The National Park Service said Friday it plans on sticking to its current practice concerning use of electric bikes on public lands managed by the agency.
Rather than setting a universal mandate or prohibition, NPS will continue to allow park superintendents to decide whether to allow e-bike use. This policy follows considerable debate and litigation and effectively reaffirms an e-bikes policy settled on in 2020.
“Under the 2020 rule, superintendents may only allow e-bikes where traditional bicycles are allowed,” the agency noted.
The completion of the new environmental assessment and an accompanying finding of no significant impact is the latest turn for a public lands debate that gained speed in 2019 when the Trump administration ordered park superintendents to allow electric bicycles to be used throughout the system, in the same areas where traditional bicycles were allowed, unless they determined that restrictions or closures of certain areas were warranted.
