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Mountain Biking - Revisited |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 25 September 2002 |
The battle over mountain biking in Houston and in Memorial Park has waged on for over eight years now. As the president of the Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association (GHORBA), I have been part of this ceaseless effort for the past three years and have learned much about the workings of the Houston political and planning structure. I have spent countless hours in meetings, writing emails, and calling officials in the Parks and Recreation Dept. to promote a dialogue between the riders and the city in hopes of finding a middle ground for us all. This effort has proven to be a huge run-around process and quite fruitless.
Read on for full editorial by By Chris Case, GHORBA President
It's been said for years and is quite evident that the trails at Memorial Park were built without benefit of the knowledge of erosion control techniques. This is not a new concept; most of the trails across the nation were built incorrectly. The difference between those trails and the ones at Memorial Park is that the land managers at most other locations recognize the problem and fix the trails. The Houston Parks Dept. does not have the budget or the personnel to maintain the trails at Memorial Park; it never has or will. GHORBA is fixing the trails at Huntsville State Park in cooperation with and under the supervision of the TX Parks and Wildlife Department. Multiple trail reroutes have be completed, including installation of the new trail bed appropriate to the surrounding topography, creating the trail to shed water into the surrounding area rather than down the trail, and to revegetate the old trail bed. GHORBA has volunteered to do this same thing at Memorial Park for years and been denied outright at every attempt. It has only been in the last few months that GHORBA received assistance from the Parks Dept. in the way of allowing regularly scheduled work parties once per month, use of wheel barrows, and donation of soil for natural water diversions. But true to Houston, rain has dampened our efforts to complete much of the soil work over the last few months, and there is a large amount of work that needs to be completed.
People will say that the mountain biking community is incapable of governing itself and preventing building of illegal trails. To some degree that may be true. But consider that the mountain biking community has over 20,000 active riders who utilize the grand total of nine (9) legitimate miles of trail in Harris County ? these trail exist in Memorial Park. Every other single-track trail, meaning not paved or improved surface, suitable to mountain biking is located over an hour's drive in non-rush hour conditions from downtown. For a significant many, mountain biking is a lifestyle just like running, not just a weekend forage to a state park once or twice a year. An hour and a half drive one way every day after work is just not practical and won't be done by most.
GHORBA has been working with Harris County Flood Control and other land managers to create new venues to ride. The would-have-been Olympic mountain bike park or The Hill at Simms Bayou is still a viable project, but it won't even be ridable for another four to six years if construction and vegetation schedules proceed as planned. GHORBA has also spent over two years trying to negotiate an east-west connection trail at Memorial Park and received nothing for its efforts but empty agreements with the Parks and Recreation Dept and the Memorial Park Conservancy. Any other prospects GHORBA has for new trails are in very beginning stages of planning and will not be ridable for a minimum of two to four years. And that is only if the projects are allowed to proceed since GHORBA has received threats of reprisal if the Memorial Park situation is not accepted. To get to the point: Mountain bike riders have NOWHERE else to ride in this city but Memorial Park, and illegal trail building is the main symptom of this lack of access.
What I've learned most importantly over these last three years is the old adage of "He who has the gold makes the rules". If your group has enough money to pay for the study, the consultants will write and reflect your wishes; this is quite clear now. Almost two thirds of the wooded area on the south side of the Memorial Park has now been deemed "sensitive", a designated area that the Conservancy and the Houston Parks Board considers unacceptable for any activity to occupy. Consider this: 1) The Army Corps of Engineers allows many types of activities to occur in wetland and headwaters with the correct permits and proper construction. 2) State and national parks/forests all over the country have trails throughout sensitive areas, and entry is done with elevated bridges or protections making the area accessible to hikers, equestrians, and cyclists alike. 3) The Memorial Park Master has chosen to ban activities rather than look at sustainable options. 4) The Master Plan is prescribing erosion control devices to be installed AFTER all of the users are banned rather than looking at installing them for the users and the environment. The existence of the trails in Memorial Park does not have to be in conflict with nature, but the powers that be see it no other way.
Yes, I've learned a lot over the last three years. I've learned this town has a long way to go in creating a city that's livable for many of its active inhabitants. Issues like the one surrounding Memorial Park only prove we have a much further way to go than most think.
Christina Case
GHORBA President |
