DENVER — The National Wildlife Federation urged the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to withdraw their proposals to allow motorized E-bikes on non-motorized trails. The proposals would cause safety issues on public trails and threaten wildlife and wildlife habitat.

“Allowing E-bikes on non-motorized trails will have significant impacts on elk, mule deer, songbirds and many other species. It will also escalate conflicts with other trail users and is likely to open the door to future motorization of America’s backcountry areas,” said Aaron Kindle, director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation. “Hunters, anglers, hikers and other outdoor recreationists have worked for decades to establish non-motorized trail networks, knowing full well that non-motorized areas provide critical refuge for many species of wildlife. These E-bike proposals — which were issued without conducting any impact studies — would undermine those trail systems.” 

More than 10,000 National Wildlife Federation members also wrote to the agencies, expressing their opposition. The members pointed out that E-bikes have motors. Trying to classify E-bikes as “non-motorized” is inconsistent with existing policies. Before setting a bad precedent and making a rule change to allow these electric motors on non-motorized trails, the public needs to know what the impacts could be on birds, wildlife and the lands they cherish.