In mid-July I traveled to Mena for my first look at Rich Mountain, Arkansas’ second highest peak. I wanted to see for myself where the Trails at Mena project would go and imagine what the landscape might look like with bike lifts and trails scattered across the mountain. The proposed project under review by the US Forest Service would develop over 8,800 acres of the Ouachita National Forest into a downhill mountain bike park. The area would be operated by Arkansas State Parks and stretch from Queen Wilhelmina State Park at the top of the mountain all the way to Ward Lake at the bottom.

My unofficial tour guide for the day was a local hunter and resident of Mena whom I’ll call Steve. He asked me not to share his identity out of privacy concerns and because this issue has become a bit controversial around town. Steve and I have been trading messages for over a year on this project. He first brought it to our attention in the summer of 2023. He has invited me down several times, but I haven’t been able to make it until recently. We met at the USFS Visitor Center at the base of the mountain.

We spent the next several hours stopping at the various turn outs along the Talimena Highway, which is Highway 88 in Arkansas and Highway 1 in Oklahoma. Steve would show me how each turnout figured into the project’s development plan, where the bike lifts would go, and how the area would be developed to accommodate the increased visitation which the project developers envision. Under the most aggressive development plan, officials predict up to 250,000 people will visit the area per year by 2036. For comparison, Mena’s current population was estimated at about 5,600 people in 2023.

Steve has hunted on the mountain for years. Throughout the day he showed me photos of deer he or his family had killed. I heard stories about Steve’s father, Steve’s children and grandchildren. We visited some campsites on Rich Mountain, and I got take in the beautiful views and cool air atop Arkansas’ second highest summit.

Changing the mountainside to accommodate mountain bikers would certainly displace people like Steve and his family. But he was very realistic about the situation. Rich Mountain is quite large, and the project takes up “only” around 8,800 of the mountain’s 26,000-ish acres. There are thousands of acres of Ouachita National Forest nearby. Steve understands that most of the community is supportive of the Trails at Mena project because of the potential for economic development that they are being promised. He told me how families and friends had gotten into arguments about the impacts of the project and why he was fearful to speak out on the record.

We discussed what was feasible when there are thousands of other acres available for hunting and how this new project would bring new opportunities to Mena. We also talked about the potential impacts of the various options. For example, one of the options under consideration would forego the installation of lifts in exchange for using shuttles to move people from the bottom of the mountain to the top. I live near a bike preserve and have a unique perspective on the vehicular traffic associated with biking.

“Have you considered what using only shuttles would mean for traffic on this road?” I asked him. No, he responded, he hadn’t thought about that. But the more we talked, the more I could see his wheels turning. Lifts might impact the beautiful views, but shuttles might clog up the roads. There just didn’t seem to be a perfect solution.

Even when progress is inevitable, and especially when it is, it becomes our duty to elevate the voices of those impacted by the progress. We may not be able to stop it, but we should request and require that all users of our public resources be considered. We also must speak for the voiceless, like wildlife and habitat. You’ll see this reflected in Arkansas BHA’s comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment.

After visiting with Steve and other stakeholders, it is clear that some trail development is inevitable. Many locals want the economic opportunity that such a project would bring to their community. Rather than debate whether the Trails at Mena project should move forward, we should focus on how it should move forward. There need to be stronger safeguards for even the most abundant resources, and for those people who will be forced from the mountain they have hunted on for decades. Developers must anticipate the inevitable conflicts which will arise between wildlife and user groups, and plans must be made to minimize them as much as possible.

Please consider joining Arkansas BHA if you aren’t a member and subscribe to our chapter newsletter and social media to keep informed on our work regarding the Trails at Mena project.