Single Track Mind Cycling Club Tacoma WA USA

The State Of The Trails

This is the first in a series of articles intended to educate the club and general mountain bike community of the state of the trails in the local region. This information is collected from many different sources and your input would be greatly appreciated for future articles. I will make every attempt to verify the information and will write to you as needed.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley Trail

The Forest Service has released their long awaited Access and Travel Management (ATM) Environmental Analysis for the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Watershed.
The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Valley is a scenic natural recreation area within 90 minutes of downtown Seattle. The wild natural beauty of the Middle Fork Valley is unsurpassed by other lower elevation recreational areas in Western Washington State. Unfortunately the values that make the Middle Fork Valley an attractive natural recreation opportunity have been threatened by illegal dumping, methamphetamine laboratories and illegal shooting.
The MF ATM addresses many of these issues. Alternative "E" of the Middle Fork ATM includes several excellent components designed to safeguard the valley while including mountain bike use on the Middle Fork trail seasonally and on odd days. This is 13 miles of classic, beautiful, close-to-Seattle trail that makes for an incredible experience by foot, bicycle, or horse. While there is solid support for alternative "E", public comment is a necessary part of the process and will absolutely influence the outcome. The comment deadline is May 8.
Thanks,
Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club
Get details and send a letter click here

Banner Forest – There is a move afoot to restrict the use of portions of the Banner Forest area near Gig Harbor to mountain bike and horse use. Portions of the area would be hiker only. In fact I am told the best areas would be hiker only. This is a popular riding area for many STM members and it’s loss would be felt and missed. There was a meeting on October 9^th attended by STM members and a letter was drafted by Ralph Loewen to be sent to the commission in charge. Here is a draft of Ralph’s letter:

To: Rick Flackler

From: Single Track Mind Cycling Club (STMCC)

Re: Banner Forest Public Access

Mr. Flackler,

It has come to the attention of our club that Kitsap County is considering some changes to the type and amount of public access to Banner Forest. We strongly urge that to the greatest extent possible the public be allowed to have shared recreational use of this public area. Shared use of trails and other public facilities on other local, state, and federal lands in this region has been demonstrated to be very workable.

Naturally issues such as user impacts and the legitimate concerns of nearby private property owners do need to be addressed. A broad-based coalition of users and volunteers has been successful in other areas in bridging the communication gap between various user groups and land managers. An example of this cooperation is found at the nearby Tahuya State Forest. Significantly in this era of limited public funding user groups such as STMCC are a valuable resource to land managers. Trained, experienced volunteer trail workers enable public maintenance funding to be leveraged considerably.

Banner Forest itself has benefited from three STMCC volunteer work parties in the past year and a half.

STMCC feels that the best needs of public recreation at Banner Forest are served with a renewed dialog amongst all who are concerned about Banner Forest. As always we welcome your thoughts and observations. Our website is also available for viewing at: stmcc.org

Yours, Ralph Loewen

Vice-President STMCC, Trail Maintenance and Advocacy Officer

It is time for other members to get involved in the Banner forest plan. This should not be a one-person effort but should be a concerted effort by the club in general. Contact Ralph Loewen or Don Swanson for information and how you can get involved. Many of you have never ridden there but losing any area is hard on the MTB community.

84th Street has been singed “No Motorized Use”. It is much quieter there now and much of the trail tread has started to heal. It’s not perfect but many riders driven away from the area may want to return. It’s a good close in spot for winter use.

Tiger Mountain is closed for the season and will re-open April 15 2007. Respect the closure to keep this area open. A lot of effort into trail work has been done by BBTC to keep these trails open for all users.

Victor Falls is to be closed indefinitely . Again as responsible STM members respect the closure. Like it or not Victor Falls in on private land and we are just guests there. Respect the closure and eventual they may re-open it for our use.

Sun Top is closed to MTB and horse trail use until next year. The National Forest Service is spending $100,000 to improve the trail. The NFS has signed the trail of the use restriction but it continues to be used by mountain bikers even though closed for the improvements. There was some damage done to the new trail tread by a group of irresponsible riders recently. There will be tickets issued and $ fines will follow. Respect the closure – it’s only till spring 2002.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Trail – Reprinted from the IMBA website

Trail Users and Conservation Groups Cooperate to Restore Bicycle Access on Popular Seattle-Area Trail

For Immediate Release
09-06-01
Contact: Pete Webber - IMBA membership & communications director

The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Trail, a popular Forest Service trail near Seattle, may soon open to bicycle use for the first time in nearly a decade. Four Washington recreation and conservation groups--organizations who have often been at odds--are supporting two-way, alternate-day mountain bike access as one component of a unprecedented three-year agreement. The U.S. Forest Service will make this access decision.

Mountain bikers briefly enjoyed access to the Middle Fork Trail in the 1990s. Since then, this riverside path through old-growth forest less than a 90-minute drive from Seattle has been a source of conflict among cyclists, hikers and conservation groups.

During the last year, the IMBA-affiliated Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (BBTC) met regularly to discuss Middle Fork trail access with representatives of Alpine Lakes Protection Society (ALPS), Middle Fork Outdoor Recreation Coalition (MidFORC), Washington Trails Association (WTA), Single Track Mind Cycling Club and the Sierra Club. The product of these discussions is a three-year agreement, signed by ALPS, BBTC, MidForc and WTA, that...

Supports two-way, alternate day mountain bike access on the Middle Fork Trail;
Supports a boundary adjustment for proposed Wilderness that excludes the Middle Fork trail;
Calls for each organization to send an action alert to its members to support the agreement and the adjusted proposed Wilderness boundary;
Calls for the BBTC to support no new development and eventual Wilderness designation for the Pratt River Valley;
Calls for the BBTC to contribute 240 volunteer hours per year to Middle Fork trail maintenance, and post educational and informational signs at each Middle Fork trailhead.

This agreement will be presented to the Forest Service for consideration.

BBTC's Jennifer Lesher said, "Since the Forest Service generally makes decisions based on user input and consensus, we are hoping that this is a package that will be hard to refute."

IMBA executive director Tim Blumenthal said, "The work that has been done in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River area is monumental as these groups have traditionally struggled to find common ground. This agreement shows the power of cooperation and compromise and should lead to other combined efforts that will benefit trail users and conservation."

Remember ride responsibly and respect trail closures. What you do today will affect us tomorrow. Get involved. Work on a trail, write a letter or attend a meeting. The choice is yours and your effort is appreciated and does help in the long run.