Funding secured for new bike trails

A published report in the?April 1 issue of BIKE Magazine,?by Nicole Formosa, said new?funding has been secured for?new bike trails in rural Nevada.?For Lincoln County, the $1.75?million means work can begin?on the first phase of building up?to 150 miles of new single-track?trails in the mountains surrounding Caliente.

The article notes, with the?help of grant-writing assistance?from Patrick Kell, director of?IMBA?s southwest region, ?the?city of Caliente secured nearly?$495,000 to put toward the?project, while the Bureau of?Land Management won $1 million. The money came from the?Southern Nevada Public Land?Management (SNPLMA) Act of?1998, which allows profits from?the sale of public land in Las Vegas to go toward recreation and?conservation projects in the?state. The $1.5 million in new?money is in addition to $250,000?that Nevada State Parks already?set aside to design and build 12?miles of single-track trails in?Kershaw-Ryan State Park.

Caliente mayor Stana Hurlbert said the city plans to use?its portion to build 3.5 miles of?single-track trails on city land,?a bike park, tot track, pump?track, jump lines, a skill course?and extra parking spaces. She?said a new building has already been built at Superpark,?which will be one of the beginning points for the bike system.?Hurlbert hopes the city projects?can be completed by the end of?this year.

In the meantime, the BLM?plans to build an additional 27?miles and two new parking lots?on public land surrounding?Caliente.

Formosa notes in the article,??When completed, the system?of 42 miles will link downtown?Caliente to the ridges that tower?above town at 9,400 feet above?sea level. The BLM is currently?wrapping up the permitting?process, and Kell expects the?project to get the final go-ahead?in the next couple of months.??I?d be very surprised if it was?declined,? he said. ?The response we have from all the?local folks and the BLM is that?everybody wants it to happen.?

It would be of major impact?to the economy of the community, and Kell is reported saying?he believes mountain biking?could be the ticket to tourism?and, eventually, the town?s rebirth. Local residents see the?possibility of maybe building?backcountry yurts that support multi-day rides or the potential for a high?school mountain biking league that gives?local kids the chance to discover a bigger?world through trails.

Kell has said even now he is turning?his attention to what he hopes will be the?next phase of trail development: an additional 50 to 100 miles of trails around Pioche that would take riders up to Highland Peak?the highest point in the area,?at 9,400 hundred feet?through nearby?Cathedral Gorge State Park and back to?Caliente.

?When you can look up at that Highland Range, it?s kind of like being in?Moab looking at the Whole Enchilada?and the La Sal Mountains,? Kell said in?the magazine article.

He expects IMBA trail builders to?break ground late this year on the initial 42-mile network, with the first trails?ready to ride in 2017.

Hurlbert said it is most fortunate?that the grant monies all came in at?the same time. ?We have been working?real hard as a partnership between the?city, Nevada State Parks, BLM, and Intermountain Bicycling for the past two?or three years in planning how to bring?a series of quality mountain bike trails?to Lincoln County that will attract a?much needed economic engine from