National Park Service proposes easing bicycle trail rules

The National Park Service (NPS) has proposed a rule to streamline the procedural requirements for designating roads and trails for bicycle and e-bike use in park areas, published in the Federal Register (Vol. 91, No. 168) on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. The proposal, identified as RIN 1024–AE97 under docket NPS–WASO–DTS#NPS0042897, would rescind several procedural mandates in 36 CFR 4.30 that the agency says unnecessarily restrict recreation access. Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 2, 2026.

The NPS administers the National Park System, which comprises more than 400 areas and sites, and the proposal would affect recreation access across those units and the gateway communities that serve them. Bicycling is described as the most popular form of active recreation in the system after hiking and walking, and the rule would also cover electric bicycles (e-bikes), which the agency says expand access for riders with limitations from age, illness, disability, or fitness.

Deregulatory backdrop

The proposal is framed as a response to two executive orders signed by President Trump. Executive Order 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” directs agencies to identify regulations not based on the best reading of underlying statutory authority. Executive Order 14314, “Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks,” signed July 3, 2025, directs the Secretary of the Interior to review recreation access rules and rescind any that unnecessarily restrict recreation.

The NPS argues that existing regulations in 36 CFR 4.30 conflict with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Departmental policy. Specifically, the current rules require an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS) for actions such as designating existing trails, developing new trails, and authorizing new trails for bicycle use, even when a categorical exclusion would be appropriate under NEPA. The agency notes it recently adopted a categorical exclusion from the Federal Highway Administration covering “construction of bicycle and pedestrian lands, paths, and facilities,” but cannot use it for new bicycle trails because of the regulatory mandate.

What the rule would change

The proposed rule would simplify how the NPS allows bicycle and e-bike use, setting the same baseline for all forms of bicycles on park roads and in parking areas open to motor vehicle use by the public. Superintendents would retain authority to designate other locations, including administrative roads and trails, with rulemaking required only in two circumstances:

• When a designation would be highly controversial or otherwise significant under the criteria in 36 CFR 1.5(b).
• When bicycles or e-bikes would be allowed in locations never improved by artificial or processed materials such as gravel, asphalt, concrete, wood boards, soil cement, or resin-based material.

The rule would rescind requirements to prepare a park planning document and a written determination in every case, and would remove the mandate to provide at least 30 days of public comment on an EA, which the NPS says conflicts with the Department of the Interior Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures. It would also eliminate the requirement that a Finding of No Significant Impact or Record of Decision conclude no significant impact before bicycle use is allowed on existing trails, a standard the agency says differs from the non-impairment standard in the NPS Organic Act.

What stays in place

Several existing provisions would be maintained. The definitions of “bicycle” and “electric bicycle” in 36 CFR 1.4 would remain unchanged, as would the prohibition on possessing a bicycle or e-bike in wilderness areas established by Federal statute. The rule would keep the existing prohibition on using the electric motor to exclusively propel an e-bike for an extended period, which affects Class-2 e-bikes, and would continue to apply state law to bicycle and e-bike use except as provided in NPS regulations.

Superintendents would keep authority to establish bicycle or e-bike use limitations, restrictions, conditions, and closures after considering public health and safety, resource protection, and management objectives. A new provision would clarify that permanent closures of park roads and parking areas open to motor vehicle use, or of administrative roads and trails, would require rulemaking.

The NPS is seeking specific public comment on criteria that could determine when rulemaking is required, such as whether designations of locations never improved by artificial materials but with other characteristics that lessen impact potential, like public beaches, should be exempt. For the American public, the rule could mean faster approval of new and expanded bicycle and e-bike opportunities across the National Park System, easing access to and from gateway communities while the agency redirects administrative resources to other management actions.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 168, September 1, 2026, Proposed Rules, p. 56095 (official reference: RIN 1024–AE97; FR Doc. 2026-17902).