Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are in the process of determining e-bike access on non-motorized roads and trails within their managed lands.
Now, they are asking for your input! This is part of the information-gathering process to help agencies draft an e-bike policy, which is due in September.
While we recognize that e-bikes can offer a way for people to enjoy the our state’s public lands, we have concerns over potential wildlife implications from expected increases in ridership and biking range on public lands.
Rather than a blanket state-wide policy, agencies need to take a location-specific, “look-before-we-leap” approach to e-bike policy that is careful to:
Minimize recreation overlap with important habitat and species range, especially for those that are sensitive to human disturbance.
Maintain and protect existing large unfragmented landscapes. These connected, disturbance-free habitats help wildlife persist, especially when displaced from recreation use in a nearby area.
Protect connectivity between quality wildlife habitat.
Collaborate with Tribes and other land managers to improve and adapt policy to better protect natural, cultural, and Tribal resources. This includes upholding Tribal treaty rights and interests.
Study increasing recreation use and intensity and monitor for any environmental impacts. This information can help land managers find wildlife and landscape thresholds of tolerance and can lead to finer scale management strategies.