On January 29, 2025, WyoFile published this story for the first time.
As more individuals discover that pedal-assisted riding makes riding an electric bike easier for leisure rides, work commutes, and even mountain bike excursions, the popularity of electric bikes is rising. However, given their greater strength and allure for novice riders, should they be permitted on some national forest trails alongside hikers, dog walkers, and other mountain bikers?
With a long-planned project that might permit e-bikes on Teton Pass area routes and extend their season on others, Bridger-Teton National Forest officials are thinking about answering that issue.
The government would allow class one electric bikes on 27.5 miles of national forest trails surrounding the pass as part of the initial project scoping proposal. Bicycles in that class have no throttle but a motor that helps riders pedal up to 20 miles per hour. Models such as mountain bikes, low-end commuters, and city cycles are typically included in class one.
In addition to extending the season for e-bike riding on trails close to Munger Mountain and Horsetail Creek, the U.S. Forest Service plan considers a permission system that employs stickers available at bike stores to identify the type of e-bike.
This month, the National Forest released the draft environmental analysis for the project, E-bike Use Designation on Select Jackson Area Trails, after a scoping phase that included public meetings and feedback gathering. Two options, or alternatives, are included in that analysis in addition to the initial one. One would do nothing, while the third would concentrate e-bikes on locations that are already regulated for motorized usage and upgrade those paths specifically for e-bikes. In order to address public concern, the third alternative was created in response to previous remarks.
The agency is currently seeking public feedback on the draft study and its options. On Thursday, there will be an open house in Jackson where people may learn more about the initiative.
Sales of bicycles, especially e-bikes, increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to market research firm NPD Group, sales of e-bikes increased 145% in 2020 compared to 2019, surpassing the 65% increase in sales of all bikes.
Conflicts and management issues also arose as electric bikes gained popularity. Concerns about the effects on wildlife, other trail users’ safety, and trail degradation arose from the abrupt increase in the number of strong bikes on roads and trails, frequently driven by relative newbies.
According to the draft environmental assessment, Bridger-Teton National Forest staff feel that the time is right to address the issue of e-bike use in the Jackson region, which is growing rapidly.
In the fall of 2023, staff started the project with what is called scoping. The agency gathered hundreds of comments after presenting a plan to extend the seasons in other locations and let e-bikes on new paths.
Concerns around safety, trail damage, wildlife impacts, the possibility of battery-started fires, and a shortage of forest service personnel to police permits and appropriate trail use were among the themes that surfaced from those responses. However, a lot of individuals also emphasized the proposal’s advantages, which include promoting healthy activities, enhancing tourism, and providing an entry point for more people to engage in outdoor recreation.
The diverse range of opinions is demonstrated by this sampling of comments:
These bikes may move quite fast and are deadly.
These trails can easily accommodate any increase in user traffic because they are underutilized.
E-bikes have made it possible for me to continue riding on our public areas as an elderly mountain biker.
It will spread over the woods as it begins to become accepted. That is my main worry for the future.
Most e-bikers are inexperienced riders who have no idea how their speed completely contradicts that of other cyclists.
The first option in the draft environmental assessment, which was created in response to public feedback, would concentrate on motorized trail areas that are currently accessible to all three e-bike classes. In order to satisfy the increasing demand for e-bikes, the Forest Service would develop and enhance these places under this alternative.
These locations are close to Jackson and include Swinging Bridge, Mosquito Creek, and Shadow Mountain. In order to improve rideability and experience for e-bikers, the work would involve building new trails especially for e-bike use, rerouting existing motorized trails, converting closed roads or non-system trails into Forest Service trails, and easing seasonal restrictions to extend the e-bike season in some locations.
That option would limit management of the whole Cache-Game trail system to non-motorized usage, including trails in the Teton Pass area.
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Staff members will be available to answer questions regarding the proposed action, alternatives, and the future timeline during an open house at the Jackson Ranger District Office on Thursday from 5-7 p.m.
Comments on the draft environmental assessment can be submitted online using this form or in writing to the Jackson Ranger District Office, located on North Cache Street in Jackson. Through February 24th, they will be accepted.
According to the EPA, the final environmental evaluation and draft decision will be made public later this spring with input from this round of comments.
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