After a total of almost 10 years, the Munich Isar Trail steering concept is finally getting underway. Project manager Bea Draese from the Munich section of the Alpine Club has been working on the licence agreements with the landowners since April 2025. At the same time, the contracts for financing the project were signed. Now that the foundations have been laid, the Alpine Club is going public. Also in order to create as much transparency as possible for all those involved. We got an initial interview with the project manager and wanted to know: How certain is it that the trails will actually be ready to ride by the end of 2028?
Isar-Trails: Interview with Bea Draese from the Alpine Club
BIKE: Perhaps the meanest question first: many people don't believe that the Alpine Club can build trails that are fun for mountain bikers. And that it can only have been typical Bavarian cronyism that you got the sponsorship. What do you say to these people?
Bea: Yes, we also read that in the bike forums. It has to be said that there were of course other clubs that are active in the Isar Valley. But none of them shouted "Here!" when it came to awarding the contract. Presumably because the project is too big for them. In contrast, we at Alpenverein München & Oberland have almost 200,000 members, making us the fourth-largest sports club in Europe. When it comes to a regional network or trail construction and maintenance, we have the capacity and expertise for such a large-scale project. What many people don't realise: Although we are a mountain sports club, mountain biking is one of our core sports. And a trail construction company is hired to build the trails themselves anyway.
Then we can congratulate you on the breakthrough: the financing is in place! How stressful was the first phase of the project?
Yes, it was and still is very stressful. The project is very complex and has a long history. What's more, the catchment area is very large. Since we took over the sponsorship of the steering concept in April 2025, we have been dealing with the issue of financing as well as the landowners' licence agreements.
But didn't the landowners already give their consent in 2017?
No. Concrete contracts were not signed at the time. That was my main task over the last few months: to approach each individual landowner and formulate a separate licence agreement for each one.
And now everyone has signed?
All participating municipalities and also institutional landowners such as Deutsche Bahn, a property company etc. have signed up. However, we still have to convince some private owners. There is still a lot of work to be done.
How do you convince them?
We organised an information evening, but not all the owners came. But we need everyone's signature, and the interests are really very different and complicated. Some even ask for a kind of toll. We want to convince them that, on the one hand, there is a free right to enter the forest in Germany and that they will only benefit if someone takes care of maintaining the paths on their property.
And what happens if someone doesn't sign?
Then we have to cancel the planned section and plan diversions. But that would mean additional work for the planning offices and further costs. And we would like to avoid that.
Speaking of which, what are the costs for the entire project?
The current estimate for the project is 2.7 million euros. This pre-financing is being provided by the city and district, as they also have an interest in the project finally making progress. At the end of the project, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment has promised funding. We are extremely pleased that this has worked out, as it is very unlikely that such a project will be possible at all in the next 30 years given the current economic budget situation.
The financing for the construction itself has not yet been finalised. Does this mean that the project could actually fail before the ground-breaking ceremony?
Theoretically, yes. But we are not assuming that. State Minister Thorsten Glauber has also firmly promised us financial support for the second phase. And as he himself is very keen on mountain biking, he now also wants a solution for the Isar trails.
When can trail construction companies apply for the job?
We assume that the route planning will be finalised by the end of January and all nature conservation issues will have been clarified. Several trail construction companies have already contacted us.
On your new homepage for the Isar trails, you write that there will be guidance, but no bans for bikers. Only individual trails will be renaturalised for FFH protection reasons and will then no longer be accessible to hikers. How many trails will that be?
I can't say at the moment. We will probably find out when we get the plans back at the end of January, including the FFH impact assessment. But that's exactly why we've set up the new website: We want maximum transparency and will post such information there on an ongoing basis. We are also considering sponsoring individual sections of the trail. Anyone who is interested in getting involved is welcome to do so. We are also happy to receive constructive suggestions by email!
All information about the project: www.Isartrails-muenchen.de
Emails to: isartrails@alpenverein-muenchen.de
Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
