ChrisHeadleand

As another quick point... Do you know what % of our countryside is considered an SSSI? I can promise you it is a tiny proportion of the UK outdoors so why cant we just move on somewhere else? Its not as if we are short of trails or the people to build them....

Guys, I love riding... and I love my local trails but some of the childish posts on here have made me feel a little ashamed of the community. I have worked closely with the Forestry commission and Natural England on many occasions and they certainly are not out to ruin anyone's fun. Quite the opposite, in areas where there is no SSSI most regional bodys will encourage it. I know two people who have spoken to natural England and been advised as to how to get seizable grants to help them build trails. Despite what some people may think there are sites where creating drops, gaps and jumps will have a seriously detrimental effect, and unless you know why that place is an SSSI you cant be certain. It may not matter what you do to the trees, the ground can be just as easily effected. Changing an ecosystem in anyway can be harmful, the compacting of soil is one sure fire way to damage an eco system that requires high levels of soil aeration. So why do ecosystems need to be protected? The simple fact is that everything being connected we don't know what knock on effects any succession will have. Look at the situation globally with bees at the moment... I'm not saying that one track in the wrong place will kill off the world, but thousands of activity's in the wrong places globally will have a serious effect so the line needs to be drawn somewhere unfortionatly for us NE has drawn the line here.. We are all outdoor sports men/women, whether we freeride, DH or XC, if we need to sacrifice the occasional trail here and there for the sake of our environment surely that isn't such a bad thing? I personally think that the more we can do as a community to appear as caring thoughtful individuals the better. As a final point, people drooping litter, trampling around and generally having a huge impact on a fairly fragile system. If anyone ever goes to a competition please use the bins... The organisers usually provide plenty!