The recently expanded Revelstoke Cycling Association has applied for a recreational use area on Boulder Mountain, eight months after several trails on the mountain were devastated as a result of new logging in the area.
Boulder Mountain was the site of several rogue downhill mountain biking trails cut illegally by enthusiasts. Only one trail out of the six was cut legally.
The new tenure area would be a location for downhill/freeride mountain bike trails.
Last September, timber company Stella-Jones, which holds the logging rights to the area, cut down swaths of the mountain side, taking out several of the trails in the process. The logging was done to contain an infestation of Douglas-fir bark beetle.
The event spurred cycling groups into action to legalize the trails. Last month, the Revelstoke Trail Alliance, which had a large downhill biking element, merged with the Revelstoke Cycling Association.
The combined group has since applied for tenure to build trails on Boulder Mountain, said Justin Weber of the cycling association in an email.
He said that the application was currently in the review stage and they were awaiting feedback from other users in the area – notably Stella-Jones.
“We then can sit down and work out a solution to those concerns,” Weber wrote. “Of course we are not planning on using the whole area but simply leaving ourselves options as to where we can build so that we can work with [Stella-Jones].”
He said they wanted to work closely with Stella Jones to make sure there were no conflicts in the future.
“Bottom line, if it wasn’t for the logging roads we would not have many areas to build downhill/freeride mountain bike trails,” Weber said.