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MWMTB or other organised trail advocacy?
So, getting little traction in organising anything here I'm wondering what my club MWMTB is doing for trail advocacy in sydney? (having paid my admittedly paltry fee...) From a pretty brief search on Farkin and the MWMTB website all I could see related to trail advocacy was that the MWMTB trail advocacy officer is Paul Lidgard. But what's he done with my $10 
We're really not very good at publicising what we do in this respect so I'm left frustrated and optionless to do anything useful other than write waste paper basket fillers to pollies.
Can anyone from MWMTB or elsewhere enlighten me as to anything that's actively being done or any other active organisation that concerned mountain bikers can get involved with? I'm not saying there isn't anything happening but it would be great to be told and to be able to offer some support...
Ta,
Matt.
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Lenny (Sammydogg) is NSWMTB's trail advocacy officer and is working to get things changed at policy level. Other people are also working hard on this.
Everyone else seems to be fighting their own little battles but what we need is a combined effort to get the cycling policy that directs the individual park policy to be reviewed. Until that happens we continue along as small groups fighting the same fight in different locations. They have us divided.
One thing we generally suck at is getting the information out to members.
It's a failing but generally speaking our organisations are made up of laid back volunteers. Until it effect you and the trails you personally riders tend not to get worked up enough to do anything.
Walkers, 4x4 and horse riders all seem to be much better at getting vocal when it come to trail advocacy and driving policy change.
On the organisational front, we have a group setup on this site for trail advocacy (yes, along with this forum), you can join it here if you are logged in:
http://nobmob.com/og/subscribe/2737
At the moment there are 117 members in there. It says, "If you join this group we will email you with news about trail advocacy, etc." as we can mass mail the members as appropriate.
It's agreed that all these separate groups and organisations around need to combine and form a unified plan to create change throughout NSW, if not the country. I was kindof hoping TerraCare would come along and take up the challenge, but they seem to have become busy and a bit quiet on this front.
It's clear there are plenty of passionate people out there, but someone has to find out what the best use of their efforts are.
Anyhow, if you care about this stuff please start by joining the group above, then at least we are prepared to move people when the time comes.
Also have trail access info here
http://www.mtba.asn.au/trails/?IntCatId=10 but it tends to stay with national issues
on the left there is an opt in link to the advocacy email group.
Communication and organisation from our cliquey little MTB club world sucks! I wonder how this is possible, we're good, numerous, motivated, intelligent people with resources at our disposal (people!) and yet we're losing trails??
I've been a member of MWMTB for about a year and can count the communications I've had on my fingers, and all of those were race related, and don't mention the website...
I'm sure that as you say small numbers of individuals are doing a fantastic job and to them all of us owe a debt and rarely acknowledge it, so thank you Lenny for what you're doing.
But... with a bit better coordination and information how much better could the results be? And for those politically minded club people just think how many more members might like to join up!
So how do we get organised? We need coordination and a forum for communication to/through the MTB community that is easy to navigate, easy to find (i.e. linked to by all clubs websites - how many now link to Terracare now say? Any?), up to date, well maintained and supported by the clubs and shops, I'll keep having a look around, I've not checked out NSWMTB for advocacy yet, I don't have the skills to help much yet but I know people who do... If I can't find anything encouraging I'll start by reading the IMBA books so I at least know what I'm on about and see what that leads to.
Matt.
FWIW, Paul is also listed on the TerraCare contacts page so is in a good position to be in the thick of this. Paging Paul - where are you?
Thinking about this more, TerraCare are the obvious choice to co-ordinate any lobbying, I would hope to be able to pass on any Trail Advocacy members list we form here to them in the end.
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"We need coordination and a forum for communication to/through the MTB community that is easy to navigate, easy to find (i.e. linked to by all clubs websites - how many now link to Terracare now say? Any?), up to date, well maintained"
True one of my goals with NSWMTB is to set out a spot within our website that contains a IMBA style repository that deals with Aussie and NSW specific issues. ideally this would have info on trial building, grants, how to deal with land managers, positive outcomes to refer too.
We have recently recieved some dollars to go toward this sort of stuff.
The main issue now is that everyone is overworked as it is so finding the time to get everything together and up and running is a stumbling block. anyone with the time, ability and drive to get this happen would be most welcome.
Magic, so, what skills are the clubs/orgs short of? With the user group here there must be hundreds who could lend some time/effort to help out. I'm a financial bod so not use to anyone but happy to learn if there are particular things that can be picked up? I have an IT degree that's collecting dust somewhere along with my knowledge of anything current...
How would anyone who thinks they can help out get in touch?
Ta,
Matt.
i think it is just a time and effort thing. we need bods that can gather the info together. Pulling in articles off the net, resarching funding grants and the like, ring around allthe different clubs to see what they have in their system, I know CORC has a bunch of stuff Hunter would have stuff as would just about every other club... it's all there but everytime a club comes across an access issue it's like we reinventg the wheel and have to start from stratch.
If we had somewhere anyone could go and see "this is how they got around problem x here" it would make things a lot easier.
From there we could get a mail group and advocacy arm going in full swing.
Anyone interested pm me or bounce me an email to ctmbc2 at gmail.com and we'll see what we can cook up
This comment has been moved here.
Hi guys,
Been a lurker here for a while but haven't signed up til today....
In response to the initial post, yes, MWMTB are active in local trail advocacy. The most prominent success story being the Manly Dam xc loop & the club's involvement in its management/maintenance. The club also has a number of other trails that are used for race events, such as the Arcadia and St Ives xc courses. In addition, the club is supporting the 'legalising' of a local jump park. However, there is more work to do, especially since Nat Parks seem to have cracked down on the Oxford Falls trails.
Paul is active in the trail advocacy role & I was in correspondence with him regarding local trail issues just this last week. The wheels are in motion with discussions with relevant regulatory authorities ongoing at present, however, these things do take a bit of time. Paul is also rather busy at the moment with the preparation of a 10 year plan for Manly Dam. Hopefully there will be something to report in the near future as there are a few possibilities for trails in the Warringah area being explored at present......
Dave Yonge
DH Coordinator
MWMTB
That's exactly what the members need to know, keep the info coming please and feel free to ask for help if you need it.
What exactly do councils do? They maintain facilities and infrastructure... no brainer.
So the ratepayers pay the council, this enables council to maintain.
Councils receive grants and funding for various initiatives that meet govt initiatives and benefit users outside their area....
If the track was revived to a level where events could be held, council would not only gain publicity for the events AND for providing maintained space for families to exercise but may also receive some further financial assistance with maintenance from entry/hire charges (sensible of course).
They spend a lot of money maintaining the horse trails, the whole park out there is mowed and kept tidy. And reports on this site (mine included) indicate that there has been no horse sightings or even any poop.
Why user pays? Cmon. Horse owner have more money than bike riders and they dont seem to pay.
I am not sure I see a problem? Lets help them get a working model in place.
Keep lobbying!!
I am keen to see this one get some support. Let me know if I can help.
Craig
The western sydney parklands are no longer in Fairfield Council control...they do not even have a seat on the new Trust Board. So the opportunity is that the MTB clubs can now advocate to a Board of Trustees that are charged with overlooking the parklands.
My experience is that these trustees can be very 'bean counterish' about running these parklands (ie Parramatta Park Trust)..but they do carry more weight and influence when it comes to lobbying the state gove for funds (ie grants etc). From the info I can find Council did not enter into agreements with track users (eg. clubs etc) to help maintain the track!..maybe that is something the new trustees may look more positive on.
In the name of lobbying does anyone who has been into MTBeing for a while know if any of our western sydney polies (or any pollies at all really) are into MTBeing?..it would be great to get some political champions on board for this one. These parlands are equal to Centennial Park, Bicentennial Park, Parramatta Park and even Royal National Park....my view is that if the MTB advocates do not get into their face early they will be forced out by other stakeholders....maybe I am just a little to neurotic!@!!!