IMBA Australia Autumn Edition 2014

Autumn Edition 2014

IMBA AUSTRALIANEWS

Contents

Sutter 480 Down Under......................................1

The Fox CORE Loop............................................8

Watch This Space..................................................8

November Road Show in Victoria...................10

Watch This Space Too.............................................10

IMBA-Au Goes Troppo.........................................11

The Soul of IMBA...................................................12

IMBA-Au The Land Down Under.....................14

Sutter 480 Down Under

1imba-au.com

The first I ever heard of this purpose built trail building dozer was back in 2002 when

Joey Klein and Pete Webber from IMBA first came to visit. We were still building

trails with hand tools, so it blew our minds and seemed to be an impossible dream

to import this kind of specialist equipment, made in the USA , to our fair Land Down

Under. Well so I thought.

Then in 2011, IMBA sent Tony Boone out to Australia to assist with some workshops and trail

design tasks. Tony can tell it better but he has spent over twenty five years using this type of

machinery to cut sweet flowing trail. Naturally on his visit Tony was selling the virtues of the

dozer and how much prime trail we could smash out in the right conditions. The machine would

“cut through the hillside like it’s a big old slab of butter!” to quote Tony. Before I knew what was

happening, Tony had organised to send a dozer over to Australia. One thing led to another and

IMBA Australia were asked to lease the dozer in Australia and keep it in good order. Not really

our core business but certainly with this kind of machinery I was hoping we could help trail

contractors to reduce trail construction costs. Hence we were keen to help Sutter promote the

dozer down under.

With minor projects completed in Lysterfield (Vic), Horn-sby (NSW), Blue Mountains (Pony Express, NSW) and Craig-burn Farm (SA) during the remainder of 2011 and 2012, I can speak highly of the dozer product. Kick ass bench cut! No messing about. And the pace this machine can chew through the hill is mind boggling if not jaw dropping. This machine has reduced grown men to tears, grovelling on the ground. I kid you not; just as Tony promised.

Anyway, there was not much uptake in the latter half or 2012 so the plan was to put me through some intensive training on the machine so I could teach others and com-munities how to use the machine whereby they could save costs on operator expenses etc. Thanks to Melrose Over the Edge and Bartagunyah Winery we came up with a plan to teach some of us how to use the dozer and the bonus was some hyper flow trail for the Super D course out there in the hills surrounding Melrose (SA).

With some fairly rigorous training from Tony, the next step was to bring the Dozer to Fox Creek and then that saga be-gan! (See “Nearly the Whole Story” in this Issue). This expe-rience has me convinced. The combo of mini-dozer and mini excavator can create some truly inspirational trail experi-ences. Certainly, the dozer can make a big impact so it may not be the best tool for every trail project, but it can still be light on its feet with a skilled operator. If there is an op-portunity to really move some dirt then the dozer can again take the trail construction to an unprecedented level. I am sold on this machine and I can recommend it for any large trail project where the vegetation is thick and the soil gener-ous. Even in rocky ground this thing can make life easier for

sure, but you will need to

rotate jack hammers and/or the mini ex to the front to keep the pace up on really tough ground.

Nevertheless, at Fox Creek, where the heavy clay soils are deep and the rocks are soft, the dozer just sliced though the terrain to bring the trail visions to reality. No more avoiding steep slopes. This machine allows you to build trail in the steepest terrain exceptionally easily. With the six way adjust-able blade as well, the machine allows the operator to carve bike specific shapes into berms, booters and jumps. Want some camber, here you go..... massive pile of dirt.

Certainly some have been appalled at the level of distur-

bance created by the dozer, yet from experience I know it is

important to get the foundation of the trail set well because

within twelve months in this part of the country, the trail will

be over grown if no one is riding it! With some clever trail

finishing techniques and blending of the back slope, plus the

old IMBA technique of reintroducing the leaf litter to the trail

corridor, even the dozer cut starts to look a little lighter on

the landscape. I am confident that in 10 years, few would

notice that the CORE loop was built by machinery because

nature will have softened all the hard edges of the new trail.

Besides, most will be too busy buzzing along the trail with

an epic grin on their face to notice anything other than the

flow line!

To follow are some before and after shots to help paint the

picture of what this amazing machine can provide, but also

demonstrate that the initial disturbance in the early stages

of trail construction can be mitigated with clever design and

contentious rehabilitation of the trail corridor to create low

impact trails.

2

Before 1 Descent

After 1 Descent

imba-au.com

21st December 2013

4th May 2013

3

Before Before

5 Switchbacks turns - 3

5 Switchbacks turns - 4

imba-au.com

14th September 2012

8th November 2012

13th September 2012

21st December 2013

4

Before: The Big Traverse

After: The Big Traverse

imba-au.com

14th September 2012

8th May 2013

5

Before: Log Slide Feature

After: Log Feature

imba-au.com

Log Feature December 2013

6

The big traverse corner

Yes a dozer has been through here. Admittedly we are using an old road bench, but this picture shows how “light on it’s tracks” the dozer can be.

imba-au.com

16th September 2013

21st December 2013

7

After 1 Ascent

Before 1 Ascent

imba-au.com

21st December 2013

4th May 2013

Watch This Space

The dream formulated many years ago. Scoping the terrain

became an obsession, and then began five years of gentle

advocacy with Forestry SA. Funding came through the Office

for Rec and Sport which was managed by Bike SA and SAM-

BA. So, with approval and some modest funds, we moved

to the next phase - ten weeks of design / flagging the trail

alignment, which included cutting a pilot hole through thick

woodland of blackberry and feral pines, some of it mashed

into a gigantic pick up sticks set where previous pine felling

had been left to rot. At some stages the design team was

walking 2m above the natural soil across the fallen pines. It

was very hard core trail design! Furthermore, some parts of

the trail are located in a very steep valley with side-slopes

of up to 80%. This made walking on wet hill sides tricky,

whereby IMBA Aust Trail Consultant, Stu Clement began to

use his sprigged “footy” boots after the first day just to get

some traction! I used an old golf club to hack through the

black berries. Eventually, we got through and the loop was

approved by Forestry. Oh yeah!

Due to the modest budget of the grant, whereby only a

portion of the grant application was awarded, professional

trail construction was not viable. Therefore another model

of construction was needed to be considered to complete

10imba-au.com

The Fox CORE LoopNearly The Whole Story

8

the project. The community model. The dozer was in SA,

SAMBA were keen to dig more new trail and I really didn’t

want to be the one who let this dream slip through my

fingers. This was the last chance to make it happen so I bit

the bullet and decided IMBA Au could provide this service

while working with volunteers to deliver a demonstration

trail of the IMBA guidelines. It was now or never so I chose

now (then)!

This means we were finally ready to start construction, but

it meant a lot of chain saw work before we could even get

the machine going. Ultimately there was nearly 4 full weeks

of chain saw work to cut the corridor, and 170 hours of 480

Sutter Trail Dozer grunt. Following this, we had the pleasure

of investing countless hours on the hand tools to ensure

super groomed flow on the “Green Smoothie Descent” but

also to make sure drainage and back-slopes were optimal

where we could on the ascending part of the loop. Most

importantly, this new loop is also a demonstration of what

the Sutter 480 dozer can do in Australia. I am impressed

and I think anyone who rides the trail will be too!

The whole loop is overlayed across 180m vertical, from bot-

tom to top and down again. The climb meanders up the

Site of the new mini skill park at Lysterfield lake park. We look forward to working with Parks Victoria and the Lysterfield district riders once again!

Watch This Space

hill at 5% average with a few gradient pinches and then the

descent is designed to maximise the elevation with the no

pedalling, no braking and plenty of pumping action

philosophy, to make it feel like a very long indulgence in

gravity; again with average grades of 5%. Depending on

which combination of single track one uses, the loop can be

9 or 10 km, with about 6km of new climbing single track

(Middle Earth) and 2.5 km of flowing descent to make it a

loop.

From a trail network design point of view, the new CORE

Loop at Fox Creek (SA) has been retro fitted to the trail net-

work to maximise use of elevation, link top and bottom car

parks as well as provide progressive trail experiences for a

broad range or MTB riders.

Essentially, this trail is the culmination of everything I have

learnt in terms of trail design and construction. Many helped

to make the vision live. Thank you. It is hard evidence that

trails built to IMBA specification do not need to be dull.

Apart from a couple of mistakes, this trail is a very literal

interpretation of the guidelines. IMBA is the link. The guide-

lines work. This trail is rated Green Circle but enjoyed by all.

It pays homage to the stacked loop concept for trail network

design, the core loop being the centre of everything. I give

you Fox CORE!

9imba-au.com

Special thanks to Bike SA, Forestry SA, Sutter Equipment,

MTBA, Inside Line DH MTB Club, SAMBA, The Human Projec-

tiles, and many volunteers. You all played a part in making

this trail! Big or small your contribution counts!

I was only too pleased to hit the road for IMBA-Au again last

November to deliver a series of sustainable trails workshops

and consultations across Victoria. First stop was the You

Yangs where around 25 Parks Vic staff from across the state

gathered for a 2 day forum on MTB management and

sustainable trail design.

Anyone who’s ridden the You Yangs would know it’s right

up there among Australia’s premier MTB trail networks, but

less obvious to the casual visitor is how successful the park

has been behind the scenes as a model of good MTB trail

management. Mark Urquhart and other You Yangs Rangers

shared some of their successes and challenges while I pro-

vided the IMBA perspective on a range of MTB management

issues. We were also fortunate to have some industry input

with World Trail’s Grant Suckling attending together

with Forrest’s entertaining and passionate Norm Douglas.

Parks Vic have MTB trail development well and truly on their

agenda so the workshop was aimed at helping Parks Vic staff

replicate the success of the You Yangs as a MTB facility in

other parts of the state.

After an (all-too-brief) mid-week visit to our good friends

with the fine trails at Mt Buller, a second workshop for the

trip was held with the Alpine Cycling Club at Bright in north-

east Vic-toria, attended by about a dozen keen riders &

diggers from around the region. It’s yet another Aussie

location with not only a great array of existing trails but vast

untapped MTB potential… definitely one to watch over the

next few years as an emerging cycling mecca.

Just a few days later we held another 2 day workshop for

about 25 riders & volunteers from Geelong MTB Club,

You Yangs MTB Inc & Surfcoast Trail Riders. The workshop

was split between trails at Anglesea and the You Yangs

with some enhancements made to trails in the Kurrajong

area of the You Yangs. A huge thanks to Mark Urquhart

for his tireless work in making both workshops run so

smoothly.

10

November Road Show in Victoriawith Marty Krieg

imba-au.com

Watch This Space Too

More good news for Sydney MTBers; WarringahCouncil have now gained approval (under envi-

ronmental and indigenous heritage protection legisla-tion) to proceed with upgrades to Manly Dam. These upgrades were recommended by the trail audit that IM-BA-Au completed early in 2013. The tendering process for Stage 1 of the project is underway and on-ground works are scheduled to begin during the coming au-tumn.

Meanwhile in the Red Centre,Parks NT are also preparing

to implement trail signage upgrades recommended by our audit of the Telegraph Station Trails. While Alice has a plethora of great trails this will be the first area to be fomailsed and sign posted, and will form a model ‘gateway trail’ experience that will give locals and tourists alike a prime taste of desert-flavoured MTBing.

11imba-au.com

IMBA goes Troppo

Meteorologically speaking December is always an exciting time in Darwin and our week-long trail audit at Charles Darwin National Park (supported by D.O.R.C. - Darwin Off Road Cyclists & Parks NT) certainly didn’t disappoint. There was more thunder, lightning and rain in that one week than us south-erners usually witness in a decade.

Charles Darwin NP is within rolling dis-tance of the CBD and has a great little network of fun XC trails in a Gondwa-naland-like setting. The audit will assist Parks NT and DORC plan upgrades to the trails and signage that will not only enhance the park for local riders but hopefully entice some larger events such as the Oceania Championships to the Top End in the not-too-distant future.

Maybe too long, and while I am not opposed to criticism and

constructive feedback, this kind of mud-slinging and under-

mining of the IMBA principles is stupid on so many levels.

A big part of the confusion I think is because IMBA and

sometimes other trail professionals are working for the land

managers while still trying to represent the riding communi-

ty. In a commercial sense, when IMBA Australia is assessing

existing trails or designing new trails, we are working direct-

ly for the land manager as the client. We always have the

end user (MTB riders or shared use) in mind, but ultimately

the client dictates the nature of projects and the level of

risk they are prepared to accommodate. In many instances,

land managers work in virtual isolation, so even if something

has worked for the bigger dept in one area of their state, a

new area has to go through the same old consultation and

approval processes once again. We have to run through the

same old tired (tyred) arguments, address the same old mis-

conceptions and face the seemingly limitless fears that of-

ficials and residents carry with them. Every new trail area

is like a microcosm of the broader trail access

debate. Every battle plays out in similar

ways and there is no way to fast track

any of it, thanks to the extensive bu-

reaucracy that has been created at

every level in this country (local,

state and federal). So we, the pro-

fessionals, have to work through

the whole process time and time

again from whoa to go, attempt-

ing to maintain professionalism and

objectivity in the face of screaming

subjectivity and divisiveness. And let me

tell you, it takes extreme patience and self

control of passionate individuals to wade through

these issues and at times you can understand that I have

felt like I am banging my head against a wall – “why doesn’t

anyone understand!” It’s so simple, the kids just want to ride

their bikes on dirt!

Many land managers are catering for MTBing for the first

time and so it’s only reasonable that they start at the low

Recently (late 2013) I was made aware of an article (blog)

from the US that was titled “Has IMBA lost its Soul?”. Sens-

ing the sentiment, I read through the article and comments

with much trepidation. I have seen this kind of debate before

at the local and state level here in Oz and it is never pretty.

Upon reading the article I really started to feel disappointed

and shocked. After all these years, some bike riders still can-

not see the bigger picture of what we, IMBA are trying to

do. What initially started out as healthy debate pretty

quickly turned into a mud-slinging contest in a realm where

IMBA staff and supporters cannot defend themselves or

their actions. Sure the debate raises some valid points,

many of which are specific to business interests of IMBA in

the US, but the sheer hatred of IMBA by some is difficult to

fathom and even harder to swallow, particularly when

some of the folks perpetrating the hatred have benefited

significantly both financially and in regard to their ongoing

relationships with land managers, from the hard work of

IMBA at some point in the past. To me it seems to be the

“tall poppy” syndrome and IMBA become the target for any

changes, even evolution of the single track discipline.

As someone who has worked solidly for

10 years promoting the IMBA model

in SA and now as the national rep

for IMBA, this emotion, the kind

subjective nonsense in the article

and comments really gets under

my skin. The notion that IMBA has

lost its soul is totally misinformed.

IMBA is the link! IMBA is the prin-

ciple, the model approach, the blue

print that has enabled Australian land

mangers to embrace MTB single track. Time

and time again I have seen councillors and park

rangers literally change their minds right before my eyes

once they have heard what IMBA reps have had to say. IMBA

is the link between the land mangers and the riders. With-

out IMBA we would not have the extent of MTB trails in Aus-

tralia we now have. I know this better than most because I

have been on the front line of trail advocacy for a long time.

soul

12imba-au.com

The SOUL of IMBAConfessions of a National Director

13imba-au.com

end of the sport, specifically green and blue trails, that are more

inclusive, less risky and easier to justify to the authorities. Stra-

tegically it makes sense to cater for the novice and intermedi-

ate riders first and once established with documented success,

then more elite experiences can be rolled out. It’s the only ratio-

nal approach, and IMBA Australia is part of the puzzle to make

it work. Yet many riders lack the patience and the foresight to

understand these long term plans and they scream for high end

trail right now or they go build their own and undermine the pro-

cess once again. It can be a vicious circle with the glass is half

empty attitude. Essentially those of us at IMBA are like the “meat

in the sandwich”. We get drilled by the conservationists and risk

adverse loons and then at the same time we are getting ham-

mered by the loudest members of the MTB community, many of

who are respected role models, for “dumbing down” trails. It is

a really tough place to be and no, we do not get paid enough to

deal with this kind of punishment. While I am fighting the battle

for MTB riders, who has got my back! Yet the very nature of our

sport means this aspect of the job at IMBA may never change.

We just have support each other and keep telling ourselves it is

for the greater good.

So even after you have bent over backwards, trying to find work-

able compromises with the land managers, questioned your own

sanity each step of the way and given up your own ride time to

help someone else make their trail dreams a reality, the very high

expectations of parts of the MTB community will never be met.

So my mantra over the years has been that “if we can keep half

the people happy half the time, then we are doing ok”. From ex-

perience the silent majority are extremely happy with what IMBA

does. It could be surmised that it is mostly the old dinosaurs that

had their heyday in the 1990’s, who cannot adjust to the new

school trail developments and massive influx of new riders. MTB

is not on the fringe anymore, it’s gone mainstream and we need

to keep up. If a trail gets “dumbed down” you can be sure that

the land manager and their lawyers have asked it to be so, and

for some reason IMBA get the blame! It’s crazy, and some MTB

riders have successfully sued land managers in this country for

various incidents, only to get back on the bike later and continue

to enjoy freely supplied single track. It is no wonder that land

managers are nervous about MTB because even if they do pro-

vide a full and proper “duty of care” the chances are it will be

cheaper to settle out of court than to fight against civil actions!

Just keep in mind, when trails loose their “cutting edge” appeal,

sometimes there are big reasons behind the scenes. Reasons

that span our whole society in Australia.

Anyway – that’s a plenty big enough rant from me. It’s all worth

it in the end! Get out there and ride!

Nam inum alia adicia Am ipsapid mi, eici Tem

faccum vendaeped.

14imba-au.com

IMBA-AU in the Land Down UnderThe Land Down Under

This is a very brief summary of the role IMBA has played in Australia since first visiting our sun burnt country. This perspective

is provided by Nick Bowman with assistance from a number of key advocates from around the country. Please note, all success

stories depend on the hard work of local advocates and this document simply aims to highlight those trail projects and partner-

ships where IMBA and the IMBA guidelines helped to make those projects and partnerships successful! This involvement takes

nothing away from the efforts of dedicated locals to make their trail dreams a reality.

(Thanks Tony Scott for working hard to promote the IMBA model in Australia over many years).

Visit 1 Date: February 2002 Pete Webber & Joey Klein (initiated by Tony Scott)

Site Visits: General Outcomes and “Flow on Effects” (advocacy/trail centres):

Meet with Townsville Council, Rockwheelers and Parks Queensland with site visits to theDH Track and Douglas Reserve. Peter McLean, Hayden Tiley and Greg become devotes of

the IMBA model!.

Meet with advocates and land managers to assess trails at Gap Creek. Unauthorised trailuse is rampant and IMBA advise on the necessary planning for Daisy Hill and Mt Coot-tha

with Gillian Duncan and other advocates.

Met with Sydney Reps (even at this stage it was clear trail advocacy had a long way to go inNSW). Manly Dam trail authorization discussions with local advocates commence.

Dialogue starts with Parks Vic and then DSE - Leads to an MOU with Parks Vic and ultimatelyYou Yangs, Lysterfield and Forrest.

Informs and strengthens the broader trails strategies of the Office for Rec and Sport, Forest-rySA and BikeSA in working towards formalisation of Fox Creek and the development of Eagle

MTB Park which are key projects (Foundation Trails) of the SA MTB Strategy (2001).

Cairns

Internal guidelines, Munda Biddi plans and MTB access becomes a major challenge for DEC butIMBA have provided insight into how to progress with solutions.

Site visit to Smithfield and talks with Glen Jacobs, Cairns MTB Club and Parks Queensland.This leads to formal agreements with the club to open trails at Smithfield. Once again Smith-

field has been nominated as a World Cup and World Championships Venue..

Townsville

Brisbane

Sydney

Melbourne

Adelaide

Perth

In almost every instance, where Pete and Joey met with local MTB clubs and land managers we began to see a higher level of engagement

between stakeholder groups (riders and rangers) as well as a model for how trails could be developed and maintained as low impact ac-

tivities in Australia. From my perspective in SA, as the logistics guy on ground, the IMBA guys gave us a language to talk about trails and

trail construction and most importantly find the common ground with the land managers so that we could all move forward together.

15

Launceston & Derby

IMBA are contracted to design a trail network at Hollybank with assistance from local Rob Pot-ter. Hollybank is now undergoing professional trail construction funded by Tourism Australia.

Visit 4 Date: 2006 Joey Klein

Site Visits General Outcomes and “Flow on Effects” (advocacy/trail centres)

imba-au.com

Visit 2 Date: October 2003 Joey Klein


Notable attendees: Tony Scott (organiser), Gerard McHugh (DSE/World Trail), Kristjan Snorrensen(TrailMix), Gillian Duncan (Gap Creek/MTBA), Brenton Collins (Adelaide MTB Club/Trail Solutions

Australia), Marty Krieg (BikeSA/IMBA Au), Rod Worthington (SA), The Kennet Brothers (NZ), MOZZIE (Rockwheelers).

Talk to CNP (Parks ACT) land managers and managers . Talk to Kosciusko local riders and theplanning authority about MTB access as the new PofM was being drawn up

One day trails workshop for land managers, visit to Trevallan where a plan was in place forMTB trails. Drove to Hobart via Trial Bay (west coast of Tassie). Gave a one day workshop

at Cascades Brewery to land managers. Visited Glenorchy. While there are still issues around Hobart, Glenorchy has become a prime bike park!

Joey and Tony Scott preview the site for the 2006 Commonwealth Games XC track at Lyster-field once again reinforcing the need for sustainable, long lasting trails

Tumbarumba This innovative four day trail school or as I like to call it “Master Class” enabled Eattendees totake a detailed look at the trail development guidelines and how they can be implemented

in a real setting. These attendees all play a role in the implementation of the IMBA model in their respective areas and professions.

Canberra / NSW

Launceston, Cradle Mountain and

Hobart

Melbourne

Visit 3 Date: November 2005 Joey Klein


City of Mitcham finalise their (MTB) Trails Strategy that outlines all future trail developmentacross the council tenure. The majority of elected members were extremely impressed

with Joey Klein’s presentation and it helped to formulate a solid determination to open the council reserves to unstructured recreation (trails). 1. Adelaide: Presentations to City of Mit-cham, Forestry, National Parks and other stakeholders. 2. Trail workshop with local riders.

Perth South West

Goat Farm and Mt Lennard (Pile Rd) – At this point unauthorized trail development wasrampant in WA and riders and Land managers were not on the same page. Joeys visit and

trail workshops provided a forum for both to understand one another’s needs and to develop a shared language and vision for MTBing in WA. The Goat Farm MTB park project sprang from this workshop and MTBers and land managers worked together to fund and develop the Goat Farm. Department of Parks and Wildlife developed MTB management guidelines in conjunction with riders to guide trail development

Adelaide

Brief visit to Forrest Forrest Trails project underway with DSE

16

Visit 5 Date: February 2008 Joey Klein (organised by Tony Scott and Gillian Duncan)


Noosa Trail Workshop for local clubs and stakeholders in the build up to the 2008 Tracks and Trails

Conference. New trails and upgrades are designed and implemented at Tretawin State for-est.

imba-au.com

CEO and President of IMBA (US) gave a keynote address while Joey Klein made a specialist presentation at this National Trails Conference. Talks about IMBA Australia progressed and

key advocates from around Australia pooled their knowledge to develop and Aussie version of the Trail Difficulty Rating System.

Tracks & Trails

Conference at Noosa

Further advances to advocacy with Parks SA and some local council reps. Ongoing progress with Mitcham and ForestrySA. Some progress made with local government reps

Adelaide

Milestone 1 Date: October 2009 Nick Bowman employed as National Director of IMBA Australia

“Nick was the successful applicant from seven other highly qualified experts in the field of MTB advocacy.” EO Tony Scott (2009)At last MTB advocacy had a dedicated national director to take over the burgeoning requests for trail advice from the MTBA EO Tony Scott. Once installed the calls for help, advice and trail workshops increased. “Build it and they will come” comes to mind.Initial visits to WA, Lysterfield, Atherton, Cairns, Wangarratta and Snowy Mountains have all helped to kick start local networks and build support for trail projects. Demand for IMBA Australia was immediate and overwhelming!

Visit 6 Date: April 2010 Joey Klein (organised by Nick Bowman)


Cairns Cairns was once again and opportunity for riders and Cairns MTB club to sit down with the

local park ranges and work out a path forward for formalizing Smithfield MTB park and Atherton . Notably these two projects have resulted in trail networks of national importance as well as a World Cup and Championships venue

Building on the workshop in Cairns, IMBA met with a number of agencies and trail advocates with some trail work at Mt Coot–tha, to wrap it up. Flow on benefits to Mt Joyce, Brisbane

City Council and Gold coast council plus the formulation of broader strategies to engage MTB riders across Qld.

Brisbane

Margaret River

A similar situation to many other places had developed at Margaret River with Land Manag-ers and MTBers at loggerheads over trail development. This workshop bought all parties

together and provided the forum for important conversations and understanding’s to develop between MTBers and land managers. This was the beginning of cooperation and respect be-tween all parties. Joey and IMBA provided an independent voice that while advocating for MT-Bing also spoke the language that land managers wanted to hear about respecting the land and building safe and sustainable trails.

With over 40 attendees from MTB clubs, state govt departments and other interested par-ties, the flow on effects from this workshop are far and wide reaching from Forrest to

Nowa Nowa, Mornington Peninsular to Wodonga. MTB in Vic got a very big boost with this State Level workshop!

Melbourne -

Lysterfield Lake

Sydney - Hornsby and Ourimbah

Day 1 of an extended program saw that we had over 60 attendees. It was huge. Although immediate results cannot be claimed here, we are now seeing MTB developments roll out

across the state thanks to the hard work of many local advocates. Key projects at Glenrock, Ourimbah, Bundanoon, Mt Annan, Manly Dam, Hornsby, Bantry Bay, Livingstone State Park and Belrose demonstrate that the IMBA message plays a role in opening up trails for the public.

AUSTRALASIAN SUMMTAnnouncement

MTBA and IMBA Australia deeply regrets that at this time we need to advise that the 2014 IMBA Australasian Summit has been cancelled. The proposed Summit unfortunately, had not been able to achieve the necessary registrations and financial support required for it to proceed at this time.

We thank you for your interest in this event and are extremely sorry for those of you who have already made travel bookings to attend the Cairns summit. Naturally all conference registration fees will be fully refunded.

On the positive side, we are now working towards planning for an Advocacy & Trails Summit in 2015. With additional time and an opportunity to source alternative venues and locations, IMBA-AU and MTBA are confi-dent that we will be able to organise a very valuable conference and Summit in the future.

Kind regards

Nick Bowman National Director IMBA Australia

IMBA Australia Autumn Edition 2014

Documents

Transcript of IMBA Australia Autumn Edition 2014