Biking
The Moab Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced that starting in March 2026, Class 1 e-bikes will be allowed on more than 200 miles of singletrack trails in Moab, Utah. The rule change was first proposed last year, and public comment was taken in June 2025 on three alternatives: one that would not allow e-bikes, one that would feature a phased implementation with limited rollout and study in the first couple of years, and the selected alternative that opens most of the BLM mountain biking trails next spring.
- Related: Forest Service Authorizes E-Bike Use on 113 Miles of Tahoe Trails | 45 Days for Public to Object
The proposed rule change received more than 1,500 public comments, 1,250 of which were part of a letter writing campaign. Overall, the comments were generally supportive, with a few commenters bringing up recent research that has found e-bikes are not as impactful on the environment as originally thought, and users of e-bikes act more like traditional mountain bikers rather than other motorized users like dirt bikers.
Negative comments focused on disturbances to sacred indigenous lands and increased incidences of accidents and associated search and rescue operations. The final decision on the rule change said that the BLM reached out to tribes but that no response was received, and that the Utah State Historic Preservation Office agreed with the BLM’s finding that the rule change would not have any adverse effects. As for higher injury rates, the decision cited incident data from Grand County Search and Rescue, saying no e-bike incidents have ever been reported in Deadhorse Point State Park, which currently allows e-bikes on mountain bike trails, whereas 192 incidents were recorded on the Whole Enchilada Trail and 110 on the Slickrock Trail from traditional mountain bikes between 2010 and 2025.
The rule change in Moab comes in response to 2019 guidance from the Department of the Interior directing land managers to seek ways to expand recreational opportunities through e-bikes. In April 2022, the Grand Junction Field Office authorized e-bikes on 29 miles of trail within its management area and the U.S. Forest Service has been pursuing similar planning efforts to expand e-bike access within its own recreational areas.
