IMBA

I gather there are mixed feelings in regards to IMBA by some. I for one have wondered about the effort or even horsepower that IMBA has in regards to protecting our land from being swallowed by Wilderness Land Grabs and the development of continued Trail Network systems...
So I emailed them and shared my concerns...
They responded by Patrick Kell asking me to call him.

At first I must admit I caught myself a bit on the attack. My frustration in the first couple of questions did get me a bit on the offense.
I asked about what he knew about the 70,000 acre Wilderness grab going on in Santa Clarita, he was not aware of it. Then I asked about the Idaho Wilderness snatch. He said they did what they could. I asked him about his relationship with a Congressman (name withheld at this time) and he was not immediately aware of who I was referring to. I began to feel I was getting ramped up. He then stated he felt he was being attacked. I think he was right.

"Rarely anyone" Patrick stated, "Calls us up or sends and email or gives the proverbial "High Five" when we accomplish something great. But they often contact us when we lose a battle, or choose not to fight one."

He stated, "Which do we choose to fight? A Wilderness Bill which will add more land that equates to less than 2% of the potential National Forests that exists in North America and could take 10 years to fight, or work with those that want us in their neighborhood and are actually willing to pay us to build quality trail networks in the next 2 to 3 years?

I couldn't really argue that. Patrick stated that he has so many awesome projects going that he has to put some great ones on the back burner for a couple years and get back to them. He says on the advocacy side as well, he is drinking from a fire hose.

Then he asked me if I was an IMBA member and I said that I used to be. But stopped when I stopped racing. He asked if I was going to rejoin and I said I would need to see more positive results to know I am placing my money in the right hands.
He then said, yeah, that is how mountain bikers are. Want results and then are willing to fund the effort.

Patrick stated their are 4.5 MILLION Conservancy Members all paying their annual dues and making donations on top of that on an annual basis. They have 12 full time lawyers in Washington.

We have a hit and miss 40,000 Members and have 1 part time lawyer in Washington. I see his point.

So when you actually start to look at what IMBA HAS been doing you begin to realize they do a lot and my discussion with Patrick really helped my perspective.

Here are some links he provided:
IMBA on Facebook
IMBA SouthWest on Facebook
Patrick Kell IMBA Blog

Articles on IMBA's work out in Caliente Nevada:
Article 1
Article 2:

So if we truly want a stronger support group, IMBA is a valid choice. But they need strength in membership and the funding that comes from membership.
I'm going to rejoin....are you going to support IMBA?

 

Nice work. I'm a member, and, I get frustrated with them sometimes, and I totally get that some people have given up on them.

I look at it this way, you spend thousands of dollars on a bike, x amount on equipment... $30 for IMBA? Join SHARE save 10% at the Path, I saved $160 on my new bike... One way to look at it... and still have someone doing something...

 

IMBA/CORBA member. At least I can throw funds at the problem.
Join. You might get a t shirt. ..or some socks!

 

I am a member. They are great trail advocates. They lack power and funding, but I am a fan of their building and trail maintenance approach - fun and sustainable trails. I understand they can't take on and/or win every battle, but they are the best hope we have at this time. If you can ride a $5000 bike, you can kick in the membership fee.

 

I am an IMBA member as well now that our San diego club is a chapter. I've met Patrick a few times and I think he is doing a good job with all the projects he is involved in. This wilderness designation came up quickly and quietly and unfortunately we can't expect IMBA to be aware of everything, IMBA actually has a very small staff for a national org. Nor would I expect riders to like everything IMBA does or their approach.

But here in Socal it is really important to get involved in advocacy any way you can because we have an incredibly difficult environment for getting access to trails - massive population, never-ending development, strict environmental laws and lawyered up conservationists. We would have much better access if we had a lot of people actively fighting for trails in each local area. Not everyone has enough time, so the next best thing is to at least join your local club - IMBA membership is included if it is a chapter. This at least gives both IMBA and your club numbers and funds. If you don't want to join for whatever reason you can still advocate for bikes by getting in touch with local land managers and offering to help. They appreciate and respect people who are willing to volunteer time to help and they will listen to you when issues come up.

 

I just want to repeat the message implied in Mikie's post for emphasis, that if you were or are currently an IMBA member just because you're a mtn biker or in a club that's a chapter, yet don't know exactly what they do, please spend a few hours to find out what they have done. There's little sense donating to them when you have little to no clue as to what they do, other than what their mission's bottom line is. That's not too far off from just giving away money, and you probably might just stop donating because that's what you think you're doing. You can start off on their blog, then Google "IMBA success", then Google "IMBA needs support", and go from there.

 

Mikie mcg & me are attending the IMBA summit in mammoth next month. . Looking forward to it.. thank you!

 

Mikie W, IMBA is more of a national/international organization with local chapters. CORBA is our local chapter and Steve Messer (OTB's Kanga) is the president and really active on issues that affect us locally. Scroll down this CORBA page to see some of the developments on the Castaic area and some of the proposals for trails and such.

http://corbamtb.com/news/

You can always ask Steve or Hans (OTB's El Presidente). They seem to always have great intel on the situation.

 

Yes, I met Steve at the last meeting and his heart is in the right place...