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Rotorua - Taniwha National DH and other trails to be logged starting next week!!
See Rotorua Mountain Bike Club - Whaka Forest Harvesting
Logging will kick off next week and will run until November.
- Bunny Jugs 2, and the lower section National Downhill will be logged out. They will disappear as we know them forever.
- Permanently Closed during this period will be all the DH trails below Hill Rd and Bunny Jugs 2.
- Temporarily Closed during weekdays (4am-4pm) Spring Roll, Sweet and Sour and the lower section of Corners. Trails will be reopened when logging has moved more than 100m away.
I feel for anyone who has planned a DH trip for any time this year. Once the logging is finished they will need to rebuild the trail before they can reopen it top to bottom.
I would have expected more than 1 weeks notice!
I've had money down on my October trip for more than 4 months, it's got me nervous about putting money down on any further trips.
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Less than ideal with only a weeks notice, but if you have a car there are some great trails around lake Taupo, a mate of mine who went over rode some and rated them pretty highly, obviously not rotorua riding but as something different they look pretty awesome. I have only spent half a day at rotorua which as an NZer is not good enough!!!
http://www.biketaupo.org.nz/on-your-bike.html
Fair enough that they need to log, as it's a working forest after all, and that's why we've been given access.
However, mountain bike tourism now brings more money to the local economy than forestry operations, and uncertainty about whether favourite trails will still exist is going to turn people off booking and encourage them to book elsewhere, maybe even not in New Zealand at all.
More notice and better communication about logging and trail restoration operation is vital to prevent damage to local tourism operators' interests and local employment.
Aaron, maybe a letter to a local newspaper might be in order? Better coming from you as you're the party directly affected.
Yeah that's kinda where I was heading with tourism.
The RMBC have put up a few responses which put a bit of clarity around it all, but I will be following up with them offline to put forward concerns as a regular visitor and financial contributor to their trail development.
Southstar Shuttles put up a post today advising that the Corners / Jumps Block will be harvested this time next year.
IMO that's a pretty big deal so I'm very happy to have found that out now. That will dictate when or if I go back in the second half of next year.
I also shot off an email to Southstar and the RMBC thanking them for the info and asking if they could have a permanent section on their websites for forward planning around forestry work.
... indeed. That's one of their most memorable trails. 5km of non-stop berms. I shudder to think how much work went into that trail.
it will be clear felled like the block Tickler and B Rude Not 2 are on as it is old growth and not pine.
I envisage selective logging and whilst yes there will undoubtedly be damage to the trail I don't think it will be gone forever.
That said I am not in NZ Forestry so I could just be talking out my (*)
If memory serves me well, B Rude Not 2 was old growth before it was cleared.
As awesome as the rebuilt version is, it simply does not compare to what it used to be before the 2011 clearing. It felt like being on a speeder on the forest moon of Endor
I didn't get the chance to ride it before it was cleared, but I felt B Rude Not 2 didn't quite live up to the expectations I had from sources like the guys at Flow. It was a bit meh, but maybe I wasn't going fast enough. It got more interesting when we got back into the trees.
The old growth sections, though, *were* just like speeding thru Endor.
Billy T, G-Rock and Split Enz - loved them. Corners was awesome, but my back was protesting rather loudly by the time I got to the bottom. (Damn desk job!)
To be fair Forestries business is harvesting wood, not supplying trails. Hopefully it will offer the opportunity to build fresh trails. It's never good to loose favorite trails but new trails every 10 years or so rather than flogging the same old trail for eternity may not be such a bad thing