"Firm telling off" for mountain bikers after trees damaged

Tuesday 11 January 2022

A group of mountain bikers have had a “firm telling off” after damaging newly planted trees above Mourier Valley.

The saplings were only planted last month, the final stage of a three-year project to plant 6,000 trees on 80 vergées of land in and around the valley.

50 volunteers planted 1,000 trees in just three hours on 14 December to the west of Les Mouriers, in a field not far from the top car park at Devil’s Hole. 

On Monday, however, walkers contacted Jersey Trees for Life – which organised the planting – to say that many of these trees had been knocked over and damaged by mountain bikers.

Pictured: The trees were damaged in a field, marked in red, between Devil's Hole and Mourier Valley.

Posting on Facebook, the charity’s community fundraiser and head of marketing, Nikolett Jones, wrote: “The damage is indescribable and heart-breaking, not just for our charity financially but for the environment as well. We have worked so hard to make this project happen!

“The States of Jersey Police are looking for eyewitnesses who were potentially walking by the area at the time.”

Giving an update on Tuesday morning, Mrs Jones said that she had since met mountain biking representatives, who had told her that they had identified bikers who had been in the area on Monday and had given them a “firm telling off”. 

However, they would not name them as there was no clear proof, such as photos or videos, linking them to the damage.

Mrs Jones added that, after a full assessment, it appeared that there were fewer damaged trees than the hundreds that members of the public, and then the charity, had first reported. Around 30 had been damaged, which could be righted and would not need replacing.

“Our volunteers have been amazing, and I would say 90% of the trees are repaired already, so fortunately the damage is not lasting,” she said.

“Nevertheless, the action of the bikers was not only highly irresponsible but also illegal as that field is designated a wildlife area.”

Jersey Trees for Life said it had received confirmation from the Crown, which owns the land, that biking was prohibited in the field and the charity would soon be putting up signs to make that clear. 

The tree planting has been part of a £40,000 project, run by Jersey Trees for Life and the National Trust for Jersey and co-funded by Jersey Electricity and Jersey Water, to help the island offset its carbon emissions. 

Trees for Life has not made an official complaint to the police after today's developments.

A spokesperson for the charity said: "We have decided not to make a formal complaint to the police on this occasion.

"Unfortunately, we have no photographic proof of the vandalism due to the wonderful people who did tidy it up for us and the response we have had from certain members of the public make us feel it won’t go anywhere, so on this occasion we will just be asking the public to help us in protecting the site going forwards."

Members of the mountain biking community are, however, frustrated with the comments from Trees for Life. They have also disputed whether it was in fact, strong winds, that were responsible for most of the damage.

Jersey Trees for Life responded: "Unfortunately, we have had a lot of negative comments from individuals saying we have attacked the mountain bike community in making this vandalism public and describing the individuals to have been on mountain bikes.

"All we can say is that unfortunately the individuals were on mountain bikes and as is often the issue with any form of activity, there will always be a few that can ruin things for the majority. The facts are still as they remain and we cannot undo that."

Pictured top: The trees were planted by volunteers in December.