A secretarial order giving e-Bike users access in parts of the National Park System since 2019 should formally be rescinded at least until the National Park Service completes environmental studies on their impacts, a number of groups have told Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Park Service Director Chuck Sams.

In a letter sent Thursday to the two, the groups, including the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, said the secretarial order that former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt issued four years ago this month stating that e-Bikes "shall" be allowed on trails and roads where muscle-powered bikes are allowed is not valid. 

The "shall" language directly conflicts with regulations the Park Service adopted in December 2020 that used the permissive word "may," the groups noted. Plus, since the Park Service currently is preparing a programmatic environmental assessment on e-Bikes, Bernhardt's order is invalid, they added.

“Secretarial Orders that remain on the books are supposed to be authoritative, not relics of dead policies,” said Peter Jenkins, senior counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, noting that the Biden administration has already rescinded at least five pre-existing Interior Secretarial Orders. “Given the shifting nature of Interior’s e-Bike stance, the Secretary should update and clarify the policy once and for all.”

PEER filed a lawsuit in 2019 challenging Bernhardt's order that opened the National Park System to e-Bikes wherever traditional bikes were allowed. In reaction to the lawsuit, the Park Service ultimately issued a policy allowing park superintendents to consider allowing e-Bikes where appropriate.   

However, the Interior Department has not rescinded Bernhardt’s Secretarial Order. The groups ask Haaland to formally repeal the order because it “has no legal effect due to its inconsistency with the more recent regulation” while its retention is confusing and “continuing to cause mischief in local plans.” 

In the same letter (attached below), the groups criticized the Park Service's preparation of the latest environmental assessment, saying the draft document "was clearly flawed by relying on methodological errors, biased assumptions, a skimpy literature review, and inadequate analysis of user conflicts, enforcement challenges, maintenance costs, and numerous other impacts associated with e-Bikes.” 

The letter to Haaland and Sams called on the Park Service to fully consider the critical public comments on the draft document and then issue “a revised, improved, final” product. 

An email seeking NPS comment on the letter was not immediately answered.

Signing the letter were the American Hiking Society, Back Country Horsemen of America, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Marin Conservation League, National Parks Conservation Association, Save Our Seashores, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, PEER, and Wilderness Watch.