OPEN LETTER: DIRT BIKE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Greg Power From Power Adventures has written an open letter regarding issues he is having with environmental concerns around running events in Maramarua Forest.
“Dirt Bike Environmental Issues”
“This week we have had to cancel some events and postpone others. This is due to environmental concerns in Maramarua Forest that have been slowly building up over the past 20 years and finally come to a head.
The fact is, dirt bikes cause erosion! Don't try to deny it. Every vehicle that drives off road has an impact on the terrain to an greater or lesser extent depending upon: tyre choice, horsepower, suspension, rider ability, rider awareness, vehicle type, terrain type and weather conditions. All these factors contribute to the impact we have on the land we so enjoy for our recreation.
Rocky terrain is the lease susceptible to erosion however over time, rocks disperse, grooves form and water creates erosion. Sand is pretty sustainable but dunes and hills are still affected and whoops form all to easily which in turn creates perceived damage. Farmland is easily torn up with loss of pasture and damage to the grass roots. Pumice soils are particularly vulnerable as when the grass is destroyed, huge ruts are formed by water carrying the pumice away. And then there are the clay based forests that are prone to motorcycles forming long narrow ruts which over winter wash out, eventually causing deep crevices often the entire height of the hills.
The result from all this is runoff into our water ways which in turn carries silt down stream into creeks, rivers and ultimately the sea. This can damage the natural habitat affecting all sorts of flora and fauna. The evil Motorcyclists are to blame?
In reality, many many activities cause this not the least farming itself, logging, roading, animals (horses, goats, deer, rabbits) mountain bikes, 4X4 vehicles, Side X Sides,
Quads and even walkers over time and the list goes on. So we all have an effect on the environment. It is a matter of minimising the harm caused so that we can continue to enjoy our recreation.
In Maramarua, we have been using the current 100km plus trails for well over 20 years and before that on the less formed routes. In the past 10 years we have developed the trails. It's not that we have been doing anything terrible or ignoring the authorities. On the contrary, we have got resource consent from Environment Waikato, we take care in providing run offs on hills, designing tracks to avoid erosion and building bridges and culverts over swamps and creeks to avoid habitat destruction. It's just that Motorcycles cause ruts, whoops and berms. we move soil, loosen it and in heavy rain, this soil washes downhill, often stopped in catchment areas and other times drifting into the lowlands.
Whats more immediate is that because 80% of the trees have been cut down in Maramarua over the past three years and the tracks are exposed for all to see from the myriad of gravels roads intersecting the forest. This means people can now see where we are riding, can see a little bit of erosion and are concerned about the affect it is having. Not withstanding that much of the loose soil has been deposited by logging (making skid sites, bulldozers forming and using tracks to extract logs, etc) doing their legitimate consented work and now it is washing down the hills which looks as though we are causing it.
We as motorcyclists are on the bottom of the food chain. The easiest to pick off as we are a minority, we are noisy and often seen as "irresponsible" no matter what the facts are. WE have to be managed by land owners who do not get any benefit and mainly do so through good will. Many see us as destructors of the environment. Believe me there are those that perpetuate this impression by riding illegally, purposefully destroying terrain and not giving a .....
So in Maramarua, we take a proactive position by not running motorcycle events over the winter in the forest. This in itself stops track damage thus lessening erosion. This has a benefit in that the tracks stay in good condition through the winter and require less maintenance in spring ready for the summer onslaught. And the powers to be can see we are making a huge sacrifice and effort to reduce our environmental impact. We are investigating other actions to help too.
John Nicholson and I (back in the 90"s) tried in vain to curtail the use of open pattern aggressive knobbies on dirt bikes in Enduro, X Country and Trail Riding. No one listened. We were just stupid fools out of touch with the modern tyre trend. Meaty grippy dirt moving trenchers were all the go getting better and better every year. The cubic meters of dirt moved was actually increasing. Moving to close pattern tires would never work. You couldn't go places they said. It would restrict riding ability they moaned, it didn't matter they crowed, there are plenty of places to ride they all cried.
To prove a point, back in 1996, I took my Husaberg 450 to the National Enduro Final weekend at Rotoehu forest. A notoriously damp and slippery venue hosting the last two days of the national champs. On the Saturday, i rode with knobbies and clinched the NZ VETs Enduro Champs coming I think about 10th overall against all classes. On the Sunday I fitted a Trials Tyre to the rear (maximum gap of 13mm between knobs) and rode in the same course as all the other Experts. I again came out 10th overall with very minimal impact on the terrain. It was wet in places, tree roots, logs, ruts, hills, swamps and everything in between like a good enduro should be a little less traction in the bogs but better control among the tree roots and rocky bits. It proved to me and John that all the excuses came to nothing.
If everyone was on the same tyre type, it would be an even playing field and the top riders would still be the top, the lesser riders would still struggle and the terrain would be less cut up, require less maintenance, be available year after year for use and there would be less complaints from environmentalists, councils and land owners. A WIN WIN surely?
I am not advocating immediate change as I know it would be near impossible to alter the current mindset overnight. It will change though! As soon as land becomes harder to get and restrictions are enforced. In the UK (i have recently been over there) there are quite a few places that insist on Trials Tires being used and have done for nearly 20 years now. This is mainly Army land and forests. Not a problem! everyone has the same advantage/disadvantage, the terrain is less damaged and the events are held year after year.
In the Uk there are very few private land trail rides. Most trail riding is what we call Adventure Riding. Yes, partly road interspersed with paper roads and some private and public off road land. There a 5,500 members of the Trail Riders Federation who work hard to retain access and even take local councils to court to provide land use, let alone all the thousands of non members who enjoy the riding too. While Adventure Riding is fun, lets not loose our forest and farm based ride because of irresponsible land wrecking.
So if events around the country are cancelled, postponed, venues lost, new venues hard to find and organisers reluctant to put on wet weather events, don't complain, winge or even make comment. Start thinking about what you can do to make riding motorcycles sustainable. It is your riding future.”
Cheers and happy riding
Greg Power