Mountain bikers impact on their environment less or the same as horses or other off-road vehicles according to a U.S. study presented by Shimano America at Interbike in Las Vegas.
Shimano partnered the Arizona State Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Managent (BLM), Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University in an effort to understand the ecological impacts of MTB trail riding.
“The future health of our business is directly related to environmentally sustainable recreational uses of public lands. When we discovered that limited research had been conducted about the ecological impacts of mountain bikes, we felt it was critical to initiate a credible effort to learn more,” said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs at Shimano.
The study focused on the physical impacts and their ecoliogical significance of mountain bikes across five common ecological regions in the west of the U.S. covering 31 different trails extending over 185 miles from alpine to desert.
Shimano and the BLM will work with IMBA to share the published study with land managers and policy makers. www.shimano.com