National Forest Success in Vermont

By Patrick Kell

The Green Mountain State of Vermont may be green but mountain bikers have scant access to riding anywhere on public land. Yet, because of the hard work of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association, riders will soon be riding legal singletrack in Vermont's largest parcel of public land, the Green Mountain National Forest.

With 400,000 acres, the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) represents almost 7% of the total acreage of Vermont and stretches almost half its length. Even though the GMNF is within a day's drive of 70 million people, mountain bikers have thus far only been able to ride a few singletrack trails and use the lift-serviced facilities at Mount Snow and Sugarbush resorts.

This is poised to change soon.

Over the past 18 months, the Vermont Mountain Biking Association (VMBA) has developed a very positive working relationship with the Green Mountain National Forest staff to increase access for mountain biking and to encourage public use of the trails for sustainable, healthy recreation. This partnership began in May 2007 with a preliminary meeting to discuss the potential for increased access. The Forest Service stated that they would be interested in designating existing trails for this purpose, but would not be interested in building new trails, as there already exists an extensive trail network in need of maintenance. The Forest staff also said that new local VMBA chapters would be essential in order to have a corps of volunteers to assist with trail maintenance, and that it would be a good idea for the VMBA to pursue grant funding.

The initial preference was to approve existing trails in the recently designated Moosalamoo National Recreation Area, which lies in the north part of the Forest, just south of Middlebury. During the summer of 2007, the VMBA was given temporary permission to ride and review several trail systems and to provide feedback to the Forest staff on their suitability. The VMBA volunteers quickly realized that the trails were great! The riders who participated in those preliminary rides were absolutely amazed at the vast network of singletrack that was off-limits to mountain bikes, and even more amazed that the trails were getting very little use by any groups, made obvious by the overgrowth of brush and downed tree limbs. If no one was using the trails, why not let mountain bikers ride and maintain them?

This trail review process continued through the fall of 2007. In January 2008 the VMBA held a monthly board meeting in Middlebury, in an effort to develop their presence there and to reach out to local riders. The results were again outstanding—the meeting was attended by 12 VMBA board members, 18 local riders and by Dave Harloff and Chad Van Ormer (recreation trails planners for the Forest), both of whom expressed that they would work to see increased mountain bike access in the Green Mountain National Forest, and were very impressed at the showing of local riders ready to volunteer. The meeting was interrupted several times by spontaneous rounds of applause, as everyone was very encouraged to hear these positive comments from Forest staff—this meeting will go down in history as a defining moment in mountain bike access in Vermont.

By early 2008, VMBA had a new chapter in Middlebury and an expanded chapter in Pittsfield, both of whom were ready and willing to get working in the Green Mountain National Forest. Spring and summer 2008 saw extensive time in the field reviewing more trails to assess their suitability, and also saw the U.S. Forest Service complete their internal approval processes for this change in use. Along with this field time, the VMBA spent a lot of time pursuing several grant opportunities in order to secure funding for materials and for Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) trail crews in 2009. Funding for tools and materials was secured through a grant of $9,200 from the Bikes Belong Coalition, with Kona Bikes also making a generous donation towards this project. More recently, the VMBA partnered with the VYCC and secured a grant of $26,000 from the National Forest Foundation to pay professional trail crews to complete larger, more technical projects in 2009.

The U.S. Forest Service upheld their end of the partnership and recently designated one section of trail in the Green Mountain National Forest for mountain bike access, and will complete further permitting requirements this winter to designate more trails in 2009. The VMBA embarked upon their first volunteer trail session in October 2008 with their new chapters from the area, and together 30 volunteers completed bridge projects, rock armoring, benching, and constructed several switchbacks, all using IMBA trail building standards.

What's next?

Together these trails will offer a true backcountry riding experience, accessing an outstanding ridgeline trail system, which includes both remote and car-accessible campgrounds and lakes, making it a prime location for a multi-day mountain bike destination. Access trails also extend from Branbury State Park, located nearby on the shores of Lake Dunmore. This project is also in partnership with the Moosalamoo Association, an established non-profit land trust, which will add to efforts in marketing the region as a mountain bike destination.

Spring of 2009 will see VYCC crews and VMBA volunteer chapters continue work on the trails to make them suitable for mountain bike use. Additionally the VMBA will continue with the research process in order to assess other trails and to expand this network in the northern region of the Green Mountain National Forest; in total, 12-15 miles of singletrack will be available by 2009. In 2007 the VMBA also began discussions with the USFS staff in the southern region of the Forest and will continue to advocate for the re-designation of several specific loops in southern Vermont this winter. There are several VMBA chapters in southern Vermont, specifically in the Stratton, Mt. Snow and Bennington areas, and VMBA will continue to work to build the capacity of those groups.

Next spring the VMBA will again host the Mountain Bike Summit in conjunction with IMBA and Gravity Logic, with the aim of training ski resorts, especially Sugarbush and Mt Snow, in further developing their lift-serviced operations. The VMBA also hopes to host a Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew in the Green Mountain National Forest in the spring of 2009.

We at the VMBA are very excited about this increased opportunity in the Green Mountain National Forest as it ushers in a new era for mountain bike access in an area, which has typically been off-limits. The VMBA is also very encouraged by the professional, encouraging, and productive approach from USFS staff and the solid working partnership that has developed. Finally, Kona Bikes, the Bikes Belong Coalition, the National Forest Foundation, and the VYCC deserve a huge thanks for their partnership on this project. Keep your eyes on www.vmba.org for more information on these new riding areas in the coming months and years.