Paper 2 Mountain Bike Recreation Management Plan

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: Moun­tain Bik­ing Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan

   for Badenoch and Strathspey

Pre­pared by: Car­o­lyn Robertson, Pro­ject Man­ager Pur­pose: To review the aims of the Moun­tain Bik­ing Recreation

    Management Plan for Badenoch and Strathspey, developed as part
    of the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, in the context of other
    access takers and recreational user groups

Advice Sought: The For­um is invited to give its advice on the fol­low­ing points:

1. Think­ing about the deliv­ery and com­mu­nic­a­tion of the Moun­tain Bik­ing Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan for Badenoch and Strath­spey, what needs to be con­sidered regards oth­er access takers and recre­ation­al user groups?

2. What oppor­tun­it­ies exist to use the Moun­tain Bik­ing Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan for Badenoch and Strath­spey as an example to inspire and enable com­munity-led action by oth­er recre­ation­al user groups?

Back­ground In 2020, a sur­vey of 388 moun­tain bikers who ride in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, found that almost all feel respons­ible for the envir­on­ment they ride in and are will­ing to change beha­viours to help pro­tect the envir­on­ment. You can read the full sur­vey res­ults at www.cairngormscapercaillie.scot

In response to these find­ings, a group of over 20 riders from the Cairngorms Nation­al Park came togeth­er to help turn this con­sensus into action and cre­ate a plan to help the moun­tain bik­ing com­munity to enhance and pro­tect the envir­on­ment it enjoys.

The group of riders, who rep­res­ent a range of rid­ing abil­it­ies and interests and include bike shop own­ers, moun­tain bike guides and mem­bers of the Badenoch & Strath­spey Trail Asso­ci­ation, took part in a series of action plan­ning work­shops in early 2021.

Through this pro­cess the group have become more informed about caper­cail­lie; been able to identi­fy poten­tial solu­tions; and have agreed a goal and a set of actions to help deliv­er win-wins for caper­cail­lie and the moun­tain bik­ing community.

The goal and actions are now known as the Trail Feath­ers pro­ject. The pro­ject is fun­ded and facil­it­ated by the Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject and Devel­op­ing Moun­tain Bik­ing in Scot­land with sup­port from the Badenoch and Strath­spey Trail Association.

Moun­tain Bik­ing Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan for Badenoch and Strath­spey As part of the Trail Feath­ers pro­ject all moun­tain bike trails in Badenoch and Strath­spey have been digit­ally mapped along­side caper­cail­lie data and oth­er envir­on­ment­al inform­a­tion, e.g. des­ig­nated areas, to pro­duce a Moun­tain Bik­ing Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan for Badenoch and Strath­spey. The plan is designed to:

1. Enable data driv­en decisions about trail devel­op­ment, main­ten­ance and pro­mo­tion in Badenoch and Strath­spey to ensure moun­tain bik­ing recre­ation devel­ops sus­tain­ably and sens­it­ive hab­it­ats and spe­cies are safeguarded.

2. Enable the moun­tain bik­ing com­munity, land man­agers and agen­cies to com­mu­nic­ate more effectively.

3. Enable great­er levels of respons­ible access by the moun­tain bik­ing com­munity in Badenoch and Strath­spey includ­ing res­id­ent and vis­it­ing riders.

To achieve these aims the plan includes the fol­low­ing man­age­ment options: ☐ Form­al Trail Area: E.g. Lag­gan and Glen­liv­et trail centres Com­munity Trail Area: an area close to a com­munity which serves the community’s recre­ation­al needs. Agree­ments between the moun­tain bike com­munity and the respect­ive land manager/​s may be required to ensure the area func­tions sus­tain­ably, e.g. High Burn­side Sens­it­ive Area: an area with addi­tion­al man­age­ment needs to ensure sens­it­ive hab­it­ats and spe­cies are safe­guarded. Routes may be well estab­lished and accep­ted or inform­al and unau­thor­ised. Whilst access is already tak­ing place by moun­tain bikers under SOAC, addi­tion­al guid­ance is required which needs to be fol­lowed so that access can remain SOAC com­pli­ant and sustainable.

To date, Forestry and Land Scot­land, Seafield & Strath­spey Estates, Rothiemurchus Estate, NatureScot, CNPA and RSPB have been con­sul­ted on the plan indi­vidu­ally and through the pro­cess of two open con­sulta­tion ses­sions with mem­bers of the Trail Feath­ers group. Through this pro­cess the plan has been developed, and rela­tion­ships and great­er levels of under­stand­ing between those involved have also been achieved.