A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

25 July 2016

Bill to allow bicycles in the Bob is political mischief

At the Flathead Beacon, Dillon Tabish reports that Utah’s Republican senators, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, have introduced S.B. 3205, the Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Act, which would legalize the use of bicycles in the Bob Marshall and other designated wildernesses.

Tabish reports Sen. Jon Tester opposes the bill, but that neither Sen. Steve Daines nor Rep. Ryan Zinke has announced a position on the bill.

This political mischief is being pushed by thrill seekers and the people who manufacture and sell mountain bicycles (disclosure: I ride a mountain bicycle, but never in the mountains, forests, or cross-country). Behind them are others who hope to open designated wilderness to motorized transportation, and ultimately, to repeal the Wilderness Act and open the Bob and all public lands to natural resource extraction and commercial development such as luxury resorts for the one percent.

S.B. 3205 has little chance of passing, but it can’t be ignored. Thus, it diverts money and manpower from existing and future conservation campaigns.