Alert Update: Singletrack Plans Progressing in Vermont

Action Alert

For Immediate Release
08-06-08
Contact: Drew Vankat, Policy Analyst
Drew@imba.com
303-545-9011

The Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) reports exciting progress in the quest for new singletrack access in Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest. Pending final approval, several trails could be opened to mountain bike use in the near future.

IMBA and VMBA thank the hundreds of mountain bikers who took action in April's IMBA Action Alert. Their letters helped cap a run of remarkable progress by VMBA as it has built relationships with Forest Service staff in an area where all trails and most roads had historically been off-limits to mountain bikes.

Currently, VMBA and forest planners are evaluating trails for potential mountain bike use. If routes are approved for bicycling, volunteer-led trailwork events could begin as early as this fall. Local VMBA chapters in Middlebury and Pittsfield stand ready to assist land managers with trail maintenance and rehabilitation if new singletrack is opened to mountain biking.

VMBA is also the recipient of a $9,200 grant from Bikes Belong to develop and host trailwork projects in the Green Mountain National Forest. Additionally, VMBA and the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) have applied together for a National Forest Foundation grant that would pay for VYCC to complete much of the trailwork in 2009, along with local volunteers.

For more information, check out the VMBA website.