Video: How a $12 Million NZD, 40 Mile MTB Trail Came to Life
A brand new 40-mile MTB trail has just been completed after a 3-year effort to push it through the virgin wilderness. This video chronicles how it was built and how the money got spent.
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But plenty of scapegoats & every ones dependence on Chinese made products should end!
Oh, congrats on getting better
We simply don't know enough about this yet as no one has fronted up the cash to support a research project based around active tourism projects and if they could provide an ecological benefit in the long term through land use change over a region (I am not advocating any destruction of old growth forest - I am generally against it - but looking at the social science combined with ecology here)
If this area is a large mining area (It seems to be) and a trail like this could sustain jobs through secondary economic impact, then that would be a good thing compared to deep extractive industry. Yes, we need to protect wild spaces robustly and I understand that we affect the real specialists of eco systems by removing old growth trees, and can simplify these eco systems in the process, but I don't think that's what was happening here. MTB can, and arguably should, have a role to play in future economies, building resilience and helping sustain eco systems, and a trail like this could help with that.
Also, we should bear in mind that the Amazon is a succession based forest, and for years indigenous peoples used the forest in a sustainable way, which involved burning large patches, using the charcoal to help build organic matter in the soil - then growing on said patches for a few years and letting the area regenerate for 20-30 years. It has largely been Soya, and extractive industries, coupled with road infrastructure (gov policy) that has been the real issue. I would argue this trail construction is closer to a sustainable model than a destructive model and might even indicate a positive change in policy.
I'm not wholly sold on fortress conservation either. It hasn't worked anywhere in the world that I've seen as yet.
As for fortress conservation, i think that generally relates to the people living on certain "untouched" landscapes, and less so the natural communities, but point taken. I think hybrid models can work where easy trails are built for high volume in less vulnerable areas and then successively longer, more demanding trails out into some more pristine areas allow limited traffic and impact, but also the "epic" notoriety that can inspire more people to wander out and find deep appreciation for those places. That being said, I am a proponent of leaving some important blocks that might be part of the same conservation project untouched, as a partial "fortress". Again, aspirations and hopes are wonderful, but conservation and well maintained trail infrastructure takes a lot of work, and that work generally happens with money. What is really sad, and has happened near my home are some ambitious trail projects, that were not financially sustainable, and extensive enough no group of volunteers to step in to cover all of what is needed,
I absolutely advocate that these types of construction have to be viable beyond subsidy in economic terms. I err towards fees but I understand others don't like that model and I can appreciate that. I also think the scope can go further than just an appreciation of the environment but then we're talking about multi-stakeholder consensus on usage, educational needs, funding, economic moels and that is extremely challenging! (Building rural economic resilience in line with ecological conservation is what I'm currently working on ) .
I really like your hybrid model and that is exactly the model I'm trying to research at the moment - I call it low volume, high value where we help landowners diversify by supporting accommodation that is a minimal footprint and pay a rental fee for the land which is maintained by an engaged community (ideally this leads to a full-time trail crew down the line), the guides and guiding companies are educated in more than just riding and so on. We are trying to broaden the experience and knowledge but bikes/hiking are the tool.
I also agree there are some areas that should be left alone and we should respect that and respect these areas for what they provide.
Where I live we have some of the most important peat bogs in Europe - but what frustrates me is that we leave it alone where outdoor activity is concerned but a new logging road to extract 8m in timber (which was planted on peat that is rapidly drying...) for biomass is allowed to be built over a very sensitive, diverse and rich community habitat.
Thanks for the reply, I enjoyed reading that and great to hear of your experiences - these are problems I most likely will encounter and would love to hear any ideas for mitigating these you may have.
Having lived in NZ and lived with one of the trail builders in this video, I can attest that Kiwis take the protection of their natural environment VERY seriously. This is mostly since us brits f*cked it up for them a couple of hundred years ago, FYI.
dcon01mstr0c21wprod.azurewebsites.net/globalassets/documents/about-doc/oia/2017/oia-17-e-391.pdf
During my time as a professional trail builder, trees of significant size and age are only ever taken if #1. the show signs of disease/death or #2. they are necessary towards promoting the growth of important out-competed species. Rocks are just that, and will need to be removed to create sustainable grades, avoid springs, or prevent the clearing of significant vegetation both up and downhill of the formation.
Building a trail takes so much more than most people realize. They also afford these previously commodity (aka mining) based economies with a more amenity (mtb) economy which allows typically impoverished areas the opportunity to put real dollars into their local community and pull sustainable, long term wealth out of their natural landscape.
The construction of trails will always need to consider two vastly different viewpoints. The bias I support seems to be more widely accepted the more one begins to research the ways that outdoor recreation benefits local and national economies, while simultaneously encouraging community trail stewardship.
This is simply...wow !
But it still hurts a bit to see the trees falling and the walls being bombed away.
I can only imagine it is less invasive than a skiing resort...
I mean, at 1:33 they show all these exotic animals just to blow them half a minute later up - ridiciulous!
The only difference between blasting a rock face and breaking it with a rock hammer is that with the rock hammer you’ll just sit there for months or years to do it.
It basically doesn’t work on hard rock. Blasting is the only way.
www.cnn.com/style/article/ennio-morricone-death-intl-scli-style/index.html
our hiking shoes were checked each time. they thanked us for having clean shoes, I have always gave them a scrub before heading there to make our life as easy as possible getting through the biosecurity.
They checked our tent, one jsut a look at the desk, the other time they took it in back and unrolled it to give it a good look.
if they don't like how clean they are they will get fumigated/taken care of.
I would expect the same for bikes if you wanted the expense of traveling with them there.
We rented, but also had a small car so if we had brought bikes we would have needed something a bit larger too.
Yes things can still slip through, but they are pretty on top of it from what I have seen.
The man hours expended trying to "dig" in the winter would have been far better put to use with a larger crew during the more climate appropriate months.
I understand the scope of the project makes it seem like a year-round build was necessary, but I wonder if it could have been built faster, and possibly even cheaper, had they not spent so much time battling the inevitability of the elements.
In other news, I went for a ride the other day and there was a 3" diameter tree blown down across the trail. I stopped and dragged it off into the bushes, so, you know, I think I have a real taste of what these guys were dealing with.
A few people here need to put things into context. The West Coast of NZ used to have a bunch of Native logging operations and coal mining/gold mining operations the impact of this trail is negligible in comparison and is a sustainable way of bringing money into the local economy....
I think the reason you’re getting some push back from folks is most trail systems in the US are in second growth forests that have a legacy roads and trails system from the logging and mining booms. It seems like many new trails use these existing corridors or already impacted areas and often times improve these areas by decommissioning parts of the old trails and building sustainable new trails. More so, we typically wouldn’t see a new trail get blazed through the bristlecone pine forests, old growth redwoods, and other sensitive or protected areas unless it’s private land.
We're diving deeper and deeper into the climate and ecological emergency, and whilst I can appreciate the sense of pride the trail builders have in this project, I personally have a huge issue with forging a trail through the midst of a truly wild ecosystem and this being portrayed as a positive achievement.
- If every bit of kit brought in needed to be cleaned to mitigate for biosecurity threat, surely that tells you it's not a good place to bring 1000's of bikers who really don't need to be there??
- If we genuinely want to protect the natural environment, it's easy - stop destroying it!
I stopped flying 3 years ago (climate emergency), and I'd encourage others to question the logic of flying to other countries to ride bikes, at a time when there is clear scientific consensus (and has been for years) on the climate emergency. We have a very short window of time left to take action, to try to make the world somewhat livable for the next generation. Sadly most people have no idea how severe this threat truly is, or are willing to turn a blind eye and tell themselves "it's not my problem".
Yesterday the news reported that arctic wildfires are raging unchecked through the huge Siberian forests, average temps there are 10 degrees C higher due to climate change - which as we all know if largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels (again, there is no question about this - there is scientific consensus).
So... please considers riding local, and boycotting environmentally destructive trails like this!
And Pinkbike, please stop promoting international MTB tourist, it's literally killing our life support system!
Doesn't take much very to have a good time. Who'd a thought of Ohio MTB?
Thought I was doing something significant raking sticks and twigs on my local trails.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6ppUbLAjOU
Uma pergunta, os suntitilos funcionaron em Portugues? Eu pasei tudo ontem a noite cargando os.
Hope my effort will turn into some payed work at some point!
'Merica!
Uma pergunta, os subtitalos em Portugeus funcionaram? Era um trabalho grande de traduzir e cargar os
My perception has been environmental destruction is out of control, based on reports of increased destruction of the Amazon, especially under Bolsonaro - here is a link to an article in Sciencemag www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/brazil-s-deforestation-exploding-and-2020-will-be-worse.
Lets hope for more trail construction and less rainforest destruction.
And yes, our new president tend to flex the laws of devastation, i'm against it but, what can we do? He have good and bad points as we all.
I don't like polythical conversations becouse we will never get to a common point, there so many people who get offended with few and soft words, imagine disagree from them... (Actual world scenario).
But you have to understand, those people who destruct our jungle are criminals. They haven't license to do that. There are so many problems with fiscalization on this areas, most from lack of money caused by corruption from last governments, after that, areas of a very difficult access, our country is very extensive and this is a problem. This areas is a pure native and untouched jungle, bigger then belgium, germany, england and a lot of other countrys. How to get an opperation to bust this criminals in time of 1 or 2 days (satellite image delay) with a burocratical law and older than me?
So I speak of 'São Paulo' (the bigger and most populational state from brazil), here if someone see you cutting a tree, or making a trail inside an 'APP (Área de proteção permantente)'[Permanent protected area] you will get arrested becouse they will denounce you.
And even making a trail inside a 'proprietary terrain' you have to get a license from the city hall to cut trees and you have to respect a percentage, with a lot of burocratical program to 're-insert' trees on other areas to compensate those you removed.
Again: BY THE LAW, here trailbuilding is difficult, as I'm a man of rights who believe in the society, I speak: here you can't move a rock without get busted, and if you want to do it, you have to currupt yourself giving money to 'mens' who will not care about your 'stupid trail' as I listened a lot of time ago from the environment and tourism secretary.
This is a loooong talk with a lot of points of view witch will never gets to an end :/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uPZ6o_Pqls