Bike trails are sticking point in plan for park

How many miles of mountain biking trails are enough?

That's one question facing the Forest Ridge Park master planning committee as it resumes meeting Wednesday.

The mountain biking masses spoke the loudest at the public meeting for the park's draft master plan on March 2, hoping to get as many as 20 miles of trails at the 586-acre peninsula at Falls Lake. The current plan includes eight miles of mountain biking trails.

Trails of any kind can have a negative effect on the environment and wildlife, said Anna Huckabee Smith, a member of the 15-member park planning committee.

Smith said she hopes there will be some areas at the park that will be free of trails of any kind because hikers and bikers both cause erosion, damage vegetation and scare off wildlife.

"It's human presence on the landscape," said Smith. "We're seen as predators and they avoid us."

Smith, a wildlife biologist for the state Wildlife Resources Commission, was appointed to the committee by the city.

While the city would take over the lease on the property if the park is developed, the land is currently owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and managed by the state Wildlife Resources Commission. Both agencies could refuse to approve the plans if there's too much development.

Park advocate Sig Hutchinson, president of the North Raleigh Mountain Biking Association, debated the effect trails have.

The Beaverdam area of Falls Lake State Recreation Area, which also fronts Falls Lake, has about 13 miles of mountain biking trails and there's been little damage to the trails, said Hutchinson.

He admits that trails can cause erosion if they aren't managed properly -- namely if cyclists ride the trails when the ground is wet.

At Beaverdam, the trails are closed when the ground is wet.

Park officials at Beaverdam said that only on a few occasions have people broken the rules and ridden when it's wet since trails were added to the park in 2001.

Gates block off the trail heads and the parking lots when the park shuts down the trails.

"It works out fine when the trails are properly managed," said Hutchinson.

The New Light trails, down the road from Beaverdam and not far from Forest Ridge, are on N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission land and are managed for wildlife, hunting and timber.

There, mountain bikers agreed to formalize trails to stem complaints about riding in unauthorized areas and disturbing wildlife. Bikers are allowed on the New Light trails only on Sundays during the hunting season, from September to May. There are no gates to close the trails when it's too wet and there are signs of erosion.

At that property the worst cases of erosion are the result of logging operations, said Hutchinson.

"Just look around," he said, standing inside the dried tire tracks of a large vehicle. Hutchinson compared the size of a single track trail (18 inches) to the width of the logging trails (10 feet, at a minimum). "Here's the erosion."

Regarding wildlife, Hutchinson said, animals easily get used to hikers and bikers on trails, but less so for logging and hunting.

Hutchinson said much of the land surrounding the lake is already protected from development. "Plus, this is going to be a park for humans, not a wildlife sanctuary."

Smith, though, said she wasn't asking for a sanctuary. But just as the bikers want some space to ride, she said wildlife should have a place to go where they wouldn't be forced to interact with humans.

"We're trying to avoid user conflicts," said Smith. "We need to protect the needs of the wildlife and the habitats they use. Everybody has to be willing to bend."