Cross country cycling concern
Mountain bikers are ruining trails, according to ecologists
REGULATIONS are needed to stop cyclists from having a serious impact on the region’s woodlands and mountainsides, according to ecologists.
After Guardia Civil reports that several cyclists had broken the law by riding off established trails were shelved by an investigating court, the AHSA association has called on the regional government to modify its legislation regarding use of vehicles on forest land (Decree 8/2008).
The AHSA (friends of the south Alicante wetlands) argues that, as did the investigating judge in this case, this decree law lacks clarity in its differentiation between ‘sendas forestales’ (forest paths) and ‘campo a través’ (cross country).
“The frequent passing of non-motorised vehicles has stripped vegetation from paths,” they explained.
The association proposes
that, in order to stop the environmental damage being caused by increasing use of mountain bikes in the region’s natural spaces, they should
only be allowed to ride along routes which are in the regional public register of pathways.
This register is open and
new routes can be added based on proposals from public authorities or associations, they note.
The Guardia Civil environmental service (Seprona) file in the above mentioned case recognised that the continuous passing of bicycles is destroying natural vegetation in widespread natural areas of the region, as well as accelerating and exacerbating erosion of Mediterranean hillsides.
The AHSA noted that this ‘valuable, fragile and threatened ecosystem is already subject to grave threats like fires, the consequences of climate change, urban development and abandonment of traditional agriculture and livestock farming’.
They also asked the regional department for ecological transition to launch a campaign to inform mountain biking clubs and specialist shops about the serious impact on nature of using bicycles cross country, and to ask for their collaboration to conserve natural spaces.
THE LAST remaining statue of dictator General Franco in a public space in Spain has been removed by the authorities of Melilla, an Spanish autonomous city in North Africa.
According to state news agency EFE, workers took it away on Tuesday morning without advance notice, despite which there was a strong police presence as some people had found out and come to take photos of the momentous occasion.
The decision was approved by the ruling coalition of Ciudadanos, the Socialists (PSOE) and local alliance CPM, as well as the now-independent ex-president of Vox, while the Partido Popular (PP) abstained and Vox voted against.
Melilla president Eduardo de Castro González said the removal was ‘historic’ and ‘should have been done years ago’. The statue was secured in a harness and then separated from the plinth, loaded into a truck, covered with plastic sheeting and driven away.
This was met with applause from some of the onlookers while another shouted ‘Viva al comandante’ (long live the commander). Hours later, after Unidas Podemos insisted that the statue must not fall into private hands, Sr de Castro said it would be kept at facilities within the city.
He said on Twitter that the local authority had supported the national government’s proposal to remove the statue, in order to comply with the law of historical memory, noting that it was carried out on the 40th anniversary of the failed military coup in the national parliament building in Madrid on February 23, 1981.