Eden Mountain Bike Club has been given the full support of NSW Forestry Corporation for the construction of proposed trails on its land tenure in the Nullica State Forest northwest of Eden.
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The group has been busily working with local authorities and organisations to secure grants which will enable the building of world-class single tracks in our local forests, bringing sustainable tourism to the Eden region.
The committee of the Eden Mountain Bike Club was formed in December last year and together with Eden Trails Group have been working towards the vision for transforming Eden into a world-class mountain biking destination.
The confirmation of backing from Forestry Corporation, has allowed the group to shift its focus to securing funding under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, to fund the first phase of the trail network.
Stan Soroka, executive member of Eden Mountain Bike Group said discussions with Forestry Corporation began last year.
"It stands us in good stead to have their complete support," Mr Soroka said.
"After what we have been through this year, the landscape has changed, the socioeconomic situation for the entire region has changed.
"The potential for mountain biking tourism across the whole South East corner of NSW is enormous," he said.
Mr Soroka said Pambula Chamber of Commerce have been really supportive and can see the opportunities for them and their business community and Narooma Mountain Bike Club have have worked closely with the Eden group and have just gained similar approval from Forestry for trails in Bodalla State Forest.
"We all win from being a destination, we all acknowledge the efforts each is making and that collaboration and support is fantastic, we are not being competitive about it at all," Mr Soroka said.
"The most important thing is the resilience of the town and currently we have what I refer to as squirrel economy - we are reliant on summer tourism to get us through the rest of year on minimum cash flow.
"As we have just seen, if anything hits us in that 8-12 week period of the year, we lose up to 90 per cent or our annual income.
"Eden is perfectly built for this project - we are already a fantastic destination and can become an even better one.
"We have a climate which is suitable for mountain biking year-round and the trails will have great accessibility from accommodation.
"Mountain biking is the new golf, of all the projects I have seen around Eden this is the one most likely to succeed," Mr Soroka said.
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Leah Szanto
Regional journalist covering the Far South Coast of NSW.
Regional journalist covering the Far South Coast of NSW.
