National Park Service Getting Around To eBike Regulations

More than six months after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt ordered the National Park Service to expand access for eBike users in the National Park System, the agency is getting around to drafting regulations for the motorized cycles and would soon seek public input. "E-bikes shall be allowed where other types of bicycles are allowed; and E-bikes shall not be allowed where other types of bicycles are prohibited," Bernhardt wrote in his order, released one late August evening last year. In issuing the order, Bernhardt said the decision "simplifies and unifies regulation of electric bicycles (eBikes) on Federal lands managed by the Department and also decreases regulatory burden." Currently, more than 380 national parks have evaluated eBike use in response to the NPS policy, the agency said. As eBikes become more popular both on and off National Park Service-managed lands, the agency has recognized the need to address this emerging form of recreation and active transportation in its regulations. The proposed regulation would define the term “electric bicycle” and allow superintendents to provide for eBike use. The issue of giving eBike users access to trails where muscle-powered bicycles can travel in the National Park System has been controversial. Opposition has been voiced by dozens of conservation groups, who fear permitting the motorized bikes on those trails will create a "slippery slope" that will lead to future problems with managing those trails...MORE