E-bikes may be coming to national parks, trails

Motorized electric bicycles may soon be humming their way into national parks and other public lands , under a new Trump administration order — opposed by many outdoors groups — allowing e-bikes on every federal trail where a regular bike can go.

Sales of the bikes are booming, and some aging or less fit people have sought the rule change.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed the order without fanfare late last month, classifying e-bikes as nonmotorized bikes.

“Reducing the physical demand to operate a bicycle has expanded access to recreational opportunities,” the order said.

More than 50 hiking, horseback riding and other outdoor and conservation associations, including the Pacific Crest Trail Assn., objected in a July letter to the Interior Department saying the administration acted to fundamentally change the nature of national parks with little or no public notice or study.

“If you’re hiking on a trail in Utah and you’re rounding a bend and something’s coming at you at 20 mph, that really changes the experience,” said Kristen Brengel, a vice president of the National Parks Conservation Assn., a nonprofit that advocates for the national park system.