No one group should be allowed to dominate the park

Published 10:08 am Thursday, August 12, 2010

My family has been using the Banner Forest for over 20 years. During this timem all users — bicyclists, horse riders and hikers (and years ago even motorcyclists) — seemed to get along.

Now we’ve apparently come to a place were one group of users seems to think anything goes.

If the mountain bikers are, in fact, organizing work parties that are cutting down trees and building unauthorized obstacles, is this not a criminal act?

One attendee (at a recent meeting of the Banner Forest Stewardship Committee) was quoted as saying it’s the mountain bikers who use and maintain the park.

Is it maintenance to build unauthorized trails and obstacles and cut down trees?

Maybe the county should be looking at this as a criminal matter as well as a liability issue.

Using their logic — that Banner Forest is public land to be used as anyone sees fit — is not beneficial to the park or any public land.

If I decided I wanted to use Banner Forest for my firewood needs, would I be free from criminal prosecution to cut down trees?

I think probably not.

If the mountain bikers want a place to build and maintain trails and obstacles for their use, they should come up with a plan and go to the county like any other group.

A dedicated area within the park would at least keep this growing destruction of our park contained to one area.

As it is now, all these new trails are becoming a scar on the park.

SCOTT FARVER

Port Orchard