Introduction:
Since mountain biking hit Britain in the late 1980’s, Mountain Bikers have been building their own “wild trails” throughout the country. Many of these sites formed cornerstones of the sport’s development, and some have been made official. Others have been ignored and returned to nature. Many more have come and gone with generations of riders playing games of cat-and-mouse with landowners and authorities.
The COVID lockdowns and closures of official Trail Centres created a turning point in how people appreciated their local trails. Over the winters of 2019/20 and 2020/21 I surveyed over 100k of Wild Trails in Mid and North Wales. While mapping, I spoke with as many riders and builders as possible, and found strong local communities keen to engage with the land owner to preserve and protect their spots.
My previous white paper “Wild Trail In Wales” introduced the Land Owners to the Mountain Bikers, explaining why the sport needs and values this unofficial resource.
This paper aims to help riders understand the needs and concerns of woodland managers. It outlines the approach we are trialing at pilot sites and gives pointers to how to organise you local group.
Why the landowner wants to work with you:
Not many years ago, landowners could legitimately say they didn’t know what was happening in their woods, and many blind eyes were turned. Thanks to exercise apps and social media, this is no longer the case. All land owners have a duty-of-care to those on their land. This does not mean removing all hazards, but identifying and controlling the risks. NRW are taking a strong stance on the rights of third parties to use their forests safely. This does not mean that hard trails are banned, but it does mean the trails must not place any innocent bystander at risk. Put simply - If you build a hard but remote trail, and crash, that’s your fault. If you build a jump across a busy footpath and hit a pensioner walking their dog, the landowner is responsible.
The landowner is also responsible for the safety of the public when trees reach maturity and need to be harvested. By knowing who is riding where, they can start talking with the riding community and communicate closures to keep riders safe during harvesting work. If the relationship between riders and foresters is good, riders should be able to negotiate either the preservation or rebuilding of the trail after work has ended. Remember - For a forest manager to authorise any work on a trail, the trail must officially exist. If you choose not to work in partnership with the land manager when offered the chance, any petition following felling will be a petty and potentially futile exercise.
Getting Started
Before approaching the landowner, you will need to do some homework.
Who’s your crew?
When we think of trail builders, the MTB media tell us to picture men in their 20’s, wearing a checked shirt, beavering away with a mattocks and chainsaws. As always, there is a stereotype, but the mountain bike community is a broad church. In our local woods, trail builders include rad young lads creating steep technical lines, ladies’ groups pruning back old pathways to link favourite tracks and middle-aged men carefully planning a more enjoyable route to the pub. This is probably similar in your area, but given we all tend to ride within our own circle, you may not have met the others beavering away on your patch.
If the patch you’re working on is currently un-sanctioned, you will be strongest working together. Each time you’re out riding and you see a group doing it slightly differently, stop and chat. The more your MTB community can pull together and present a united face, the better. The point of the chat is “if we want to keep these tracks, we need to work together”. For now just float the idea and get people talking.
Who’s your community? Are they ready get to get involved?
Finding the Land Owner:
Now that you’re aware of the range of users and trails in your local area, it’s time to work out who owns the land. If you live in Wales and are building in Natural Resources Wales estate, you can find the boundaries on Ordnance Survey 1:25k maps. If your trails are within NRW land, this is excellent as you can identify the local Area Manager and start a conversation when ready. Do NOT contact them at this stage, there is more work to do first.
If your trails are on private land, you will need to find the landowner. This may be the local gent in his Range Rover, or a far-away investor. The two best sources of these contact are the local pub and the local farmer’s supplier. Either way, do not charge in with maps demanding information, but frequent the establishment and purchase their wares on several occasions before asking the proprietor for help. If this goes well, you will leave with contact details and a good insight into the person you need to speak with.
Uniting the Riders:
If you’ve got this far, you should now understand who owns the land you’re building on, and where your trails lie with regard to potential issues. You should also have an idea in your head as to which trails you are willing to invest time and energy in.
Now is the time to gather together the riders in your community, explain the situation and encourage others to join your quest. Call a meeting, plan a ride, whatever works for you. Get together and present the facts: Your trails are currently no legal and have no protection. In order to keep them, it’s time to work together and get the landowner on board.
While there will be many people wanting to turn up and dig, you will need a small group of committed souls to form a legal entity (charity, community company, club - it doesn’t matter) with a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. These people will exist behind the scenes, sending emails and making connections. They will not expect, or received, glory for their efforts. They will probably also not make themselves known by their social media presence, but more likely by a quiet word at the end of the ride, or at the bar. Gather these people’s contacts and arrange to meet the next week.
The Goal: Looking after YOUR trails with the Land Owner’s permission
Forming a body:
Now your community has decided it will be A Good Thing to have a trails association, and that you are the person to do it, you need to form an organisation. Arrange a meeting of the keenest people from your first cast of the net and debate how you want your organisation to be. There are many legal entities available - choose whichever you are happiest with and have the most experience with.
Now you need to think of a name. This needs to be short and polite, as you will use it every time you make a phonecall or send an email. Try and keep it local and always avoid destructive verbs such as “shredders” or “rippers”. What landowner wants their woods shredded or ripped to pieces?
At the end of this Formation meeting, you should have a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, plus perhaps 2-3 additional committee members. Each should leave the meeting with a task. To start with you will need to:
Register your entity (Charity Commission / Companies House / British Cycling etc).
Open a bank account.
Buy some Public Liability insurance.
Find the correct contact details for the land owner.
Delegate these tasks and set a deadline to meet again to report progress. Give it at least a month, as all the above take time. Remember, whenever you call or email anyone on behalf of the group, always use the company name. This makes your body sound professional and serious.
Should you be lucky enough to have additional members of the inner circle, set them tasks such as making contact with other trail organisations to learn their hits and misses. You should also allocate a person to making a map of your area showing trails, public rights of way and other potential areas of concern. If you live in Wales, all public GIS data is freely availableat www.lle.cymru .
If the map shows your favourite trail crossing several rights of way or passing through an important site, don’t panic yet. There are ways to work around this we shall come to later. Now is the time to zoom out and see what else you have on your patch. Many sites have several trails which have evolved from each other, snaking down the hill. Others will have a few “premium” lines, with outlying short or lower quality trails. Take a long, hard look at your site and ask yourself, “What do we want to keep?”. Rate your trails in order of quality to you, the riders. This will point towards what is important to your community.
At this point the group chair should send an introductory email/letter to the landowner. This must be concise and polite, simply stating that you are the body representing riders on their land and you wish to start formal discussions. Ask for a meeting to put forward your ideas and be prepared to travel to see them on their patch.
Preparation is everything: Know your patch
The First Meeting:
Your first meeting with the land manager will make a significant impression. From your initial emails and conversations with them, you should have a good idea if they are likely to be onside, hostile, or somewhere in between. The key point to remember at this first meeting is that that you both want to come away feeling the other person is helping, and you can work together. Fine details can wait, but you should try and cover:
What are the land manager’s main concerns regarding trails in their patch?
Why the trails are beneficial to you and your community.
What the land manager would like/need you to do to address their concerns.
What you can bring to the table to address these concerns and make the owner’s life easier.
Where you both think the project should start.
If the meeting has gone well, congratulations! You should be leaving their office with a spring in your step and a list on your notepad. Return to your group and debrief. It is likely the list will include Risk Assessments, Trail Changes, Signage, Social Media and more.
The Prize: Dicko’s, A Dyfi Trail reinstated by volunteers after felling
Starting the Jobs:
How you have a list of jobs, it’s time to get started. We have only just moved to this stage at our pilot sites, and we have a lot to learn. Once we’ve got underway, I will publish the next paper to try and help you along. I wont tell you all the minor details, but will signpost the best facilities and sources of information. Hopefully that will also prevent the paper having an expiry date as standards change.
Thank you for reading, and good luck with your trails.
Persistence Pays: Your work will last for decades