May 24–31, 2001

news

On the Beaten Path

A contingent of park preservationists want to end mountain biking in the Wissahickon — and the park commission is at least listening.

by Gwen Shaffer

Weapon of Mass Destruction?

What do mountain bikes have in common with ballistic missiles, nuclear warheads and nerve gas?

They are all weapons of mass destruction, according to some folks.

A push to ban mountain bikers from cruising down dirt trails in the Wissahickon surged about three years ago, only to collapse for lack of support. But a small group of preservationists, members of the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers (WRV) refuse to let the movement die.

Last year, they circulated a petition on behalf of "those who have long suffered in silence from the takeover of the footpaths by the mountain bikes." By the time they presented their appeal to the Fairmount Park Commission on Valentine’s Day, 750 people had signed on.

WRV members contend that mountain bikes gouge out dirt trails in the park, killing off tree roots and leading to erosion. Proponents of a bike ban also point to safety concerns, particularly when it comes to children and elderly people walking in the park. Lastly, the WRV claims that mountain bikers destroy the peace of the Wissahickon.

Four of 18 park commissioners are sympathetic to the idea of banning mountain bikes, compared to just two who voted in favor of prohibiting bikes on the upper trails in 1996, says Martin Lentz, chair of the WRV bike committee.

In response to renewed debate on the issue, the Delaware Valley Mountain Bike Patrol (DVMBP) is stepping up its own efforts to raise awareness of the benefits that bikers bring to the park. Since 1999, the volunteer patrollers have been helping maintain Wissahickon trails and educating riders to treat the park with respect.

Mountain bikers contribute far more to the park than they detract from it, says Jay Jones, co-founder of the DVMBP.

"We are not the daredevils you see on the covers of biking magazines or in Mountain Dew commercials," he says. "We love the trails and want to preserve them."

The group is circulating a petition of its own. It requests that the Fairmount Park Commission’s "interim policy" on mountain bikes — which allows bikers on all except two side trails and requires a $16 annual permit for riders on the upper trails — be made permanent.

Barry Bessler, chief of staff for the park commission, acknowledges that the issue of banning bikes in the Wissahickon recently came before members for action, but they determined it needed "further review."

"Our staff is meeting with mountain bikers and opponents to reach a compromise," Bessler says. The commission plans to revisit the interim policy, established in 1996, this fall.

But there appears to be weak support for the idea of an all-out ban, Bessler adds. "We are not in the business of banning anyone from the park. Our mission is to provide recreational opportunities, not deny them. We consider people in mountain biking clubs a valuable resource."

Forbidding mountain bikers in Wissahickon is not about excluding people, it’s about excluding "uses," Lentz says. "It’s illegal to hunt and swim in the park."

Jones contends mountain biking is far more popular than despised in the Wissahickon.

"It took the [WRV] one year to gather 700 signatures for its petition, while the park commission issued 1,000 mountain biking permits in the first three months of this year," he says.

The WRV cannot substantiate its claim that bikes harm the park, Jones adds. On the other hand, "stacks of scientific studies" find that mountain bikes have less impact on trails than hikers do, he says.

One study posted on the Friends of the Wissahickon website (www.fow.org) measured the erosive effects between mountain bike, hikers, horses and motorbikes on trails. Researchers "could not effectively distinguish the impacts of hikers and cyclists."  Other studies found that feet and hooves off trails will trample more than bicycle tires — the instantaneous sheer forces of the foot or hoof have more of a tearing effect than the rolling over and crushing of bike wheels. 

Lentz disagrees with these findings, stressing that the Wissahickon should be treated as a "nature preserve."

"It is a small, delicate over-burdened forest in the city," he says. "When you are walking along a woodland trail, there is a poetry to it."

Logistically, locking mountain bikers out of the Wissahickon would be impossible, Bessler says. Currently, they are banned from riding on two "particularly sensitive" lower trails, and policing those with just 22 park rangers is tough enough.

"We have a limited number of park rangers and police patrols," he points out. "We depend on the honor system."

But Lentz argues that a complete ban would be easier to enforce than the present mixed-use on the trails. "One commissioner made this analogy…when they banned alcohol in Burholme Park, officers no longer had to determine if the person was drunk before arresting him."

Members of the WRV have considered various "compromises" but ultimately concluded that they would all fail.

"We thought about closing the trails on one side of the creek one year — letting them lie fallow — and then the opposite side the next year," he says. "But the side that remains open would experience twice the impact, and the bikers don’t want it because they ride a loop."

Ed Stainton, president of Friends of the Wissahickon, believes the current set up is an adequate compromise.

"If you are a bird-watcher or hiker, there are already places where no bikes are allowed," he says. He characterizes a mountain bike ban as "a dead issue."

Not as far as the WRV are concerned.

"They absolutely will be banned," Lentz says. "I can’t give you the timetable, but I believe in the power of an idea that is right."

He points to the fact that other large cities prohibit mountain bikes. In New York’s Central Park, mountain bikes are banned from pedestrian footpaths and are excluded entirely from the forested sections of the park. In Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, bikes are not permitted on footpaths.

But Jones believes the energy exerted by advocates of a mountain bike ban in the Wissahickon should be focused on learning tolerance.

"They have to understand that the more people who use the park for recreation, the more people who will have an appreciation for conservation."