Outdoor Alliance Advocates for E-bike Use on Public Lands. Why?

Fully Rigid, 2/25/24

Late last fall, I was reading something or other and in the article, there was a mention of the Outdoor Alliance. It had been years since I had thought of them, to be honest. So, I took a look at their website and noticed/was reminded that IMBA was a founding member of the alliance. Hmm, I thought.

IMBA advocates for the use of e-bikes on public lands. Outdoor Alliance is decidedly about human-powered recreation on those same public lands. The first paragraph of the alliance’s mission statement is this:

“Outdoor Alliance is the only organization in the U.S. that unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands. We help ensure those lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience.”

I emailed Outdoor Alliance the following message:

Dear Outdoor Alliance,

First, thank you for all you've done over the years in protecting human-powered recreation on U.S. public lands. About that, IMBA now advocates for Class 1 e-bikes on those public lands. E-bikes are clearly not human-powered.

Does the Outdoor Alliance plan to exclude/remove IMBA from the coalition?

Best,

James Murren

A week later, I got a response. I won’t name names, but here is the email that was sent back:

Hi James,

Lots of participants in our sports pursue motorized recreation, as well, and even more drive to recreate. We are "human-powered" rather than "non-motorized" in part because our intent is not to advocate against motorized rec, it's to support human powered rec and conservation. We're not shunning IMBA. That said, Outdoor Alliance's agenda does not include advocating for e-bikes unless it is toward better recreation management and conservation.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

Wait, Outdoor Alliance is now saying they too are advocating for e-bikes with the use of “unless” in that email?

I then responded with this:

Thanks for the quick response. I "hear" you with regard to driving to recreation destinations. We live in a car-centric society, with possibly a few geographic exceptions here and there around the country.

That being said, I think there's a delicate balancing act of semantics with regard to the bulk/rest of your answer, a balancing act that is only going to get more difficult to manage in time, the way I, and many others, see it. Preliminary data tells us that e-bikers seeking access to trails are a wealthy, homogenous minority. From a conservation standpoint, no bike powered by cobalt/lithium batteries that is ridden on trails can be considered a conservation "win" in the global context, if including an environmental justice or climate change analysis, when compared to a bike that moves forward by a human that is pedaling it. 

To clarify, are you saying that the Outdoor Alliance, as a collective membership, does allow for advocacy efforts seeking to expand the use of e-bikes on public lands in the USA?

Best,

James

More than a month went by with no response from Outdoor Alliance. I then sent a “nudge” email at the end of 2023. No response has come in at this point.

Note to e-bikers: ride what you want, where you are permitted to ride. My “beef” isn’t really with you.

Policy. Land use policy.

If the Outdoor Alliance is one of the leading voices for recreation on public lands, and they are, and if they work to influence policy, and they do, I have a problem with an organization that seems to have a conflict of interest with what is in its mission statement versus what it does, when considering its membership.

More to the point, any organization that says they work to “help ensure those lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience” and then has some of its membership working to increase e-bike access on pubic lands has a conflict of interest.

Additionally, the way I see it, organizations that historically have represented mountain biking are now “winging it” when it comes to all things e-bikes. What we have is policy change that is being led by advocates that seemingly are conflicted with what they actually stand for and who they actually represent.

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