"In recent weeks, we have unfortunately noticed that more illegal bike trails have been created in the Stösswald forest," complain the authors of a notice. The Stösswald is located on the northern slope of Mount Pilatus, the side of the mountain facing Kriens and Lucerne.

The rebuke on laminated paper continues: "In the current discussion about the creation of legal bike trails and a compatible coexistence of recreational use and nature conservation on the northern slope of Mount Pilatus, we consider this to be counterproductive." Message: The mountain bikers who ride the single trails are therefore harming their own cause, from which they should actually expect good things.
 
This is followed by a veiled threat of police checks and reports. The canton of Lucerne, the Lucerne Corporation (which owns the forest in the area), the Kriensnatur association (a sub-organization of Birdlife Switzerland), the Lucerne Hunting Association and the local hunting organization JG Höchberg sign the official logos.

Mountainbike Lucerne protests

This is a slap in the face for Mountainbike Lucerne, the organization that represents the interests of mountain bikers with a service mandate from the canton of Lucerne and is involved in the cantonal mountain bike strategy. President Andy Stalder emphasizes that many other mountain bikers were also annoyed by the notice.

In an open letter, the association's board criticizes: "(...) although we are part of the official strategy for mountain bike management in the canton of Lucerne, we have not been involved in the development of the Pilatus north slope for two years."

Two years ago, Mountainbike Luzern co-organized a workshop and motivated numerous Lucerne bikers to participate. However, no solutions were discussed there, only points of conflict were marked on a map. Since then, they have heard nothing more on the matter. "At the same time, road closures, warning signs and public messages that have not been agreed with us are increasing." This not only damages the dialog, but also undermines the commitment of Mountainbike Luzern.

In an interview with Ride, Stalder hints that this is the crux of the matter. "Some mountain bikers are already suspicious of us and think it's our fault that their secret trails are closed. This notice now gives the impression that we are involved in the ongoing discussions about a solution on the Pilatus, although this is not the case at all.
 
The question now is whether the "discussion about the creation of legal bike trails" referred to on the sign is still ongoing at all and, if so, between whom.

Bike network in the canton of Lucerne: the shawms sounded too early 

The beginnings of an answer can be found in a article in the Luzerner Zeitung (behind paywall) on the gossip at Pilatus. A spokesperson for the canton says that a cantonal strategy for mountain bike management is currently being developed with a network plan for bike trails. However, this does not mean that all existing or newly created illegal mountain bike trails can be tolerated. This is in response to the question of why Mountainbike Luzern is not involved if problems with illegal trails arise.

And the city of Kriens, on whose territory the Pilatus north slope is located, explains in the same article that the spatial analyses have been completed. An application is underway to make the project a federal New Regional Policy (NRP) project. Therefore, nothing can be published. For the spokesperson for the town of Kriens, Mountainbike Luzern therefore belongs to the public - and not to those working on the solution.

Almost exactly a year ago, the canton of Lucerne sounded the alarm when it declared coexistence to be the principle of mountain bike network planning. Of course, this still doesn't change the Forest Act, which prohibits riding on unpaved trails, which includes virtually all single trails. At the time, it seemed as if there was some movement in the discussion.

It is quite possible that the canton has made progress since then. However, the public only learns about this in the form of a laminated warning that this process, which is being conducted without the mountain bikers, is in danger. The mountain bikers' main offense: They don't put the mountain bike in the cellar and look for another hobby until the canton has created an official offer.