Help Get Legal Access to Singletrack in Big River

RI NEMBA ASKS RHODE ISLAND AND OUT-OF-STATE RIDERS TO PHONE IN SUPPORT TO OVERIDE BILL H6304

We ask mountain bikers to urge the  Senate President  and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to legalize mountain biking on singletrack at the Big River Management Area.

Please make a phone call to each of these people as soon as possible.

Senate President :  M Teresa Paiva Weed 401-222-6655

Speaker of the House of Representatives: William J Murphy, 401-222-2466

One-liner history:  The Senate passed a bill legalizing mountain biking at Big River, the Governor vetoed it, and now the Senate has the opportunity to override the veto. 

Mountain bikers need to put pressure on the Senate for them to override this veto.  Please take a couple of minutes and place a call.  Your voice is critically important.

*** TELL THE POLITICIANS THAT YOU WANT BILL H6304 PUT ON THE DOCKET FOR A VOTE TO OVERIDE THE GOVERNOR’S VETO ***

If you wish to explain why mountain biking should be legalized at Big River, you can note the following:

• Mountain biking is a healthy and safe sport that should be promoted in Rhode Island.  (If you’re from out-of-state, tell them that you wish to visit Rhode Island, stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, etc).
• Big River has terrain that is particularly well suited for this activity-- it has been going on, this merely codifies it in law.
• Big River is centrally located in the state and would provide Rhode Islanders convenient access to a healthy and safe sport.
• The area of Big River where water harvesting takes place is separated by route 95 from the area where the trails are. 
• Rules for recreational activities were created for Big River before the sport of mountain biking existed.
• Studies show that mountain biking has an environmental impact comparable to hiking.
• Horseback riding, which is legal in big river, has a much more detrimental environmental impact than mountain biking.
• Mountain bike riders have volunteered thousands of hours and contributed significant money to “Big River clean up” events for years and have built a reputation for responsibility and good stewardship of areas they ride.
• The presence of mountain bikers in big river will detour the dumping of trash and other illegal activities that are rampant in the area.
• The Big River area is so good for mountain biking that opening it up could draw riders from other states and contribute to the tourism economy.

Please call today.

RHODE ISLAND RESIDENTS:  Please also call your State Senator and Representative. To get their name and contact info, go to: http://sos.ri.gov/vic/ and enter your address).  Tell them the same thing you told the Senate President – put H6304 back on the docket to override the Governor’s veto. 

If you wish more details about the issue and how it got to this point, here’s a fuller description of the back story. 

There is a management area called Big River in West Greenwich, RI that is a great mountain bike riding spot-- but mountain bike riding is illegal as it didn’t exist as a sport when the rules of this management area were written.  This land was originally set aside as a possible place to flood for a reservoir or a place to tap wells into the underground aquifer.  Fast forward nearly 40 years and the DEM and West Greenwich police basically ‘look the other way’ when we ride in the management area (technically we are only allowed on the fire roads- whoop-dee-doooo!) as the DEM is totally underfunded and short staffed and just having people using the area tends to drive out the unwanted, somewhat lessen the dumping and somewhat curtail criminal activity.  So we generally have the ability to ride there, but this can be taken away at any time should they decide to enforce it.  We also have NO standing to do regular trail maintenance and improvement, which we have been requesting to do at no cost to the state…

RI NEMBA has been working within the system for decades trying to have the governing body, the Water Resources Board, place mountain biking on par with other allowed activities like hiking and horseback riding- and we have slowly but surely been making progress.  To give you an idea of how ridiculous the situation is- it took us this long to be allowed to hold a led group mountain bike ride in the forest for the first time this year.  Every year since I have been in RI the motorcross/ATV community receives one or two permits a year (regardless of soil conditions) to hold races in the management area- and they tear the CRAP out of that place...  Like everything in RI, who you know and political juice makes all the difference in what is allowed and what is not.  Actual scientific data on environmental impact is immaterial… 

This summer we were surprized and pleased to find out that the State House of Reps took up H6304 to make mountain biking legal in Big River. 

Turns out a State Rep, Ray Sullivan (D, West Greenwich), liked to mountain bike there and was incensed that it is not codified in law so he decided to change it.  He asked the other West Greenwich rep (a Republican) to join him in the efforts, and this was passed basically by unanimous consent- making this probably the only piece of real bipartisan legislation to come out of any political body in the country this decade.  The Senate was reluctant to take it up, but by this time the mountain bike community was fully behind it forced them to look at the bill and pass it.  Rep Sullivan used parliamentary procedure to table ALL of the State’s business until this was brought to a vote.  A dinky mountain bike bill was holding up the legislature from completing their session- so the Senate took it up and passed it- again- by a HUGE margin.

We were psyched.  Then Governor Carcieri promptly vetoed it because of (completely unfounded) environmental impact concerns.

So, here we are, with the legislature about to go back into session.  Now is the time when they decide to look at all the legislation that our Gov has turned down to see if it is worth a vote to override his veto.  Given the mess that the state is currently in that this is not the highest priority- but based on the initial vote in passing it- it should be a lock and low hanging fruit.  No debate- just vote and done.

That being said- they need to hear from people to decide to move on it.  So here is what RI NEMBA is asking:

PLEASE, please- if you live in RI- call the Senate President (M Teresa Paiva Weed 401-222-6655) and Speaker of the House of Representatives (William J Murphy, 401-222-2466).  Tell them that you want H6304 put on the docket for a vote to override the Governor’s veto- and that you expect them to support said override.  THEN- call your State Senator and Representative (if you are politically challenged, go to: http://sos.ri.gov/vic/ and enter your address).  Tell them that you want H6304 put on the docket to override the Gov’s veto and that you expect them to support said override- that you vote and will be watching their position on this bill.

THIS IS OUR BEST SHOT TO GET THIS DONE!  As the youngest ‘old crank’ who regularly calls his local, state and national elected officials, we can tell you that if a state rep receives 10 calls on an issue it makes an impression.   So please- in the next week (preferably) or two- when you have a minute of downtime around the holiday-- make the calls, talk with staff or leave a message.  Pass this info on to any riding buddies or people who you think might care.  Help us fight the power!!!

Peter Gengler

RI NEMBA