Rep. Sutherland's Trails in State Parks bill passes

Rep. Sutherland's "Trails in Parks" bill has passed both the House and the Senate--it's on its way to the governor for a signature.

The governor's signature on this should be completely routine.

This bill allows and encourages non-profits and state parks to work together to do several things--among them, building trails.

The bill will allow groups like the International Mountain Biking Association, EarthRiders, Gateway Off-Road Cyclists, and Green Hills Trails Association, and other trail-building organizations, to work closely in association with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to build trails in state parks across the state.

So there will be some work that needs to be done to build the associations between those groups and state park land managers. But this bill makes it much easier for these groups to work together and provides some real encouragement for them to do so.

More details & bill text here.

If you would like to email Representative Sutherland and thank him for supporting this legislation (which took two years of work to pass), just email him at Mike.Sutherland@house.mo.gov or visit his web page for more contact information.

Rep. Sutherland has been one of the strongest supporters of bicycling in Missouri. He is also sponsoring the Resolution in support of Bike Month--which should come up for a vote within the next week.