I agree that mtbs should be allowed the same rights of access as horse riders, but how can you be sure that you are not disturbing nesting birds if you ride where horses ride?
I guess you can’t
However:
Do we know that nesting birds are significantly disturbed by a bike passing (very briefly) nearby ? (sure I read somewhere – via here I bet – that their “airtime” is dependent on how long a disturber’s nearby, so the faster you pass, the less the disturbance)
The MTBers that I’m aware of are using existing tracks rather than breaking new ground, so something is already using them fairly frequently anyway. Also, birds won’t be nesting directly on the paths so no crushed nests etc
I don’t think anyone’s pretending that the NF is going to replace Whistler in terms of popularity. Nobody’s ever going to want to travel here just to ride 🙁 , so I doubt that numbers will increase much more in the near future