Germany intends to bring a new Federal Forest Act into force in 2024 that will apply to all federal states. Interest groups and associations are currently submitting their comments and proposals. In the German mountain bike community, the new basic program of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu) has caused a stir. Nabu, founded in 1899, claims to be the largest environmental association in Germany with over 900,000 members. Its word carries weight.

According to media reports, Nabu is demanding that sporting activities such as mountain biking should only be practised on specially marked trails. This would be a significant restriction on the right to ride mountain bikes on trails in most federal states. When asked by the German magazine bike, a representative of Nabu explained that it sees illegal trails as a problem. The wording "only on specially marked trails" is a glitch.

Amazing selection of studies

Interestingly, Nabu bases its argument on a study that was carried out in Switzerland during the coronavirus restrictions. However, this study is not about how mountain biking affects nature, but whether visits to the forest increased or decreased during the lockdown. The result: the urban population went to the forest more often, the rural population less often.

Heiko Mittelstädt from the German Mountain Bike Initiative DIMB responded with a study from the biking stronghold of Freiburg, which also did not focus on environmental impact, but whether forest visitors felt disturbed during the German lockdown - 60 percent experienced predominantly or exclusively positive encounters and only 5 percent negative ones. He explains that, to his knowledge, mountain biking had a comparable impact on nature and the landscape. The nationwide wording "cycling is permitted on roads and paths" in the forest should therefore be retained.