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The July 14 meeting of the Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission will include a discussion on the use of e-bikes in the nature preserve. At the request of the Village’s Bicycle, Pedestrian Advisory Commission, that meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Corrales Library’s Teen Room. It will also be conducted via Zoom. The Bicycle, Pedestrian group has discussed whether that kind of bicycle should be permitted in the preserve although other forms of motorized vehicles are banned. Section 11-4 – Prohibited activities, of the Village ordinance governing the Corrales Bosque Preserve explicitly prohibits “operating any motorized vehicle†there. That has been official policy for more than 30 years, going back to a time when motorbikes, off-road vehicles and dunebuggies in the bosque created safety hazards for other users of the preserve and disturbed wildlife.
Likely to come up during the July 14 meeting is the speed at which e-bikes, electric bicycles, travel. The speed at which some foot-powered bicycles zoom along the bosque trails has been a concern for many years as well, especially for easily spooked horses and hikers whose hearing may be impaired by music earbuds.
Among other prohibited activities in the Corrales Bosque Preserve are: smoking, fire building, camping, alcoholic beverages, fireworks and “playing any radio, television, sound-amplifying equipment or any recordings without using a headphone or simar device to contain the amplified sound,†hunting, trapping or collecting any mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian, defacing any tree or surface, shooting firearms or air guns, or shooting with bow and arrow.
Visitors are not permitted in the preserve between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Also prohibited is use of the preserve for any commercial purpose.