Helping mountain bikers see the forest
through the trees

NAU undergraduates are doing more than learning how to manage forests, they are already on the path to protecting them.

Students in a recent Wilderness Management forestry class teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a plan to lessen the threat to designated wilderness areas from mountain biking.

The students produced posters and educational materials aimed at educating the public to the threats to wilderness areas from mountain biking. The brochures and posters are already in use in the Coconino National Forest, and will soon be used in the Kaibab National Forest. They also are finding homes in area bike shops as well as support and use from mountain biking organizations throughout the southwest.

"The work was like training for an actual job in environmental management," said Erin Jeffries, an environmental science major who worked on the project. "Project guidance from the forest professionals really helped me to better understand the real-life issues facing forest management."

The students worked with forest managers to choose a topic that would help increase the health of forests. They chose this topic because despite hefty fines to mountain bikers entering wilderness areas, the problem kept recurring.

The team of students and forest managers concluded that in order to help protect the areas, they needed to understand mountain bikers and develop communications that would "speak their language" and get their attention.

Besides surveying northern Arizona bike shops, clubs and organizations, as well as web sites to figure out where the most intrusion into the wilderness was taking place and how to stop it, the students held public meetings to gain input.

"This project is important in helping people understand what the wilderness actually is, why we should care and protect it, how it is being damaged and what type of wilderness behavior is appropriate," Jeffries said.

The poster, now at key wilderness area sites in the Coconino National Forest Red Rock District, uses photographs, bold letters and messages to reach out to bikers and explain why wilderness areas need to be protected from mechanical devices. Its forest green and gold colors don't detract from the natural environment experience.

"We worked with the students to take a creative and balanced approach," said Justin Loxley, a wilderness ranger for the Red Rock Ranger District who worked with the students to include Forest Service requirements. "Unlike some signs in the forest, we didn't want them to be static. We included elements of the Wilderness Act and information to keep it relevant to mountain bikers."

Loxley, an NAU parks and recreation graduate said, "This experience brought me full circle back to some of the classrooms where I was once a student. The students were awesome. We couldn't have done it without them."

Marty Lee, forestry professor and instructor for the class, brings in forest managers weekly to work with the class about wilderness issues.

"We are providing a real-world experience that isn't just an exercise," Lee said. "We are empowering students to care for the sensitive ecosystems and understand their relationships to user groups."

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