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North Shore Times: Conservation before recreation in parks
Pretty nasty headline for a pretty poor write up of last week's events:
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Appalling write up. I feel a rant coming on...
For a start, it assumes Mountain Bikers and Environmentalists are mutually exclusive groups, when nothing could be further from the truth.
As a group that actually spends time in, and appreciates the bush, most of us are far more environmentally aware than the so called "greenies" of Newtown and Marrickville who only ever see native wildlife in the pages of the Green-Left Weekly.
Secondly, in reference to the headline, bushwalking is also a form of recreation in the park. Do we fence the whole thing off to everybody like some sort of modern day biodome?
Third thing - reports I saw on here said overall the meeting was fairly constructive - hardly a "clash". The article makes it sound like feuding factions had to be separated with water cannons!
Lastly - the headline implies that conservation and recreation are two completely incompatible outcomes.
In fact the opposite can be true. By providing for sustainable recreation activities in the park, it maintains the perceived relevance and value of the park to the community. The park is then treated as an important asset by the community.
Alternatively, the park becomes out of sight, out of mind, basically irrelevant, so that no one cares in 30 years time when a developer wants to turn it into a housing estate.
I guess I expected an unbiased open view of our meeting. By the way the reporter was scribbling away I expected a more thorough account.
I really do think that we should offer our services to do a survey one sat of all who use the firetrails, however it would need to be sanctioned by the NPWS and maybe have a few other user groups volunteer their services so we cannot be accused of bias.
Here is my response which I posted to the NST article..
I have posted a complaint on the NS Times website highlighting their negative sensationalism. I doubt it will appear after moderation, but again the weight of numbers of complaints can raise the issue and perhaps next time they will revise their thoughts. Although probably not......
Cheers
Sly
In particular, complaiend about the confusion of us with moto riders, and the aggravatingly stupid assumption that mountain bikers are not also environmetnalists.
A key thing to remember when responding to these matters is that the manner of our response matters probably more than the content. How we conduct ourselves reflects directly on our sport.
Bottom line: Keep it polite, civil and respectful at all times, lest we give the opposition ammunition.
I also commented something about sensationalism and the author's irresponsible use of media to inspire conflict which does not even exist. The meeting went smoothly. There was a lot of love in the room.
there was much love noel - but mainly from mtb rider to mtb rider..