Mtn. bikers blast fee plan at Ft. Yargo

As soon as March, bikers would have to pay $2 per day or $25 annually to use trails for mountain biking. The fee is in addition to regular park passes that cost visitors $5 per day or $50 annually.

To make sure everyone pays, the state’s proposal also calls for bikers to be required to check into the park’s office every time they plan to ride the trails. They will have to obtain a special bike tag and sign a liability waiver form. However, runners and walkers would not be charged for their use of the mountain bike trails.

Bikers at the meeting, however, expressed strong opposition not only to the additional cost, but also to the principle of the matter.

“This hurts,” said Steve Gordon of Statham, who with his brother Randy founded the Yargo Area Bikers Association around 2004. That group, at little or no cost to the state, built the park’s 13-mile mountain bike trail.

“I can’t begin to explain how much it hurts, because we built these trails,” he said. “We did – not the park. We built these trails. Nobody else. Mountain bikers, all of y’all, we built these trails.”

For the full story, see the Jan. 11 issue of the Barrow Journal.