me was owned by Scott Paper, and had been open to the town for years for recreational, hunting and snowmobile access.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, I spent countless hours hiking and cross-country skiing and I'd always meet someone new. I always noticed an unmistakable gleam in their eyes; one that recognized how fortunate we all were to have such incredible beauty available to us. As I wandered the trails and logging roads, I made many new friends.

Respect and friendliness pays off
There came a time in the late 90s, when all this dialogue, respect for the land, and just plain neighborliness paid off. Rumor got out that the present landowner -- another small logging firm -- was planning to subdivide the 9,000-acre forest into numerous parcels.

The old Leavitt Plantation, which the area was commonly known, was to be put up for auction and carved into pieces. By the way, this land was the largest contiguous unbroken forest and piece of biodiversity in all of southern Maine.

It was time to take some action, so I started to make phone calls to all the friends I had made over the years. Not surprisingly, I found that others also had had the same concern and didn't want to see the land destroyed. We formed an organization and told the landowner that we didn't want to see the land broken apart. We had a plan and asked them: If we found a buyer to purchase the whole piece of land, would they wait to sell? They said yes.

Finding a buyer
We wanted to find a buyer who would be willing to sell us a lifetime recreational easement, and also guarantee legally that if they ever sold the land, they couldn't subdivide or break it up into more than three parcels. We also wanted other restrictions, such as no mining or commercial development of any kind -- except for renewable resource use -- permitted on this land. The restrictions and easement would have to be honored by any new owners.

We finally found a buyer, and one who was accustomed to this sort of arrangement. After negotiating an agreeable purchase price for the easement and other restrictions, only a mere $3,000,000, we started a capital campaign to raise the money. Three years later, after numerous alliances and new organizations hopping on the band wagon, we managed to meet our goal and the rest is history.

For more information on IMBA, visit their Web site at www.imba.com or call them at 1-303-545-9011.