bogdogs

The current budget cuts proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection call for eliminating the Office of Greenways and Trails and closing 53 state parks, including the San Felasco State Preserve (Home of the Tour de Felasco), and Big Shoals in White Springs (Home of the Ididaride).

More information including a full list Representative e-mails is listed here.

Remember: What hurts one group of riders can hurt all others. It may be Florida parks this time but it could be your parks next time.

CritEastwood

Florida mountain biking is a joke.

At 345 feet (105 m) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state.



Sad to lose those 25 second raging downhills.

Ask Dan Volker (aka V02lker) to help your "fight". He's used quite a bit of energy on Usenet, touting the greatness of those trails.

atbman

Right on bro'. Let's not bother about all those fellow riders who happen to live in flat states. If this move leads to a reduction in places to ride, what's lost? Just a bunch of boring trails of no importance.

First they came for the flatlanders, then for rollling hill riders and then for proper mountain trail mtbers and that was really unfair

CB HI

I think you are reading way too much negative intent into CritEastwood's post.

Speedo

The current financial state of many states has me worried. I imagine that parks and recreation are a fairly tempting target. Balancing them against some real bread an butter issues is a challenge.

I wish you luck, and I'm keeping an eye on the issue in my own state, but I'm not sure how helpful it is for out-of-staters to write to Florida representatives.

Speedo

gcottay

As worse comes to worse, I recommend staying alert to groups organizing to run parks as volunteers. Here in Arizona several parks are still up and running only because of volunteer groups.

CritEastwood

Asking for help nationally/internationally for a place that is not considered even close to the MTB destination radar seems somewhat bold. If you really want to mountain bike, move to where there are mountains. Either that, or ask IMBA for help. Now that Gary Sprung's gone, there may be a sober lobbyist for them.

bkrownd

When I was a kid we happily rode our BMX bikes through the fields and forests in one of the flattest states in the union: Minnesota. It ain't about the total elevation, it's about the up-and-down-and-up-and-down-and-ad-infinitum...

merlinextraligh

First, from all accounts San Felasco is a pretty cool place to ride off road. Very nice rolling terrain. The problem is terminolgy: There may not be "mountains" for mountain biking, but there is very nice terrain for all terrain biking.

Second, the answer to preserve things like this is user fees. If it has sufficient value to cover its cost people will pay a reasonable fee. If it doesn't have enough value to command a fee and cover costs, then we shouldn't subsidize it.

wheel

And how are they going to enforce me not going to a state park? With money they don't have?

CritEastwood

I doubt Florida has a trail like the one to the highest point in MN on Eagle Mountain (2301 ft):



If this trail was open to bikes, I would want to ride its trials-esque goodness.

Florida does not have any trails I'd want to ride.

bogdogs

Apparently there are number of trails in Florida that confound expectations. The assumption that you can't have a good ride under 400ft is just silly. I raced a number of Mountain Bike trails in New England that never exceeded that elevation. Besides, the point of this piece is that cutting so many parks from the budget could set a bad precedent that might be adapted by other states. That is how it potentially threatens everyone.