IMBA Europe members at work! Advocacy update

In order to keep mountain bike trails open in Austria and the Netherlands, IMBA Europe members Upmove and NTFU both started a media campaign, followed by online petitions to strengthen their case.AustriaIn Austria, Upmove is holding a pledge for legal trail access. Right now, trail access for mountain bikers is not stipulated in the law and therefore, some serious access issues occur, especially in the less touristic regions of Austria. As a result, a hunting tenant started a process against four mountain bikers who rode their bikes at the Muckenkogel  An injunction of €15.000 was charged against them. Upmove started a petition which was offered to the major of Lillenfeld. Hopefully, this lawsuit will be dropped and a solution for this problem will be found out of court.NetherlandsIn the Netherlands, NTFU joined forces with the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation against the budget cuts on recreational trail structures. Several land management agencies consider to implement a payback-system solely for mountain bikers and horseback riders because there’s insufficient funding for trail maintenance. Although local user groups already volunteer for trail work,, land managers are still afraid they don’t comply their duty of care and fear liability issues. Investments in new trail structures are under pressure as well because exploitation of those networks can’t be guaranteed in the long run. NTFU and the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation offered more than 20.000 signatures to the Members of Parliament and will continue their lobby with other outdoor sport federations in a newly formed Outdoor Coalition. GermanyOff course, we got some positive news as well. Take a look at this poster from a local political party in Aachen. Die Grünen haben verstanden![[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_responsive”,”fid”:”320″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”max-width: 587px;”,”width”:”100%”}}]]