Private Land Access

[chris bonsall]

Here in NJ....land is become scares. The riding oppurtunity is really good in the northern sections of NJ. Southern NJ has plenty of land left.....but terrain is some what flat and there is no Advocating going on for mountain biking. Which bring me to my point. Land is available.....ok....thats a good thing.....now we have to find a suitable piece of property for mtbing with dips, hills and heavily wooded.....ok that shouldn't be a problem either. The chances are if we find this piece of property it will Be On Private Property! Leaving the owners to say NO to our idea because of Liability Reasons! Anyway.....if some one has a model or model for building trails on Private Property.....please get in touch with me......I'd love to know how you deal with the situation.....between mtber and private land owners.


thanks, chris b. bonsaimtb@hotmail.com

[KENNEDIE]

Hey man, you said it yourself, "long Live Long Rides." That's the answer to your question: IMBA. What they do is inform people like us on how to approach the problems you're talking about. And they're nice people too.

[lungbutter]

We had secured what we believed to be 'permission' to extend some of our local trails. When neighbors of the area saw us in there, they freaked. The park commission guy that I had contacted did not support us at that point, and the neighbors united to shut us down, lobbying for what turned out to be rezoning the area to 'non-mechanized' only. Knowing this, now know this...this area has had a small trails system in it for about twenty years!! All we wanted to do was just ask to enlarge and refine the system already being used by about 50 riders on a >than weekly basis. THE most important thing to do...SECURE PERMISSION...in writing when possible.

[Browne]

You said it best yourself man... "IN WRITING"... as much as I hate it, this country is run by legalese. You can't hold people accountable for their word. Like my landlord... when I signed the lease just less than a year ago, he promised to find a shed to put my bikes in so I didn't have to drag them up the stairs. I signed the lease without the shed promise in writing... and now, 10 months later, $5000 later, there's no shed, and no sign of there ever being a shed. I call him every month and ask him, and he just says "Well, I found one in the paper, but it was gone when I called." Sure Tony.

Do I see a common trend here? LAND OWNERS! I think it's high time I get me some land! Know of any place to get some cheap?

-Michael

[angelo_caduto86]

Build shed, bill landlord.


For trail use, design/construction, etc. Public Relations are key. I am guessing that when the bike group started the trail work you did not let the neighbors know what you were going to do ahead of time. Did you let the land owner? If you had gone to the neighbors with information and the fact that you had the owner's permission, there might have been a different response.

ESPECIALLY if you explained what you were doing would improve the lad (for erosion purposes) and asked if they wanted to help. They might not have wanted to help and glad that you were going to do it.

There are other p.r. things you could do, if the land owner could get a tax easement for allowing his property used by the town/village you live in because it enhances quality of life and perhap tourism you might get the whole neighborhood clammoring to get trails on their property...it's a double edge sword though, because 50 riders might be okay, but attracting 300 could be a problem to the land owner.