Getting Flow: The Place of Production Forests in the Rise of Mountain Biking

Mountain biking has increased in popularity in many countries over recent decades. Production forests provide not only an outstanding space for mountain bike riding, but also specific characteristics conducive to purpose-built track building. With recreational access to production forests, managers must balance commercial operations and industry environmental obligations with the interests and actions of riders. Production forests in New Zealand have accommodated mountain biking activities for decades. The trend from 1991 to 2022 showed overall increasing opportunities for mountain biking in production forests, particularly in smaller commercial peri-urban plantations and forest parks maintained as dedicated mountain bike parks. Over the same period, public mountain biking access to larger (>1500 ha) forests peaked in 2008. These recreational changes within forests, and the impact these changes have pressed onto forest managers, have not been well documented. This paper explores the rise in popularity of mountain biking in New Zealand's production plantation forests, and the response of forest owners and managers to increased mountain biking activities in their commercial forest estates. The paper discusses implications for forest planning to accommodate active recreational sports such as mountain biking in production forests, suggesting policies and procedures to help protect commercial interests and forest ecology, while allowing for a contemporary mix of recreational activities.