The Natural Resources Management Act, a public lands bill package, passed the House this week.

It expands and protects mountain bike trails and gives permanent authorization to an important funding tool.

The bills previously passed the Senate and now head to President Trump, who is expected to sign them into law.

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Congress this week passed a package of bills increasing environmental protections and trail access on public lands—which should come as good news for mountain bikers.



The Natural Resources Management Act, which already passed the Senate earlier in February, combines more than 100 separate bills into one of the most far-reaching public lands laws in the past decade. Among its provisions are the creation of new Wilderness areas, several national park expansions, and new protected areas for recreation. It now heads to President Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign the bills into law.

Most mountain bike trail networks are built on public lands—from county parks to national forests—and in recent years, access has become a key issue for the sport. Political decisions over funding, conservation, and access all have an impact on riders who want to keep hitting the trails.

“If we don’t have access to those public lands, or those public lands are degraded in some way, both of those affect our experience as mountain bikers,” said David Wiens, executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA).



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Perhaps most important for the mountain bike community is a provision reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which uses proceeds from offshore oil and gas drilling to pay for recreation and conservation projects around the country. And unlike previous legislation, this new authorization is permanent.

“They’ve been kicking the can down the road, giving it a few years of authorization, and it kept coming back up,” Wiens said. Should the bills become law, land managers will be able to count on the fund’s resources, which include money to buy land for developing new trails, in the long term.



The LWCF can also support trail-building and maintenance efforts directly. Numerous trail systems have benefitted from the fund, including the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado, Annadel State Park in California, and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin. Seven IMBA Epics, which are backcountry singletrack trails, also exist in part thanks to the fund.

While the new bills permanently reauthorize the LWCF, further legislation would be needed to make sure the program remains funded. Currently, Congress sends money to the LWCF through the allocations process, with recent totals hovering in the $300-$400 million range. Advocates hope to see a law that would have the entire amount earned from offshore drilling leases flow directly into the LWCF.

Still, Wiens called permanent authorization for LWCF “monumental progress.”

Mountain bikers on the Arkansas Hills Trail System in Salida, Colorado. Leslie Kehmeier

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For IMBA, the most important goal remains ensuring mountain bikers have a seat at the table. Wiens pointed to Emery County, Utah, where planners had intended to create a Wilderness area that would have initially excluded mountain bikers. But due to pressure from mountain bike advocates, the public lands act would protect more than 200,000 acres of trails in Emery under a Recreation Management Area.

Against the context of bitter fights over the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, the new bills enjoyed bipartisan support and struck a promising note for mountain bikers.

“Nothing passes unanimously in this country these days—or at least very few things do,” Wiens said. “When the House voted 363-62 and the Senate voted 98-2, that kind of tells you where the country is in terms of protecting public lands.” Wiens said that could mean more progress on the public lands front down the line.

In the meantime, IMBA encourages mountain bikers to stay involved in their local government’s planning process, volunteer for trail maintenance days, and remain open-minded about the needs of other public lands users.

“You can’t deny 50 people showing up with gloves and tools and hard hats ready to work [on a mountain bike trail], and that happens all over the country,” Wiens said. “This has given us traction with so many land managers.”