No one can deny that the Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS) have done a fantastic job of achieving their goals: In twelve years, the small group of dedicated volunteers has built nearly a hundred miles of mountain bike trail in Duluth. The city has been enthusiastically behind them all the way, starting with the Ness Administration and continuing under Emily Larson. No significant piece of city greenspace has been ignored in the quest to build mountain bike trails.
As the trails proliferate and the promotional write-ups in adventure magazines accrue, however, more and more of Duluth’s wild greenspace is disappearing: areas which don’t have any trails in them. Twelve years ago, we had an abundance of wild greenspace in the city. With a little work, you could easily find yourself in places that felt like they were in the middle of nowhere. Today, we have very little wild greenspace left. It has been systematically hunted down and eliminated by the mountain bike trail-builders, who have proven to be every bit as expert at their job as buffalo hunters exterminating buffalo.
The rapid disappearance of this unique Duluth resource has not been met with sadness, for the most part. Most people don’t even notice it is happening, and mountain bikers don’t value wild greenspace as a resource.
When I posted my original article on mountain bike trails, one Facebook follower commented, “This pace of development usually has unintended consequences (or intentional de facto marginalization of traditional users).” To which a mountain biker retorted, “There were no traditional users because there was no trail before.”
That is the mountain biker mindset: Greenspace without trails has no users. It’s useless.
Others may disagree. But this article is not a call to action. It’s too late for that. Twelve years ago, people saw a few miles of mountain bike trails being built by volunteers in the woods, and everybody thought it was great. Then we looked away, and by the time we looked back an industrial building operation had filled most of the city’s greenspace with little roads.
Here is what our greenspace looks like today.
These trails are awesome. Sure, looking at a map it looks like the whole woods is covered in trails but get out there and hike or bike those trails and you’ll see it’s beautiful out there. As far as wildlife goes, I have seen deer and rabbits in Hartley and on Amity Creek trails. I’ve seen a Fisher in Hartley and heard of several bear sightings in Hartley and Amity this summer. The trails are encouraging more people to get out and exercise and enjoy all the city has to offer and they are bringing in tourists from all over the country as word gets out how beautiful they are. I don’t see where they have destroyed any green space, only made it usable for more people.
Thank you COGGS. Keep up the great work. Love seeing kids/families spending quality time outdoors living an active and healthy lifestyle.
I feel that within just a couple paragraphs, the jig is up, and journalism goes out the window. Curmudgeon with a website, maybe. Opinion piece.
Correct. This is an opinion piece.
Any relation to John Stamos?
Jesus you have to be a baby boomer.
Of all the things to worry about in the world you’re worried about a three foot wide trail in the woods that gets people to come to this backwater and spend money where they otherwise wouldn’t.
Duluth is full of the worst idiots. Go see how subdivisions mow down swathes of forest in other parts of the country and get back to me.
I will be interested to see if future development along the lines of housing in Duluth’s green space results in the mountain biking community opposing it. That might slow down such development and, if so, give the semi-wild areas a little more protection. I admit I would be very unlikely to walk through miles of understory without following some sort of trail. I just hope the bikers could swerve around me if I ventured out there in “their” domain.