The DCR just announced that this season's Spring mud ban is over. The signs are in the process of being taken down, but the Fells are open to bikes despite any remaining mud ban signs you may run into. I am personally very pleased to see that the "as needed" ban wasn't just an excuse to have longer bans, but that they can also lead to shorter bans as well. Now, if only that mud ban would be fairly applied to all trail users . . .

The DCR has released an updated set of rules and etiquette for the Fells, based on the results of the Resource Management Plan. These rules are posted on our Information page:
fellsbiker.com/information

I just got notice from the DCR, the Fells RMP has been approved. The RMP now IS the plan. While it saddens me that the rules are still very unfairly biased against bikes, even the biggest pessimist can't deny, the rules are significantly less unfair than they were a month ago. The DCR has said again and again, that the RMP is a living document. The last 'living document' was set in stone for some 25 years. I hope this one turns out to be more flexible than that.

The DCR has released their final version of the Fells Resource Management Plan.

You can download a copy of the plan here: Fells RMP

The public comment period for the DCR's Fells Resource Management Plan officially ended last week. The DCR has posted all comments on their website. They have not posted any analyzation of the comments yet, just the raw comments. I did not read all of the comments, but I did spend a little while browsing through them. I was kind of disheartened to see so many comments that were clearly based on misinformation propagated by the FoF. I hope that the DCR is not going to count comments that are against biking for reasons that are false, like that they don't want trails in the Fells to be bikes-only. The only group to ever mention bikes-only trails are the Friends of the Fells. The Fof shouldn't be rewarded for their underhanded tactics.

You can download the public comments from this page, on the top-right corner:
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/rmp/rmp-midfells.htm

There are less than two weeks left to send your comments to the DCR. If you don't know, the DCR is seeking public comments on their Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Fells. The plan and other useful links are posted on the FellsBiker.com home page. The RMP is good, but it's too restrictive towards bike access. It is very important for every biker to read the RMP and send the DCR your comments.

The "friends" of the Fells have been running a huge misinformation campaign regarding the RMP. They've been making wild anti-bike-biased claims about the RMP, and even creating new misinformation websites about mountain biking. It is very important that mountain bikers balance out the FoF's craziness with some good old fashioned intelligent reasonableness.

Please spread the word to every biker you know that rides locally. We need a huge push, with as many comments sent to the DCR as possible!!!