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April 19, 2001

Comments of Jim Fary, Montgomery Group, Sierra Club, on Proposed FY 03-08 Capital Improvements Program for Montgomery County, Maryland.

– The proposed Capital Improvement Budget calls for about 22 miles of proposed paved bike trails through our parks. These trails are 8 foot wide paved roads with 2 foot safety buffers on each side that require the clearing of 13-15 feet of all trees and vegetation.
- We are not against bikeways and, in fact, would like to see more of them. We need bikeways to get to Metro Stations, shopping centers, parks, and recreation centers.
– We did not find any bikeways in the Proposed Capital Improvement Budget, instead we have expensive, high maintenance, bike roads damaging our parks.
– These proposed bike trails should be deleted in favor of bikeways to Metro Stations and other hubs of activity.
– These bike trails are impervious roads through sensitive ecological systems and will have the following foreseeable negative environmental impacts:
1. They will open the forest canopy, depriving interior nesting migratory song birds of habitat (see attached article)
2. Once the canopy is opened, sunlight will increase and native plants will be overwhelmed by sun-loving exotic invasive plants.
3. By fragmenting the forest, these paved trails will isolate plant and animal communities resulting in the loss of biodiversity.
4. The paved trails will create erosion, especially on slopes.
5. The paved trails will destroy, disrupt, and fragment wetlands.
6. The paved trails will compact soil on the edges.
7. The paved trails will encourage intrusion of motorized vehicles.
8. During construction and maintenance of the paved trails, organic materials will be removed to the detriment of the tree and plant communities.
9. Paved trails will result in the loss of vernal pool habitat and consequent loss of amphibian and invertebrate use of vernal pools.
10. Runoff from the paving results in thermal pollution to streams and wetlands.
11. Trees and wildlife habitat will be lost.
12. Flooding will increase, especially when the paved trails are put in flood plains.
13. By violating the riparian buffers of streams, the paved trails violate the Chesapeake Bay Agreement that calls for the restoration of riparian buffers.
--These effects are greatly diminished when trail surfaces remain natural and when forest canopy is unbroken and sensitive areas are avoided in design and placement of trails.
-- We are in favor of bikeways and urge you to build more of them, but not in our parks.
-- Our families and our future want Parks!, Not Pavement.