KENT, WA (BRAIN)—Diamondback Bikes is moving in a new direction in terms of its support of local advocacy groups.
Last week Diamondback paired up with local partner, the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance (Washington State’s largest Mountain Bike Advocacy group), by contributing a bike that Evergreen ultimately donated to the Washington Wilderness Coalition’s annual dinner and auction. The bike wound up being the highest bid item at the event, according to a press release.
“The uniqueness of this is that by donating to WWC’s fundraiser, we’re helping to support their organization in a genuine way. It’s a powerful way for us to communicate in front of a larger Wilderness audience that we (the mountain bike community) share many of the same values and passions that the wilderness community does, and that we want to be a part of the process,” said Jon Kennedy, Diamondback’s marketing manager.
By supporting a Wilderness organization that has been willing to work with the mountain bike community to protect popular riding trails when drawing proposed wilderness boundaries, the hope is that other organizations might be encouraged to take a similar collaborative approach. “WWC has been a strong partner to Evergreen over the years in terms of the two groups working together to find amicable solutions that benefit both the wilderness and mountain bike communities and we really wanted to back this up and get the word out to a larger audience that through partnerships like these, both groups succeed and become more potent forces.”
The 1964 Wilderness Act protects more than 106 million acres from road construction, development, motorized travel and most forms of resource extraction and man made structures. Unfortunately, bicycles are not allowed in wilderness. Federal land agencies in the 1980's interpreted the Wilderness Act to prohibit bicycles, though previously allowed. By working together with Wilderness groups versus fighting proposals, local and larger national advocacy groups can garner more support for proposals and both communities can work together to protect valued public lands.
With the recent hire of marketing manager Kennedy (former executive director of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance) last March, Diamondback made a strong statement towards their commitment to trail advocacy. Diamondback is a strong partner with local groups like Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and the Cascade Bicycle Club as well as larger National organizations such as Bikes Belong and the International Mountain Bike Association.
