CAMTB Advocacy Report & Coalition Action Plan for California Forests located in U.S. Forest Service, Region 5

In June 2022, the California Mountain Biking Coalition (CAMTB) commissioned an advocacy report and accompanying work plan for engaging the staff and leadership of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Region 5 lands located in California. To commence the project CAMTB’s Legislative and Governmental Affairs Advisor, Bill Keene, conducted one-on-one interviews with representatives from its trail partner community who have direct dealings with the USFS in California. The purpose of the interviews was to gather data and determine the coalition members’ degree of alignment on certain issues. To fully address the complexity of these relationships, CAMTB also held two listening sessions, and a half-day workshop in September 2022. Participants included representatives from its Board of Directors and its trail partner Advisory Council (AC). The half-day workshop’s purpose was to align the Board and AC members on a strategy for USFS Advocacy. This report summarizes the results of the overall work with the Board and Advisory Council and contains the following:

• Summary of CAMTB Board/Advisory Council interviews including major themes that emerged;
• A brief recap of the half-day September USFS Workshop including outcomes and next steps;
• Details of CAMTB’s USFS Advocacy Platform; and 
• A first-year implementation Plan for USFS Advocacy work.

Advocacy Report & Action Plan

A Zoned Approach

Similar to the USFS, we are adopting a zoned approach to working on and in Region 5. Our goal is to have at least one bike-friendly trail partner engaged per forest, and for the work on adjacent forests to be coordinated and shared both within and across each zone. Each zone’s respective work plan will roll up into our state-wide action plan.

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