Those who want to build a small trail network in the Bireggwald forest definitely have some heavy lifting to do. The city and canton of Lucerne and the municipality of Horw announced years ago that they wanted to see the project realized so that mountain biking on the small hill on the border of the two municipalities could be steered in an orderly fashion and - it was hoped - peace and quiet would return.

In 2022, Andy Stalder, President of Mountainbike Luzern and Imba Switzerland, expressed the hope that construction could begin in 2023. "The project was held up with objections of up to 30 pages," he says. The mountain bike representative explains that they responded to these with statements to the objectors, who then reasserted their accusations.

Critical questions about such projects are part of the business, not least for local politicians who represent the interests of environmental protection. Urs Steiger, a Green Party member of the Horw residents' council (member of parliament), has submitted an interpellation with 13 questions to the municipal council. These provide an overview of the objections that opponents of the project have already raised after the plans were published. The interpellation and the answers are available to Ride. 

In essence, Steiger questions the scale of the project with four descents and two cross-country trails and fears that this could attract mountain bikers from outside the area in addition to local mountain bikers. He also wants to know how the other user groups have been included in the project planning and seems to doubt that the various interests have been weighed up appropriately. He is also concerned about the habitat of the animals in the Bireggwald forest and seems to be bothered by the fact that commercial bike guides could guide guests along the public trails in the Bireggwald forest for a fee in the future, as well as the fact that some of them are among the initiators of the project.

Clear answers from the municipality of Horw

The answers from the Horw municipal council leave no doubt that it is convinced that it is doing the right thing with the pending building permit for the project (and its financial support). Bikes are also being built without official routes, but in a totally uncontrolled manner. The other users have been informed and taken note of in half a dozen events. The municipalities and the canton are prepared for conflicts, the frequency measurement is already underway and a usage target or maximum usage is not part of the project. For the municipal council, it is also clear that wild animals have long had to live with the situation in the Bireggwald recreational area, which is not only used intensively by mountain bikers, and that nothing will change if illegal single trails are replaced by legal ones.

The fact that bike guides offer riding technique courses on the public trails and earn money with them is not a problem for the municipal executive. Why should it be? That's exactly what hiking guides and car driving instructors do. If they pay for it, then it's through income or profit taxes, and not for the use of trails or roads. The Horw executive does not even address the underlying suspicion that guides could use the project to generate income at the expense of the public purse. If someone has a business plan based on the trail network in Bireggwald, they will need a lot of patience before they can generate revenue for the first time.

Andy Stalder interprets the answers as an indication that the municipality of Horw will approve the planning application. The decision will be delivered after the summer break. An appeal can then still be lodged against it. "If we're lucky, the opponents of the project will take the extremely clear answers from the municipality as a sign that their objections will be unsuccessful and will only cost money." But the bike lobbyist is under no illusions.

Appeals are to be expected - perhaps all the way to the Federal Supreme Court

Oppeals against the decision of the municipality of Horw would be dealt with by the Administrative Court, which would have to deal with the questions that the municipalities have just answered. Stalder estimates that it will take six months for this court to rule. "If the opponents take this decision to the Federal Supreme Court, it will be another year and a half," he calculates, who also has experience with building permit procedures as an architect.

Are he and his fellow campaigners running out of steam? "If we only had this project, then maybe we would. But no, there's so much going on at all levels and there's always a success somewhere." He gives an example: In September, the other user groups will take a stand on the mountain bike strategy of the canton of Lucerne. Stalder is a bike representative on the working group that formulated the strategy. "Those organizations that can have their say in the echo chamber have the short end of the stick," he is convinced, adding: "The canton is obliged by the Federal Cycle Path Act to plan and build cycle routes for recreational use, i.e. mountain bike routes."

The aim of the strategy is, among other things, to ensure that projects such as the one in Bireggwald can be approved more quickly in future. But Andy Stalder also knows: "It can only happen quickly if tourism decision-makers are behind it. It will always be tough in the local recreational areas of cities."