Trail News
Manly Dam Saga
Many will have heard about the temporary closure of the singletrack at Sydney’s Manly Dam trail. This is one of the few legal singletrack MTB rides within the Sydney area and incredibly popular as a result. At the time, gossip and rumour were rife as to the reasons behind the shut down, so we thought we’d provide the real story behind this unfortunate incident—thanks to Marcel van Schie and John Hawkins for the information. On the 12th of February a late afternoon press release was issued by Warringah Council announcing the temporary closure of most of the singletrack on the Manly Dam trail loop. The reason cited in the press release was that Council had discovered that mountain biking was not technically approved for the singletrack sections in the Manly Dam Memorial Reserve’s Plan of Management, and therefore council deemed it had a liability exposure on its hands.
The press release came out by way of e-mail with the closure taking effect the same day. The shocked but well organized MTB community unleashed an organised torrent of letters and e-mails to council staff, elected Councilors, the local state member and the media. The Manly Dam Circuit Trail has been officially open to mountain biking since 1998. In this time there has been a large amount of club and community input into its maintenance via a volunteer arrangement with the local ranger.
Recently, the ranger who so enthusiastically coordinated these volunteer days moved to a different position and the trail, for the last few years, has been maintained by council staff alone. Parts of this maintenance work had drawn criticism from riders who considered some of it unsuitable.
With this as background, Warringah Councilors Virginia Laugesen and Christina Kirsch brought a ‘Notice of Motion’ to Council to reinstate mountain bike volunteer days. When Council staff started preparing a briefing in response, they discovered the requirement in the old Plan of Management document for ‘official designation’ in order to open the singletrack to mountain bikes. They took the view this step had not been properly completed, creating a liability risk for Council, despite the MTB trail being publicised by the Council itself for many years. Intense lobbying combined with mountain biker and local community action gave rise to two front page articles in the local paper and some media coverage further afield. Even the Mayor discussed the issue in his weekly ‘Warringah Update’ column.
After two weeks wait, an extraordinary Council meeting was called to tidy up matters from the previous meeting. The supporting Councilors moved the trail closure to the first item in the agenda and voted to reopen the trails. Unfortunately they could not manage to open the trail as a shared trail – the previous situation – due to Council staff’s liability concerns over potential collisions between bikers and walkers. Other Councilors moved and passed an amendment so the trails are now temporarily closed to walkers. This was a disappointing outcome to the MTB community, and one that we are hoping to overturn through education of Council staff. The fact that only one incident – a near miss – has been recorded since 1998 gives us confidence this is achievable.
The upside is that Council was sent a message and now clearly understands that mountain bikers are a sizable community group with significant political support. Having part of the reserve closed to walkers should provide an impetus for Warringah Council to maintain trails to a sustainable dual use standard. Hopefully they will also explore further opportunities for mountain biking in Council’s other managed lands with a view to taking the pressure off the Manly Dam Reserve. Mountain bikers of Northern Sydney are hopeful that this saga will prove to be a watershed for local mountain bike trail advocacy. Good starts have been made in developing closer ties between local riders, clubs, and community groups, IMBA Australia, local Councils and National Parks. We are confident this will lead to the establishment of a larger and more sustainable MTB trail network in Warringah and beyond.
Oberon gets Active
The town of Oberon, situated high up on the Central Tablelands of NSW, is now actively promoting cycling in their region. This includes some great mountain biking opportunities within the nearby Kanangra-Boyd National Park. Two mountain biking brochures have been produced by the Oberon Plateau Tourism Association and National Parks. These highlight around three trail loops located high up on the plateau – around 1,330m at the high point and 1,100m at the lowest – taking in local features such as Morong Falls, with the spectacular Kanangra Walls not too far away. This area is only 2-3 hours west of Sydney, just on the western side of the Blue Mountains. The riding is all on fire roads and infrequently used management tracks, but it is nice to see the National Parks and Wildlife Service supporting mountain biking in a proactive manner.
The brochures include topographic maps, directions and advice on the rides; all you need to hit the trails really. They are available for $1.50 from the Oberon Visitors Centre (02) 6329 8210 and by contacting the local National Parks branch (02) 6336 1972.
Mount Annan Trails
Mount Annan Botanic Garden, near Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west, is hoping to develop 14km of single and double-track, with the aim of attracting XC/enduro style mountain bikers. A trail designer has been consulted and the plans are laid out for the trails to become reality.
At this early stage, they aim to create three loops to suit varied skill sets; from beginners to intermediate and experienced. As this is a botanic garden, conservation is their main goal. It is hoped that the trails will offer mountain bikers a greater appreciation of the area, and the trails will feature rest areas with information about the significant plants and animals within the garden.
Work is set to begin on two of the loops in mid-2010. It will coincide with Integral Energy working in the area to install powerlines and eradicate growths of African Olive weed. Once the singletrack network is in place, it is hoped that mountain bikers will support the maintenance and revegetation of the surrounding critically endangered Cumberland Plain Ecological Community. As well as casual MTB riding, Mount Annan also wants to provide a venue for enduro events in the area, and there’s certainly enough undulations on their land to make an interesting course. The site looks ideal, as there are also facilities including water, toilets and car parking, all in a convenient urban location. We certainly hope that it is a successful venture for them.
IMBA News
Our national mountain bike trail advocacy group, IMBA Australia has been up and running for less than 12 months but they have already been invaluable to the broader MTB community. Amongst the most recent developments, they have arranged for Joey Klein, a key spokesperson for the International Mountain Bike Association, to visit Australia. Joey is a long-time trail builder and campaigner with truly global experience in the development of sustainable mountain bike trails.
He will conduct a series of workshops around the country in April 2010 with the following locations already confirmed; Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Margaret River and Sydney. The goal is to develop closer relationships with state agencies and key land managers by providing a better understanding of mountain biking and an insight into the most effective and sustainable methods for managing MTB use in parks and reserves. It is hoped that Joey’s visit will keep the ball rolling in areas where we are finally seeing some progress towards legitimate trail developments. Beyond this, IMBA Australia is also travelling to WA to assist the Cape Mountain Bikers in Dunsborough and the Shire of Busselton.
They are conducting a review of existing trails in Meelup Regional Park with a view towards developing a ‘Trails Master Plan’, whereby new trail proposals and trail closures will be put forward for community comment. The partnership between the local riders and the Shire Council is an excellent example of how trail development can proceed in both regional and urban areas. To see more of what IMBA Australia has been up to visit: www.imba-au.com.
Mackay MTB Rival
With the formation of a new club, Mackay and District Mountain Bike Club (MAD MTB for short), the Mackay MTB community is working hard to attract new members and establish a new home for their club events. They have a conditional agreement to use the grounds at Rowallan Park, just 6km north of the city. The construction of a purpose built enduro track is currently underway and they are aiming to have it up and running by mid-2010. With help from Pip Paki Paki, a club friend and excavator driver with trail building skills honed in New Zealand, they hope to create one of the best endurance tracks in Queensland with nice fast flowing trails. Rowallan Park is home to the Scouts and already has established camping grounds with toilets, showers and even a mess hall, so the club has ambitions of putting Mackay back on the enduro event calendar, as well as establishing it as a general MTB destination. Check with their website for more information on the trails and club events; www. madmtbc.net
Located near Merimbula on the South Coast of NSW, Manna Park is a property that offers a range of affordable accommodation options, and they also have a network of singletracks that are open for anyone to ride—they only ask that you check in at the hostel before riding for safety reasons.
They have recently added a new 1km short course and have also been working on their 6.5km cross country loop, adding new lines and re-aligning sections of trail to improve the flow. Their XC loop can also be linked to a further 10km of tracks at the adjoining Mandeni property. Manna Park has been actively promoting XC and enduro events on their trails, so keep an eye on their website if you want to take part and check out their fun range of trails; www.manna park.com.au.
