Hello Lincoln! I'm a bit late to all of this and caught the correspondence last minute from our conservation person, Michele regarding this topic a couple weeks back.
I am in complete agreement with John Mendelson and Doug Carson and other proponents of less restrictive rules pertaining to bike use on OUR trails. All of us Lincoln residents pay trail fees. Opening our trails to out of town bike groups, I can agree could be going too far. But please respect multiple uses of our trails, especially when it involves trail respectful, Lincoln taxpayers. Based on my extensive experience using our trail system and being an avid mountain biker and Backcountry skier and hiker, those people similar to me are mostly incredibly environmentally conscious and very respectful of the trails and others using them and go out of their way to make sure that they are using proper etiquette and help maintain them for all. Here is a correspondence I recently sent to Michele following her post regarding public input: Hello Michele, Thank you for this heads up. I guess I've not been paying attention and did not know this was taking place and you were looking for public input. As an abbutter and steward of the conservation land and trail system in Lincoln for the past 24 years, I have always been bewildered by the mountain bike rules/ culture. My family hikes, skis and mountain bikes the trails and have done so for many years. And we do our share to help maintain and improve the land; picking up dog feces, litter and moving fallen trees off the trails to free up passage for all. I have done extensive research into mountain bikes damaging trail systems and there is really nothing definitive stating that's the case. The arguments made to keep bikers off trail systems seem to be agenda based for the most part. If anything, mountain bikers are mostly very environmentally conscious and careful to stay on trails and help pick up trash and disply appropriate etiquette. I have carefully mountain biked (accompanied by multiple past and present - at the time - town selectman - by the way) most every trail in this town and I never witnessed any of us doing any reckless or otherwise damage. A footprint and a horse hoof does the same or more impact from what I can see. Nothing against horses - I come from an equestrian family and love them. I will continue to bike, hike and ski Lincoln trails. Jane can only be in so many places 😉 Kind Regards, Scott Clary 617-968-5769 Oak Knoll Sent from a mobile device - please excuse typos and errors On Wed, Jun 1, 2022, 6:12 PM John Mendelson <johntmendel...@gmail.com> wrote: > I cant stay silent any longer. Our roads are unsafe and getting worse for > cycling and walking, particularly for children who are harder to see from > the SUV's that dominate our roadways. Our trails are plentiful and > relatively underused. To give 10% more access to give kids and other > cyclists seems like an incremental change, especially compared to what our > peer towns are doing. The sense of entitlement and "othering" of cyclists > on this forum is absolutely galling. Listen to yourselves. > > On Wed, Jun 1, 2022, 6:06 PM Mary Crowe <singri...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I would like to put in a word for horseback riders on the trails where >> we are allowed Bikes often run up behind my horse silently and as walkers >> have said there is no time to react. I have seen horses bolt from >> unannounced bikes or sudden shouts from bikers . We all need to share the >> trails but opening up to groups of bikers will only make trails less safe >> I have found that many of bikers are uninformed about trail etiquette or >> just too busy getting where they want to go to be courteous . That’s a >> problem for all of us who love Lincoln trails >> >> On Wed, Jun 1, 2022 at 1:01 PM Barbara Peskin <bpeski...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi Lincoln Talk, >>> I haven't had a chance to read all the comments but I know people have >>> mentioned that the Conservation Commission is meeting tonight to vote on >>> whether to enact proposed changes to trail use that include going from 8 to >>> 19 miles of trails for recreational bike use and giving permits to large >>> bike groups to use the trails and parking areas. >>> >>> As a 25+ year walker on Lincoln Trails and cherisher of nature on those >>> walks, my main concern with proposed changes is that it will invite metro >>> west bike groups to our trails and parking areas. I sent in a detailed >>> letter and attended both forums. I can't attend tonight but my hope is they >>> will postpone enacting changes and hear from more walkers and nature >>> cherishers. >>> >>> If you would like to get a copy of my letter which is in the public >>> record I'm happy to share it - it will give you more info. >>> >>> I've seen other wonderful arguments and letters asking to keep bike >>> groups off the trails for a variety of reasons as well. >>> >>> I'll close here with the thought that at the last forum one LIncoln >>> biker said he appreciates nature when biking on the trails alone - >>> unfortunately the proposed sweeping changes to the trail use all over town >>> is going to bring in bike groups - it's not about one or two Lincoln bike >>> riders. >>> >>> Thanks for listening. Please contact me if you would like more thoughts >>> on this. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Barbara >>> >>> -- >>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> Barbara Peskin >>> >>> *My Moments in Nature Photo Gallery: barbarapeskin.com >>> <http://barbarapeskin.com>* >>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. >>> Browse the archives at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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