Ride lightly

Ku-ring-gai Council appreciates that many mountain bike riders love the bush and actively seek to protect and preserve it.

Ways that you can Ride Lightly and help protect our natural areas are:

  • Avoiding riding in the wet - biking in the mud causes erosion.
  • Be courteous of other park users, particularly on multi-use trails - we are all out enjoying what we love.
  • Don't modify trails or create shortcuts - this can have devastating effects on endangered plants.
  • Clean your bike after every ride - it's good bike maintenance and it removes weed seeds and diseases spread by bikes.

(Source: NSW Government - Ride Lightly: How mountain bikers can help protect the bush.) 

Volunteer for Trailcare

Trailcare volunteers work on trails to assist with maintenance and community stewardship. They assist with trail maintenance, rock-armoring, trail auditing, rubbish removal, weeding, minor landscaping works and some sediment and erosion control. 

We currently have Trailcare sites at Warrimoo Downhill Trail and Jubes Mountain Bike Park. To join one of these teams visit our Trailcare page.

The Recreation in Natural Areas Strategy and Mountain Biking

The Recreation in Natural Areas Strategy was developed to provide a management framework to support a diverse and accessible range of recreation opportunities in the natural areas of Ku-ring-gai in a way that protects and enhances our local environment. It aims to achieve a harmony between recreation activities and the local environment; preserving important environmental, social and cultural values. 

The development of the Strategy involved extensive community consultation, including user-based consultation, consultation with environment groups, community forums and public exhibition. The Strategy identified the need to focus on multi-use trails complemented with limited single use infrastructure where possible. 

View our current Recreation in Natural Areas Strategy(PDF, 5MB).

Where can I ride in Ku-ring-gai?

Council has 2 single use Mountain Biking Trails; Warrimoo and Jubes. There is also a small Build to Ride track at Grayling Street Reserve. This site allows for small jumps to be built and used by the public, please follow rules as signposted on site.

Additionally, Council is seeking interest in reopening Tryon Trail Care at Lindfield Soldiers Memorial. For more information or to get involved email treadlightly@krg.nsw.gov.au

Please note: All Council managed trails are open as multi-use for trail dependent activities, unless signposted as a single-use trail. This includes bushwalking, running and mountain-biking. Be courteous of other bushland users, particularly on multi-use trails - we are all out enjoying what we love. 

Any misuse or damage to trails will be investigated and assessed by Council. To report issues with any Council managed trails please contact us on 9424 0000 or treadlightly@krg.nsw.gov.au

Please visit our Trail Map to explore our network of fire trails and single use Mountain Biking Trails.

Illegal track construction

Mountain biking is a great way to get out and explore our amazing and unique environment, but we need to ensure we tread lightly.

Unfortunately, unauthorised bike track construction can damage our bushland and the natural environment in several ways.

Erosion

Removing living and dead vegetation, moving rocks and digging in the soil can result in accelerated erosion. On steep slopes, recently burnt land and near creeks, even minor disturbances can remove topsoil, which our native plants grow in and congests our waterways with sediment.

Fragmentation

Tracks fragment the bushland they’re built in, interrupting the ecological process. With too many tracks, some plants and animals can disappear from the area.

Weed invasion

Bikes carry in weed seeds stuck to tyres. Track construction creates the perfect places on track edges for disturbance-loving weeds to establish, outcompeting native vegetation. 

Bushland recovery

Our bushland has a remarkable ability to recover from disturbances, but it relies on seeds stored in the soil. This seedbank can take over thirty years to establish and acts as an insurance against bushfire, drought, and other events. Movement and soil erosion can mean that the seedbank gets buried or washed away, with the land unable to recover in the future.

For example, where a fire has passed through, the seedbank is germinating and tiny seedlings are establishing themselves. They are extremely sensitive to track construction, as plants have not yet matured or replenished the seedbank. Many species are lost from areas where one disturbance follows soon after another.

Threatened species

17 threatened plants and 29 threatened animal species continue to survive in Ku-ring-gai. Some are only found deep in our bushland reserves, while others can be found in suburban parks and patches of remnant vegetation. Plants are damaged by track-building through removal, pruning, injury to their roots, and compaction or erosion of soil.

Animal habitats are also affected by altering the vegetation structure, changing how water moves down the catchment and removing plant species that animals rely upon.

Any unauthorised bike track built in Ku-ring-gai’s bushland areas could be impacting threatened species.

Removal of unauthorised tracks

The Recreation in Natural Areas Strategy prevents the unauthorised construction and use of informal tracks and trails and other recreation infrastructure within the Ku-ring-gai Local Government Area (LGA)

Bushland Operations staff will deconstruct, rehabilitate, and monitor illegally constructed tracks found within Council managed bushland.  The issuing of fines or recovery of associated bushland remediation works may apply to illegally constructed tracks. 

Please stay on track, visit our Trail Map for more information on Council supported trails in Ku-ring-gai. 

Enquiries

Contact the Environment & Sustainability Team treadlightly@krg.nsw.gov.au or 9424 0000.