As a tax payer in Fairfax County, I can say that environmental stewardship, as well as fiscal responsibility, is of the upmost importance. The proposed bike paths would create harmful disruption in a fragile ecosystem that is critical to our community, and that is a cost that we, as taxpayers, cannot afford.

My opposition to the proposed bike paths is rooted in my desire to protect a vital environmental resource here in Fairfax County, and my opposition to the bike paths is substantiated by my professional understanding of land use planning.

Before joining the Foreign Service as a U.S. diplomat, I worked for many years in Washington State as an Environmental Land Use Planner, and I have a Master’s Degree in Environmental Planning from the University of Washington.

I understand firsthand what the real cost of the proposed bike paths would be, both in terms of the irreparable environmental damage and the fiscal cost to the tax payers of Fairfax County.

The conceptual bike paths would transect environmentally sensitive wetlands that are critical to the hydrology and ecology of Huntley Meadows.

It is important that everyone understand that any new paved or gravel surface transecting sensitive environmental areas would immediately trigger both State and Federal requirements for a mandated Environmental Impact Statement, otherwise known as an EIS.

An EIS, for those who are unaware, is an enormously expensive technical analysis of the environmental impact of any proposed development in a sensitive area, and the tax payers of Fairfax County would have to foot the bill.

In the unlikely event that the bike paths were permitted to proceed beyond the EIS stage, the inevitable required environmental mitigation and long-term monitoring of the disturbed areas would drain valuable resources from the community, if not bankrupt the Fairfax County Park System.

And these costs do not take into account the enviable lawsuits against the County that would arise, should they proceed with plans that both harm the environment and inflict an onerous burden on tax payers, all to benefit a handful of bicyclists who place their own interests above the environment and the community as a whole.

An intact and contiguous wilderness area is vital to the many creatures who reside and migrate through Huntley Meadows. We, the citizens of Fairfax County, also require natural spaces where we can escape from the pressures of urban development and reconnect with the natural world.

Bike paths have no business carving away at what little wilderness we have left in Fairfax County. Huntley Meadows is a critical wildlife habitat for animals who are otherwise squashed between the onslaught of speeding roadways and the concrete barriers of human development.

It is a last refuge for creatures that are treasured by many in our community - the families who visit with their small children, the school groups who come to learn about nature, the photographic clubs who make special outings to the boardwalk, and to the hundreds of people, who visit on a daily basis, to partake of the peaceful beauty of the Meadows.

I strongly urge the Board to stand with me and with Supervisor McKay, to defend the ecological integrity of Huntley Meadows and the community, by removing the proposed bike paths from the Park plan.

Yes, the County should have a rational plan for a bicycle trail system, but the need for such a plan does not preclude the Commission from removing, now, the ill-conceived bike trails that are proposed to transect Huntley Meadows. Indeed, until the fiscally impossible and environmentally disastrous proposed bike trails are removed from the Comprehensive Plan, all future work on a trail system will be marred by proposed routes that can never and should never be build. Removing the moribund proposed trails at this juncture will enable Fairfax County to focus on the development of a responsible bike trail plan - outside of Huntley Meadows – which would not damage a fragile natural resource and lay burdensome economic costs upon the hardworking, tax-paying members of our community.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this important issue, and thank you for your support and protection of Huntley Meadows.