For more than a decade, opening a single new stretch of trail to bicycles inside a national park has meant a paper chase: a park planning document, an environmental assessment or full environmental impact statement, a superintendent's written determination, sign-off from a regional director, and in many cases a notice in the Federal Register with its own public comment window. The National Park Service now wants to tear most of that out. A proposed rule titled "Bicycle Use in Park Areas," published in the Federal Register on September 1, 2026, would make the biggest change to how the agency handles bikes and e-bikes since the current regulations were finalized in July 2012.
The proposal is open for public comment until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on November 2, 2026. For mountain bikers, gravel riders, e-bike owners, and the gateway towns that depend on them, the next few weeks are the window to weigh in on rules that will decide where riders can and can't go across more than 400 park units.
What the National Park Service Is Actually Proposing
The rule, filed under RIN 1024-AE97, rewrites the procedural parts of 36 CFR 4.30, the section of federal regulations that governs bicycles in the park system. In the agency's own words, the changes "would align NPS regulations with applicable Federal law and policy, remove unnecessary requirements, and ensure public involvement when needed."
Jessica Bowron, who is exercising the delegated authority of the NPS director, framed it in plainer terms in the agency's August 31 announcement: "America's national parks should be easy to access and enjoy." She added that the proposal "would create a simpler, more consistent approach to bicycle and e-bike access across the national park system."
Roads and parking areas: one baseline for every kind of bike
Under the proposal, both traditional bicycles and e-bikes would be allowed on park roads and in parking areas that are already open to public motor vehicle traffic. For pedal bikes, that's the status quo. For e-bikes, it's a real shift. Today a superintendent has to take affirmative action to designate those places for e-bike use. The new rule would make e-bikes legal there by default, putting every type of bicycle on the same footing wherever cars are already allowed.
Trails and administrative roads: superintendents get the pen
Beyond roads, superintendents would have authority to designate other locations, including trails and administrative roads (roads the agency drives on but the public doesn't), for bicycle and e-bike use. Two situations would still require formal rulemaking in the Federal Register:
First, any designation that would be highly controversial or otherwise significant under the criteria in 36 CFR 1.5(b). That standard covers actions that would significantly alter public use patterns, harm a park's natural, aesthetic, scenic or cultural values, or require a long-term shift in resource management objectives.
Second, any location that has never been improved with artificial or processed materials. The rule lists gravel, asphalt, concrete, wood boards, soil cement and resin-based surfaces as examples. Trails with those surfaces today wouldn't need rulemaking, and neither would natural-surface paths that were once improved, such as trails built on old rail beds.
That second test is the line mountain bikers will care most about. Genuine raw dirt singletrack that has never been surfaced would still go through the full rulemaking process before bikes could use it. The NPS is specifically asking the public for input on whether that test is the right one, and on whether some unimproved locations with lower impact potential, such as public beaches, should be exempt.
What Gets Cut From the 2012 Rules
The 2012 regulations stacked several layers of review on top of one another. The proposed rule would remove most of them.
Mandatory environmental assessments
Current rules require an EA or EIS for nearly every bike-related action, including designating an existing trail that needs no construction at all, whether or not the National Environmental Policy Act would otherwise demand one. That locks the agency out of categorical exclusions, the streamlined NEPA path for actions that don't significantly affect the environment. The NPS points out that it adopted a Federal Highway Administration categorical exclusion in June 2025 covering "construction of bicycle and pedestrian lands, paths, and facilities," but can't use it for new bike trails because of the 2012 requirement.
The agency also quotes its own 2012 rulemaking against itself. Back then, the NPS wrote that "[w]hen trails are sustainably located, designed, and constructed, impacts [from bicycle use] are normally insignificant." The new proposal argues that if impacts might be significant in a given case, NEPA would require a full review anyway, so a blanket rule is unnecessary.
The 30-day comment requirement on assessments
The existing regulation requires at least 30 days of public comment on any EA. The proposal says that conflicts with the Interior Department's NEPA handbook, which leaves public involvement to the responsible official's discretion and says comment periods should generally not be longer than 30 days.
Park planning documents and written determinations
Before any of those actions, parks currently have to produce a planning document that evaluates trail surface and soil conditions, life-cycle maintenance costs, safety, user conflict, resource protection, and integration with commercial services and transit. Then the superintendent has to write a separate determination, judged on a similar but not identical set of criteria, that bike use is consistent with protecting the park and won't disturb wildlife. Regional directors must concur, and for existing trails and new trails in developed areas the determination goes to the Federal Register for 30 days of comment.
The agency's example of how this plays out is pointed. Under current rules, a park could be required to assign staff and spend money on a planning document just to allow bikes on "a 20-foot paved path connecting a parking lot with a visitor center." The only way to avoid the cost is to do nothing, which, the NPS argues, means the public loses access it would otherwise be allowed.
The sustainable design clause and the "significant impact" bar
The proposal would also drop the requirement that new trails follow NPS sustainable trail design principles. The agency notes that the 2012 rule cited a 1991 guidance document and a 2007 trail guide, some of which are no longer available at the links in the rule, and that trail design and construction already have their own separate processes. Finally, it would remove a provision that bars bikes from existing trails whenever a NEPA review finds a possible significant impact. The NPS calls that standard inconsistent with the Organic Act's non-impairment test that governs every other visitor use.
What Stays the Same
Several key protections aren't changing. Bicycles and e-bikes would still be prohibited in federally designated wilderness, which is set by statute rather than by agency rule. The definitions of "bicycle" and "electric bicycle" in 36 CFR 1.4 stay put. Riders still can't use an e-bike's motor to exclusively propel the bike for an extended period except where motor vehicles are allowed, a restriction that in practice affects throttle-equipped Class 2 e-bikes. State traffic law would still apply, as would existing safety rules, including the ban on riding while drinking or carrying an open container.
Superintendents would also keep their authority to impose limits, conditions and closures for safety and resource protection. One new provision cuts the other way: permanent closures of public roads and parking areas, or of trails and routes designated through rulemaking, would have to be enacted as park-specific special regulations rather than by a superintendent's order.
Why This Matters on the Ground
The NPS's own visitor research found that bicycling is the most popular form of active recreation in the park system after hiking and walking. Even so, the amount of trail open to bikes inside national parks remains small compared with neighboring national forest and Bureau of Land Management land, and riders have long pointed to the cost and time of the 2012 process as a reason. Mountain bike advocates, led by the International Mountain Bicycling Association, have been pushing the agency to simplify trail designation since the 1990s.
The proposal also leans on connectivity. Regional trail networks increasingly run into and through park boundaries, and the NPS cites the Marquette Greenway, which will run through Indiana Dunes National Park, as an example of a project where delays inside the park complicate coordination with builders outside it. For gateway communities, faster approvals mean bike shops, outfitters and restaurants could see new riders sooner.
The e-bike question
The biggest practical change for the average visitor is e-bikes on park roads. The NPS argues that e-bikes "reduce the physical demands of operating a bicycle and therefore expand opportunities for recreation and access," particularly for older riders, people with disabilities, and anyone tackling high altitude or steep grades. The agency also notes that more bikes on roads can ease vehicle congestion and parking pressure at crowded parks.
Not everyone will see it that way. Conservation groups have historically opposed attempts to give superintendents more discretion over bike access. The fault lines will likely be the same this time: whether removing mandatory environmental review and comment periods leaves the public with less say over where bikes go, and whether e-bikes belong on backcountry routes at all.
How Riders Can Weigh In Before November 2
Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on November 2, 2026. There are two accepted methods:
Online, through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at regulations.gov. Search for RIN 1024-AE97 (the docket is also listed as NPS-2026-0166), open the rule under the Dockets tab, and click "Comment." By mail, to the National Park Service Division of Regulations, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, MD 21811. The agency won't accept comments by fax or email, and every submission must include "National Park Service" or "NPS" and the RIN. Comments may be posted publicly as submitted, including any personal information.
What makes a comment count
Agencies weigh substance, not volume. Riders who want their input to matter should be specific. Name a park and a trail where the current process has stalled access. Explain how a trail surface test would affect routes you ride. Respond directly to the NPS's request for input on rulemaking criteria, such as whether the "never improved by artificial or processed materials" test is the right trigger and whether exceptions like beaches make sense. If you ride an e-bike, say what class it is and how the road-access change would affect your visits.
The NPS says it will review comments before making any final decisions. Whatever comes out of that review will shape where Americans can ride inside their national parks for years to come.
