FREERIDE: We keep hearing that mountain bike tyres damage roots. Do bikers kill trees, Mr Wohlleben?
Peter Wohlleben: Exposed roots are never pleasant for a tree, but it still has roots on the other side. The tree is happy about distance, but bikers are rather harmless compared to the forestry machines that roll through the forest weighing up to 70 tonnes. Conflicts are often artificially stirred up in society, but the music plays somewhere else entirely.
We bikers are also accused of soil compaction. What about it?
As long as the whole area is not criss-crossed by trails and the roots of the trees remain covered in soil, this problem is also limited. We generally struggle with soil compaction, especially in cities. Footpaths are even specially compacted with
compacted with machines. These are circumstances that every tree in the city has to deal with. If you look at how and where the trees grow in the city, they can obviously cope with it.
What are the dos & don'ts's, do you want to protect trees as a mountain biker?
Only ride on existing trails. If you stick to it, you'll do little wrong. Biking is a great leisure sport. The inconveniences are acceptable. Cross-country riding is prohibited in the forest. But mountain bikers don't do that, although it is often claimed. Because:
- you can hardly get through and
- it's no fun.
Nevertheless, bikers are often the forest rangers' whipping boys.
That is ridiculous. Anyone who has seen the devastation caused by forestry logging knows that. If MTB riders stay on the existing trails, everything is fine. This not only affects the trees, but also the wildlife. Animals quickly realise that people who are fast and quiet regularly pass by on the trails. That's why they pay more attention; the disturbance is limited.
