The Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance (PMBA) has developed a robust working partnership with the United States Forest Service, Prescott National Forest (PNF). The result has been the maintenance and development of hundreds of miles of multi-use trails in the Bradshaw Ranger District. We are very proud of our partnership with PNF and thank them for their assistance.
We have also been advocating for bike-optimized, bike specific, gravity trails since 2013, and are pleased to now have a bike-optimized gravity-flow trail plan within the PNF.
The proposed trails are located in the Bean Peaks area, near the White Spar Campground, three miles south of downtown Prescott. The proposal is for the construction of 17-miles of new bike-optimized, gravity trails and associated trailhead improvements in the area. This new trail network would be the first of its kind in Arizona and we are very excited that it is proposed right here in Prescott!
The proposal is the result of an International Mountain Bicycling Alliance (IMBA) Trail Accelerator Grant (TAG) that was received by the City of Prescott (COP) and PMBA in 2020. The grant was to study the feasibility and design of mountain bike-optimized gravity/flow style trails. The IMBA TAG program provided 50% of the funds for the trail plan, with BikeSmith Cyclery and PMBA raffling a Pivot Switchblade mountain bike to raise the other 50% of the funds for the plan.
This project, now known as the “Bean Peaks Gravity Flow Trail”, was submitted for a comment period during the spring of 2022. To the best of our knowledge, it received mostly positive comments and support from the community.
The next step was to conduct an archeological study of the proposed area. PMBA partnered with the City of Prescott to fund this study, which is currently being done.
We expect to have the final report completed by the end of November, at which point (assuming no negative findings) it will be submitted to the Forest Service for final approval.
We will keep you posted as more information becomes available.
From our friends at USFS: The Prescott National Forest has been working with our trail partners collaboratively for over a decade and have authorized over 200 miles of new trail through the Greater Prescott Trails Planning process with the expectation that our partners and their volunteers would assist in the building and maintenance. The deal was and still is if our maintenance declines then our new construction will decline. PMBA has been one of the strongest volunteer forces and has proven that it can hold up their end of the bargain by not only building, but maintaining the 30 mile Spence Basin Trail System. The Forest is pleased to further our partnership with the City of Prescott and the Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance to bring additional and unique recreation opportunities to the Greater Prescott area.
