Riders say they're being locked out of the Pigeon River Coun

[flipteez]

Spam - are the meeting you refer to the Pigeon River Country Advisory Council meetings? Or are there other group's regular meetings relative to our interests?

[SPAMINATOR]

No, neither. The meetings I am referring to were the two meetings held in March with the DNR, Pigeon River Advisory Council, MMBA. MHC and other invited parties and the public. We were referred to as the Pigeon River Country Recreation Work Group.

"This diverse group consists of a variety of individuals representing different concerns and viewpoint regarding equestian and mountain bike use in the Pigeon River Country."

We met for two separate meetings and conducted phone calls and emails in between to further the information exchange. I had discussed our (MMBA) stance on this issue with Jason and Marne, who also attended, and presented our position to the meeting attendees. Our position of stewardship, environmentalism and low impact was very well received.

During the meetings there was disagreement among members of the DNR itself regarding the bike access on certain plots of land, Green Timbers being one of them. As soon as my dust settles from my nursing school graduation, I will contact Mindy Koch, Resource Management Deputy and seek clarification.

I know that the majority, vast majority in fact, of the two tracks are still open to biking. Green Timbers was the only trail area is question. The MMBA stance on this part was ambiguous because it is a very short two track trail and not ridden by most people we contacted prior to the work group meetings.

I hope this helps clear up the "lost access" questions that keep arising.

Thank you.

[skiracer]

A new Pigeon River Country Recreational Trails map is now available. The new map highlights trails which are open to cyclists and equestrians in the Pigeon River Country (PRC) as regulated by the recently adopted Concept of Management. For more information about the Concept of Management and how it affects the PRC, please read the following post: DNR Director Signs Land Use Order to Regulate Pigeon River Country State Forest.

There have been a few questions as to what trails cyclists have access too in the PRC. Places such as Green Timbers, Blue Lakes and the Midland to Mackinac Trail are now closed. Everything that is open to cyclists is shown on the new map. This includes the Hiking - Biking Trails, County Roads and Open Forest Roads. If it's not shown on the map, it's closed to cycling. Note, the only trail shown on the map that cyclists aren't allowed to ride is the North Spur of the Shore to Shore Trail, which also happens to be the Midland to Mackinac Trail. The reason for this is because the Shore to Shore Trail is open for equestrian use and the two trails share the same tread as they pass through the PRC.

The new maps are available at the PRC Headquarters or you can download a pdf version here.

[flipteez]

If I'm correct then, prior to the new Concept we had access to any tails and now we are limited to only those trails designated specifically for biking. This is how I also read the new map.

We have lost access and that was the reason for my original post. If the horsers are going to try and gain access through political pressure (as it appears they are from the Herald Times article linked to in the original post) I believe that we should fight to regain prior access.

I have no particular affection for horses, but believe that our community should also raise a cry to our elected officials that the new Concept was conceived without a thorough hearing from all user groups and that the DNR should re-look at its closures.

[SPAMINATOR]

Thanks for picking up the slack on this one Jamie. I have just been slammed since school got out with all the stuff I am unable to do while in school.

Flipteeze, I understand your concerns and desire to move forward. You live in a free society and are enocuraged to state your case. The MMBA had sought involvement many months ago regarding this specific issue and still believe that we have retained most of what we would have lost - Riding in the entire Pigeon River Forest was initially prohibited. Through negotiations and the meetings, we were able to retain our right to ride bicycles on the primary trails along with several miles of forest roads and two tracks.

Because of previous issues with equestrians along with the positive results of our meetings and current relationship with the DNR in the Pigeon River Forest I will not become officially involved from an MMBA perspective nor from a personal perspective. I hope you understand the position we, the MMBA have taken on this. I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of "political pressure" on the DNR.

[Washington Rider]

I thought I would bump this back to the top as it pretty much marks the beginning of our current woes.

Here is a fun fact that will make you consider glue factories as your new bff.

MMBA maintains 300 miles of bike trails in the entire state of Michigan.

Equestrians have 350 miles available to them in Pigeon River alone. What did they lose in Pigeon River? As Glen notes early on, they lost the right to go off of the trail any where they want and they also lost the ability to camp anywhere they want.

If only we had known then where events would take us, maybe we could have prepared better. Or not...

[Di_bear]

They have 350 miles of actual trail? Or road?

[Critter7r]

"MMBA maintains 300 miles of trails in the entire state of Michigan"? I haven't looked it up, but between Highland, Island Lake, Holdridge and Pontiac, there are nearly one-hundred miles of trails. Surely there isn't a third of all the trail miles in the whole state wrapped up in just four out of the dozens of trails maintained by the MMBA.

[utabintarbo]

"MMBA maintains 300 miles of trails in the entire state of Michigan"? I haven't looked it up, but between Highland, Island Lake, Holdridge and Pontiac, there are nearly one-hundred miles of trails. Surely there isn't a third of all the trail miles in the whole state wrapped up in just four out of the dozens of trails maintained by the MMBA.

There are quite a few 4-5 mile trails. For instance River Bends and Clinton River Park. Also, there are likely quite a few trails that have lots of miles of trails, but not all maintained by the MMBA/local chapters. Stony Creek comes to mind here - it has 20-ish miles of "trail", but most is 2-track maintained by the park, and like 5-ish is maintained by the MMBA. This makes that number at least somewhat credible.

[Nelg]

"MMBA maintains 300 miles of trails in the entire state of Michigan"? I haven't looked it up, but between Highland, Island Lake, Holdridge and Pontiac, there are nearly one-hundred miles of trails. Surely there isn't a third of all the trail miles in the whole state wrapped up in just four out of the dozens of trails maintained by the MMBA.

There are quite a few 4-5 mile trails. For instance River Bends and Clinton River Park. Also, there are likely quite a few trails that have lots of miles of trails, but not all maintained by the MMBA/local chapters. Stony Creek comes to mind here - it has 20-ish miles of "trail", but most is 2-track maintained by the park, and like 5-ish is maintained by the MMBA. This makes that number at least somewhat credible.

I think the number is just out of date, lots of trails have been built or taken over. Northern/Northeast alone is over 150 miles worth of singletrack.

[utabintarbo]

Also a credible explanation.

[Di_bear]

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to have all the chapters report how many miles they, as IMBA chapters, maintain. Since Munising and the Keweenaw also have IMBA clubs, it would be worthwhile to get their numbers to include in an IMBA count. The Keweenaw alone would probably add 75 to 100 miles. I think the Anna River Pedalers in Munising maintain quite a bit of trail.

[Loren]

mcmba officially maintains 81 miles of singletrack.

[Di_bear]

mcmba officially maintains 81 miles of singletrack.

Wow. I think that proves that we're well over 300.