Forest Service Issues ‘E-Bike’ Guidance

[Nameless Range]

. I have never used one and don’t know how much of an advantage they give (or don’t).

I've shared this before, but in terms of their advantage:

https://helenair.com/news/beat-feet...cle_647ac759-94a9-5764-bcce-23615e46aea6.html

A 2019 Brigham Young University study found dramatic differences in rider capability on pedal bikes compared to e-bikes. Using a powered bicycle with just a third of the allowable booster force, riders completed a 5.5-mile course with 50 percent faster speed and significantly lower heart rates than those relying on their leg strength alone. That was with a 250-watt e-bike, one-third the capacity of full-strength 750-watt e-bike boosters.

Meditate on that when it comes to the trails you hike or bike to hunt. Over 5 miles, 50% faster, and easier, on an e-bike with 1/3 the wattage than folks would like to allow on non-motorized trails.

There's more studies out there showing similar results, but I'll also note that the Montana bill in reference that I resurrected this thread for, would allow all three classes of ebikes to be deemed nonmotorized - so even ebikes with throttles. This is new technology, is already disruptive, and the motor in an ebike is real. In an exploding west with wildlife under duress chiefly due to recreation in so many places, the judicious answer is obvious.

 

[Flynarrow]

Habitat security is necessary if we want lengthy unrestricted hunting seasons and mature animals and big game residing on public land. Every convenience that makes human access easier or faster reduces habitat security. That includes constructed trails, horses, ebikes, motorbikes,and atvs. It is quite simple.

 

[rtraverdavis]

So, your real argument against e.bikes is that it would increase access. So I guess that the only reason horses are okay, is because few people use them.

Yes. I don't own horses and feel safe in saying that I never will. Too much expense and work. But I bet I'll own an e-bike at some point. I've ridden them and can say with certainty that they make climbing hills easier, and allowing their use would increase traffic in non-motorized areas. A further increase in traffic is bad for wildlife.

I think we should all hike.

Sounds good to me.

 

[TOGIE]

i'm not the first to bring this up but i want to reiterate that this really isn't about how and where people can hunt.

it's more about recreational disturbances that impact wildlife and habitat.

do some googling and peruse the piles of research done on recreational disturbances to wildlife and what happens when there are more trails and more users on said trails. it's really eye opening, especially when you focus in on the explosive expansion of mt bike trails on wintering grounds in colorado.

we don't need a bunch of fat dudes with fanny packs zipping around on their e bikes creating more disturbances on non motorized trails. it's bad enough between the mtbs, fat bikes, xc skiers, hikers, and trail runners as itis. we don't need all those guys clamoring for more non motorized trails for them to go zip around and indulge on donuts afterwards because they feel they earned it after a "hard workout."

this reallly has nothing to do with hunting. it's about wildlife. and e bikes and the groups that support them on non motorized trails are a threat to wildlife. all you need to do is look at the mtb community to know that.

 

[SwaggyD]

we don't need a bunch of fat dudes with fanny packs

Easy now...... I feel attacked.

 

[TOGIE]

Easy now...... I feel attacked.

sorry, i definitely crossed a line at fanny packs



but for real. if we jam pack a new and extremely easily attainable use to non motorized trails then suddenly you have infighting amongst the non motorized users due to over crowding leading to expansion of trails. expansion of trails that draw all of these activities basically always happens at the expense of wildlife.

 

[rogerthat]

Fact is we can’t keep making it easier for folks without acknowledging the negative affects “easier” can have on the resource including wildlife and hunting opportunity. It’s not that each of these issues is so singularly bad it’s the cumulative effects of all of it that combine to be a knock out blow. Therefore e-bikes need to stay on the motorized trails or else we cut opportunities in the not so distant future. It’s that damn simple

 

[SwaggyD]

e-bikes need to stay on the motorized trails or else we cut opportunities in the not so distant future. It’s that damn simple

Can't we do both?

 

[Straight Arrow]

Fact is we can’t keep making it easier for folks without acknowledging the negative affects “easier” can have on the resource including wildlife and hunting opportunity. It’s not that each of these issues is so singularly bad it’s the cumulative effects of all of it that combine to be a knock out blow. Therefore e-bikes need to stay on the motorized trails or else we cut opportunities in the not so distant future. It’s that damn simple

Death by ever increasing numbers of single cuts ... the hemorrhaging continues!

 

[BuzzH]

The last time I busted my ass walking in several miles to hunt the Forest "non-motorized trail", we were greeted two days in a row in there by one of @BuzzH compadres in his full size truck.

So much for wildlife disturbance.

Yeah, administrative use is tricky for sure.

Narrow windows when things need to be done.

 

[Oak]

Every photo is an incremental increase in habitat fragmentation and disturbance, and a loss of wildlife habitat effectiveness. To some degree, there are people currently promoting a step up from one photo to the next at every level. Whether it's development of new hiking trails, mountain bike trails, or adding lanes to I-70 to reduce ski traffic congestion, there is relentless pressure on the effective wildlife habitat that remains.

I would ask for those who support allowing E-bikes on trails currently open to mountain bikes to clearly articulate why they would like to see the addition. I think that if you're honest, then it will make it much clearer why some of us are vehemently opposed to it.

 

[Mica Man]

Does anyone like me still ride a bike that is not motorized, or have we turned into a bunch of



Just stirring the pot in the off season....

 

[rogerthat]

Does anyone like me still ride a bike that is not motorized, or have we turned into a bunch of View attachment 265725



Just stirring the pot in the off season....

I don’t have one. I want one…but I also want a hovercraft and an chopper

 

[Sytes]

it's more about recreational disturbances that impact wildlife and habitat.

This.

I find it interesting, Did we, hunters and anglers, proclaim and stomp our State capitol floors with the slogan, "Public Lands in Select Public Hands"?

Is access a privilege or a right? Is this a regulation that does not hold the caveat, shall not infringe or is this open to State/Federal adaptation of population and what should be our main focus, our State's wildlife? Rhetorical query though the more ranting for zero adjustment, meanwhile demanding adjustments that suit our hunt interests is oxymoronic, IMO.

As I've shared in this thread (I believe) and other threads on HT, instead of pissing on each other's outdoor enthusiasm, we need to collectively unite under a themed coalition led by biology based primary focus of our flora and fauna. How to best adapt to a significant population boom, adapt for OUR public land use.

We keep our hunt rants directed towards other public land owners, we dissolve our own value.

 

[PrairieHunter]

The USFS can issue all the guidance, make rules, etc it want's but if the USFS does not enforce the laws then it really doesn't matter.

 

[406dn]

Last summer while visiting my brother and sister, I rode my sister's e-bike. They are a hoot to ride, but they are clearly a motorized vehicle. I hope they don't become legal where motorized travel is banned.

 

[406dn]

The USFS can issue all the guidance, make rules, etc it want's but if the USFS does not enforce the laws then it really doesn't matter.

There is plenty of truth there.

 

[DouglasR]

Respectfully, it takes a hell lot of work to pedal still with an e-bike. So it’s not like you’re being dropped off by a helicopter easy.

Wouldn’t it be fair to define the size of the motor allowed to be used then?

 

[DouglasR]

How in the heck is the sworks e bike cheaper than the sworks epic?

 

[theat]

My mid/upper 70’s parents bought a couple e-bikes last summer. They got some cheap knock off models. Those things make a world of difference in ease of travel when biking. Neither of my parents are in good shape, hell my dad can’t even walk on uneven ground. When I have ridden my mountain bike along with them, I have no hope at all of keeping up. I’d say it takes me 3-4 times as long as them to get somewhere. If they can haul ass up a steep mountain road on one of them, anyone could. Count me in the “keep them on motorized trails only” group. Oh, and I don’t use horses.

I spent some time last summer riding on some trails near Missoula that I used to bike often when I was in college there. Bike traffic has gone up so much that it was very unpleasant riding and well over half the riders were on e-bikes.