Forest Service say 'NO' to development of permanent XC and DH MTB trails in the Mournes

July 05

Following the strategic development of off-road trails in the Mourne Mountains by CAAN (Countryside Access and Activities Network), which has taken part within the past 3 years, it has been announced by the Forestry Service (Northern Ireland) on 21st June 2005 that the Forestry Service has decided not to support any of the cross-country or downhill trails in the current strategy.

This means that Forest Service Northern Ireland is the only forestry organisation in the UK and Ireland which does not value to the same extent the health and well-being, tourism and rural development benefits which forests bring.

A letter from the CAAN Chairman, Dawson Stelfox to the Chief Executive of the Forestry Service, Malcolm Beatty has outlined reasons for the withdrawal of application for funding.

Dawson Stelfox, Chairman of CAAN, stated in a public letter to the Forestry that "It appears that no matter what evidence we can show regarding the value of the off-road cycling product to Northern Ireland, until there is a complete change in the thinking of those in Forest Service responsible for its future direction, strategic recreation projects such as this will not be given the go ahead. " Therefore all funding applications relating to X-Country and Downhill mountain biking in Northern Ireland forests will be withdrawn.

Thankfully CAAN has not given up completely. This withdrawal of application only relates to Forests on Forestry service (NI) owned land. The Republic of Ireland s Forestry Service, Coillte, who CAAN has worked with closely in an attempt to develop the UK’s largest mountain bike centre in the Mournes/Carlingford area, has now ‘gone it alone’ given Forest Service’s deliberations and is at the detailed planning the development stage of several mountain bike venues throughout the Republic of Ireland.

The main reason that Forest Service bought into the ‘Off-Road Cycling Strategy’ (2002) was to address its problem of illegal use by a rapidly growing number of mountain bikers. Forest Service has effectively turned down an opportunity to address, using sound management practices, the on-going problem of informal mountain biking at its properties across Northern Ireland .

This activity continues to take place in an illegal and often unsafe manner and that Forest Service continues to not manage this activity. Conflict between user groups is already taking place and will no doubt continue to escalate. Although sound trail design and certification by IMBA (as proposed by CAAN) will not eliminate the risk of claims, when coupled with appropriate signage and adequate information (to ensure users are aware of what they are undertaking), there is no doubt that the risk could have been dramatically reduced.

At the Public meeting which took place in Castlewellan Forest Park on Saturday 5th of March, the Forestry Service stated to members of IrishDH and other members of the mountainbike community that they where not Anti Mountain Biking. In fact,

The forestry say the CAAN proposals are based on Dafyd Davis (Coed y brenin) outline proposals and did not take into account the vastly smaller population of Northern Ireland along with the physical size of the forests which are up to 10 times smaller than Coed y brenin.

So where does that leave us? Community website based in Northern Ireland has been lobbying for the go-ahead for these trails over the past number of months. It has been suggested that mountain bikers express their concerns to senior members of the Forestry by e-mailing Malcolm Beatty or John O'Boyle. In the meantime watch this space for more information on how to help, or log on to the mtbrider.com to see what the latest plans are....