A 12-mile bicycling trail proposed for the Tracy Ridge Natural Recreation Area on the Allegheny National Forest continues to meet with opposition.
Many in the area, including bicycling groups, maintain that bike access to the trail would increase recreational opportunity in the area. However, Friends of Allegheny Wilderness (FAW), a citizen’s advocacy group based in Warren, asserts the addition of bikes would hinder efforts seeking congressional wilderness designation of Tracy Ridge.
“They want permanent protection, and I can understand why why this is important to them,” said ANF Bradford District Ranger Rich Hatfield. “This one strikes a nerve, there’s definitely no doubt about it.”
Tracy Ridge, comprising 9,700 acres of pristine forest located along the eastern shore of the Allegheny Reservoir in Warren and McKean counties, is by far the largest roadless area on the Allegheny National Forest. And, it has been closed for last 20 years to mountain bikes.
It also contains a nine-mile segment of the North Country National Scenic Trail, according to Kirk Johnson, executive director of FAW.
“The North Country National Scenic Trail is a nationally-recognized hiking-only trail on which mountain biking is not permitted,” he said. “Once mountain biking is permanently established in this area, designating Tracy Ridge as wilderness would become that much more difficult as mountain biking is — correctly — not allowed in wilderness.”
Hatfield said he gets where Johnson is coming from, that the bicycling groups behind the proposal could “make things more difficult for wilderness designation.”
“But,” he continued, “Congress makes the decision, and I don’t think it makes much difference to them if mountain bikers are there.”
He related a recent instance in Idaho in which a very large swath of land was designated wilderness — “the bikes had been allowed in there, and after the designation, now they’re out.”
A 30-day comment period regarding the proposal is underway, and comments may be submitted to the Forest Service through Aug. 13.
FAW is encouraging people to submit comments “respectfully” urging against the proposal.
Hatfield says of the comments, “It’s all good input, but it’s not a vote.”
“We’ve certainly heard from folks that don’t like the proposal,” he said. “There’s a citizen’s group (FAW) that has proposed this area for wilderness, but that doesn’t mean too much to us. We don’t manage the land according to an advocacy groups’ recommendations.”
During the first 22 days of the comment period, Hatfield said hundreds of comments have come in — but he estimates 80 percent of those are in favor of the idea.
“Some cite that bringing in another use group would help increase the potential for more trail maintenance, these (bicycle) groups are more apt to help with that,” Hatfield said. “Others cite the economic benefits of mountain biking, and it would enhance the recreation portfolio from the area.”
Meanwhile, Johnson emphasizes that FAW supports the use of bicycles elsewhere on the forest, but maintains how “special” Tracy Ridge is to many in the area — not just the citizens’ group FAW.
“Friends of Allegheny Wilderness is of course not opposed to mountain biking in general in the Allegheny National Forest,” Johnson said. “Over the years, FAW, The Wilderness Society and others have made concessions to and agreements with mountain biking groups such as the Northern Allegheny Mountain Biking Association and the North American Mountain Biking Association.
“For example, we have for the time being stopped advocating wilderness designation for the Morrison Run area because the Morrison trail is now used and maintained for mountain biking,” he related. “We have adjusted our proposed addition to the Hickory Creek Wilderness and proposed Allegheny Front Wilderness to accommodate mountain biking on the Tanbark Trail in those areas. We also publicly support the Jake’s Rocks epic mountain biking trail that is not far from coming to fruition.”
Hatfield says the Morrison Trail is highly technical and would appeal to a fairly narrow range of users, and the Tanbark is a good experience favored by some of the local users and bicycling clubs. “It’s relatively short — five or so miles one-way and has a number of sections that are unrideable for most users,” he explained.
“I think (opponents of the proposal) think there are plenty of places for mountain bikers to go on ANF, that Jake’s Rocks covers what the bikers looking for, but Tracy Ridge is a unique area, it would be good for beginners and the campground doesn’t get a lot of use,” Hatfield told The Era. “It fits in nice with what’s happening at Jake’s Rocks — close to 10 miles of trails will open Aug. 13, and Tracy Ridge is a nice complement.”
Instead, Hatfield maintains there are other places on the ANF for hikers to get the “remote recreation experience” if the proposal goes through.
“Those who want remote recreation experience feel that having bikes on those trails will detract from that experience, and that’s subjective. However, there are other places to have that experience on the ANF.
“There are 150 miles of hiking-only trails, I guess I don’t see how 12 ½ miles of shared use…they will still have 138 miles left,” Hatfield continued. “There are those that feel that having bikes on those trails will detract from that experience, but that’s subjective.”
In 1973, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club was the first to propose Tracy Ridge for wilderness designation, which would confer the highest level of protection for the land.
As a Natural Recreation Area, Tracy Ridge already enjoys quite a few protections, including the prohibition of logging and other industrial activities and development.
But, Hatfield admits, such “certainly doesn’t rise to the level of protection that wilderness would provide.”
In 2003, FAW proposed the same, and the group has been working ever since to bring awareness to the pristine and natural conditions of that portion of the forest to help realize the goal. “Tracy Ridge is an area that should have been designated (wilderness),” Johnson maintains.
In 2007, the Forest Service revised the Forest Plan, and Tracy Ridge was purposely left out of a Wilderness Study Area designation to allow for recreation uses and enhancements, according to Hatfield.
In the 1990s, the Tracy Ridge Trail System was expanded and existing trails were overhauled. When this expansion occurred, mountain bikes were prohibited from the trails, according to Hatfield, who noted the reasons given for the prohibition were “user conflicts and erosion.”
He believes the bicycle trail system would be purposely built to minimize erosion.
“I certainly think there is enough rationale to revisit that decision, I saw enough that was worth moving the proposal forward,” Hatfield said. “From my perspective, recreation has really changed in the last 20 years. We know a lot more about mountain bikes than we knew in the 1990s.”
One of the reasons he believes bicycling was prohibited from Tracy Ridge in the 90s was because mountain bikers weren’t organized here — but now they are, and Hatfield is listening.
“I was interested to hear their proposal,” he said.
Hatfield added that he, personally, has always enjoyed recreating in wilderness. “I live 25 minutes from the Hickory Creek Wilderness and recreate their regularly.”
Hatfield said the area of Minister Creek and Chestnut Ridge are considered wilderness study areas, and after additional study, “at some point down the line, we will forward that to Congress.”
He noted Minister Creek once had bikes on the trails, but their access was revoked when the area became a wilderness study area.
Once all the comments are in and scoping for the project comes to a conclusion, Hatfield and ANF personnel will sort through input looking for issues that need to be analyzed as well as alternative ways to meet their objectives. Then they will put together an environmental assessment and another 30-comment period will commence. Finally a decision will be issued.
“The assessment will take some time to put together. What was done in the 90s was a very cursory look, this will be much more robust,” Hatfield said, adding he doesn’t believe a decision will come much before the end of the year.
