Robin Allen (who handles public relations for IMBA-SORBA) has posted an update on Facebook, since everyone is not on facebook, I am posting the information here. I do want to add one more thing - in the initial discussion they would allow a volunteer to earn a free annual pass if they did 40 hours of trail work per year. We were able to get that reduced to 20 hours at this point (and no still not adequate unless you think trail workers are worth $1.25 per hour) but it is a start. Here is Robin's report:
Robin Allen 4:11pm Jan 31
Hello SORBA members and friends in Georgia! I’m sorry that I didn’t get this out sooner, but I was on vacation the past two weeks. I’m back now, and I want to say a few words about the Georgia State Parks’ decision to charge $2 for mountain bikers to ride at Unicoi, Hard Labor, and Yargo State Parks. This position was discussed and developed by the your duly-elected SORBA Executive Board, with input from SORBA’s staff (that’s Darryl Glascock, Paul Farrow, Angela Allen, Tom Sauret, Walt Bready, and Robin Allen). This announcement is the official word on this matter from your SORBA leadership.
SORBA does not agree with the decision to single out mountain bikers for this discriminatory tax on mountain biking, and we do not approve of the method employed to enact the tax. SORBA was neither informed nor consulted about this tax before it was proposed. SORBA did attend the public meetings at Yargo and Unicoi, going on record with our thoughts on the issue. Despite our efforts (by “our” I mean all who attended the meetings and wrote comments), the tax has been adopted, and the tax, as with all taxes, will most-likely stay in place.
The story doesn’t end there, though. I mentioned in my postings before the meetings that SORBA hoped some good would come out of this process, and we still hold that hope. We are aggressively acting on that hope. SORBA is an advocacy organization, and working through situations such as this is what advocates do. SORBA has a vision bigger than the current state of mountain biking in Georgia’s State Parks. We want to share that vision; we want the GA State Parks Department to embrace and develop that vision, so that mountain biking in GA State Parks becomes the best darn mountain biking experience in the State. They have a lot of catching up to do, but we believe that with our help, they can do it.
After the public meetings, and before GA DNR handed down their decision, Tom Sauret wrote a letter to Tim Banks, Operations Manager for Georgia’s State Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Division. In response to this letter, Mr. Banks has scheduled a meeting with Tom on February 7th. The letter asks for a partnership with DNR in regards to creating and managing mountain biking in Georgia’s State Parks. We want a strategic plan and a Memorandum of Understanding to cover mountain biking in all state parks. The letter is posted below, towards the end of my message, as I have a few other things to say before you read that letter.
While SORBA works with DNR to improve the State of Mountain Biking in Georgia’s State Parks, there are things you can do, should do, and definite things we believe that you should not do, in regards to the new fee. Voicing your concern over this tax is important, and your concerns should be channeled to the proper people. Don’t flame and lash out, please. Be respectful, and make your points in a way to win your argument, not in a way to alienate the recipient. If mountain bikers don’t show a united front, we lose. Keep that in mind as you compose your remarks.
Address your remarks to the right people. Your elected officials need to hear from you, as does the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Board of Directors. Find your Georgia General Assembly Senator and Representatives online,
www.votesmart.org/officials/NA/G, and shoot them an email about this discriminatory tax. Contact the GA DNR Board online, as well.
www.gadnr.org/boardAdvocacy takes time. We will not see results overnight, but your voice will be heard, and we can make mountain biking in Georgia State Parks excellent. To borrow from the American civil rights struggle, keep your eyes on the prize. Stay focused, and work to make a brighter future for mountain biking.
Please let your SORBA Board and staff know if you have any questions or comments. We work for all our members, for all who want to see more and better mountain biking opportunities in the Southeast. Email comments@sorba.org or sorba.staff@sorba.org
Tom Sauret’s email to Tim Banks follows:
January 14, 2012
Tim Banks
Assistant Chief of Operations & Law Enforcement
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, S.E.
Suite 1352 East
Atlanta, GA 30334
Dear Mr. Banks:
RE: Mountain Biking Policy in State Parks
I want to thank you and State Parks for giving mountain bikers the opportunity to respond to the proposal to implement a new fee structure for using mountain bike trails. SORBA is not against pay-to-play as long as the system is fair and treats all users in an equitable fashion. SORBA has a keen interest in Georgia State Parks and would like to see them thrive. We understand in the current climate, State parks will make a change to its fee policy. However, we are concerned that the policy as you proposed, singles out mountain bikers, as other users on the same trail will not have to pay the new fees.
Although the main thrust of this letter is not to catalog and repeat specific comments made at the two public meetings, a suggestion regarding the new DNR policy did come our way. The proposed DNR policy would award a State Park Annual Pass to volunteers that have completed a certain number of hours of work on a trail. Why not base the value of the worker’s time on the same scale used by the Georgia Trails and Greenway Office scale when they calculate the value of volunteer labor tied to in-kind contributions for Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grants? This seems fair.
However, I did want to take this opportunity to remind you that SORBA desires to work more closely with Georgia DNR on mountain biking policy, as it does in several other states where we operate. Presently relationships between State Parks and bicycle advocates in the state are on a park-by-park basis, and no strategic collaboration or process has been established between SORBA and Georgia DNR. SORBA believes that collaborative strategic planning between SORBA and Georgia DNR will allow both organizations to more successfully allocate their resources to create excellent mountain biking in the State.
With nearly 1,500 members in Georgia, SORBA is in a unique position to offer volunteer help and expertise in regard to mountain bike trail. In addition SORBA has merged its operations with the International Mountain Biking Association, the world’s leader in all things mountain biking, and we now have support from the world’s best mountain bike trail designers. This support would benefit Georgia State Parks as the need for more and improved mountain biking destinations grows in the State. A closer working relationship between Georgia DNR and SORBA would result in a common vision, a strategic and coordinated approach to the development of off-road cycling in the state. SORBA recognizes that we can achieve more by combining and focusing our efforts towards the accomplishment of mutually beneficial programs and projects.
I am available for further elaboration at your convenience. Thank you again for your time and consideration.
Respectfully,
Tom Sauret
Executive Director, SORBA
Regional Director, IMBA