Better Living Through Trails The Power of Mountain Biking to Improve Your Community

Agenda!Introduction to IMBA

Value of Singletrack Trails

Best Practices for Building Community Trails

Economics of $ingletrack Trails

Best Practices for Creating Destinations

Success Stories

IMBA’s mission is to protect, create, and enhance quality trail experiences for

mountain bikers worldwide.

Subaru-IMBA Trail Care Crew Program

Trainers Community Organizers Designers Builders

IMBA specializes in uniting trail users and communities behind trail projects

Mountain bikers work with land managers to help accomplish agency goals

Trails encourage recreation and are community assets

IMBA helps communities develop trails tourism

IMBA and Singletrack Tourism

Why Trails?

•  Save Money, Improve the! Environment, and Boost the! Economy!

•  Economic Revitalization!

•  Community Transformation!

•  Safe Surroundings for! Active Lifestyles!

Save Money, Improve the Environment, and Boost the Economy!

Saves money by increasing the efficient use of public space, reducing the need for costly infrastructure, and improving the health of the community.

Improve the environment by reducing the impact of pollution and noise, limiting greenhouse gases, and improving the quality of public spaces.

Boost the economy by creating a community that is attractive for new residents, tourists and businesses.

Trails Revitalize!

Lanesboro-Root River Trail System-Southern Minnesota

I-5 Colonnade Bike Park-Seattle, WA-Reconnected Lake Union and Capital Hill Neighborhoods

Damascus, Virginia – Virginia Creeper Trail

Trails help revitalize neighborhoods, support local businesses and raise property values!

Community Transformation

Trails bring together people in a positive place. -City of Waco-Lanny French—Park Ranger

Well-designed trails transform "community" from an abstraction into a real place.

Safe Surroundings for Active Lifestyles

-Provide a positive place to recreate and exercise-if you build it they will come.

-Chance to escape the ’jar of streets’

Trails promote health and fitness by providing safe surroundings for families to

enjoy active lifestyles

Mountain Biking By The Numbers!

• More Than 1 in 5 Americans 16 and Over Mountain Bike (Over 50 Million People Total)

• By Number of Outings, Biking is the Favorite Outdoor Activity of American Kids age 6-17

• There are 1 1/2 Times More Mountain Bikers than Golfers in America

• The Voting Strength of Mountain Bikers is More Than 1 1/3 the Voting Strength of Americans Age 65 and Over

Community Benefits of Singletrack Trails!

•  Every $1 Invested in Trails Leads to Almost $3 in Direct Medical Benefit

•  Trails Provide Healthy and Safe Access to the Outdoors

•  In Southern Missouri 55% Trail Users are Exercising More Than Before They had Access to a Trail

•  Japanese Researchers Found That Having Access to Green Spaces Positively Influenced the Longevity of Older Citizens in Big Cities Rail to Trails Conservancy