This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Polls and surveys are not always required to determine what people want. Sometimes actions speak for themselves.
The Cedar City Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management is holding a public open house Nov. 20 to provide details for a new mountain bike trail system on BLM lands east of Cedar City.
"We saw people pioneering trails. Some are sustainable and some are not," said Dave Jacobson, outdoor recreation planner at the Cedar City BLM office. "People showed they have a desire for more trails. So we started having the conversation with mountain bikers about what was doable."
The result is a proposal for more than 100 miles of public mountain biking trails. The first 20 miles could be completed in 2015 if everything goes as scheduled.
The trails would connect with existing paved trails in Cedar City, providing easy access to locals, college students and visitors to the Utah Shakespeare Arts Festival. The new trails also could be considered for use during the popular Utah Summer Games held annually in Cedar City.
"We are definitely seeing a growing number of people interested in mountain biking in our community," said Ben Davidson, chairman of the Cedar City Trails Commission.
The BLM hired the International Mountain Bicycling Association to design the trail system and make it friendly for beginners while at the same time exciting for hard-core riders.
Plans include a downhill one-way flow section and a skills park located near one of the trailheads.
Roughly 15 miles of existing trails could be incorporated into the system, but the other 85 or so miles would be constructed using BLM recreation fees and grants or sponsorships.
Jacobson said the open house will allow the public to help decide which trails should be worked on in 2015. The BLM plans to try to build 20 miles each year for five years to complete the system.
The open house is from 6 to 8 p.m. in room 141 of the Sharwan Smith Student Center on the Southern Utah University campus.
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman