Mississippi State University recently purchased the trails around and behind the Thad Cochran Research Park from the Oktibbeha County Economic Development, making off-road biking trails in Starkville now non-existent.
Landon Voller, the current president of the Starkville Cycling Club, said he thought extensively about this topic before and after the purchase of the Research Park. The Starkville Cycling Club was brought back around 2013, and leads beginner-friendly rides on Mondays and a social ride on the second and fourth Friday of the month. On Tuesdays, they have a faster road ride called the Lost Pizza Ride, and on Thursdays, they used to mountain bike at the Research Park.
Unfortunately, the research park was the last area in Starkville to do mountain biking or any kind of off-road biking. Voller said bikers have used the Research Park for basic outdoor activities, and it has been slowly getting smaller throughout the years.
“The Research Park trails have existed for 20 years or more, in one form or another, but have been slowly whittled away,” Voller said. “Starkville has benefited from this free resource during that time, and has thus not felt obligated to provide much in the way of outdoor recreational opportunities.”
Furthermore, the trails in other cities are vast. Voller said every other SEC town has a trail within 10 miles of city limits, and Starkville does not.
“Starkville and MSU should be leading the way for the state, setting an example,” Voller said. “Instead, we are lagging behind.”
Voller said some could argue the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge provides trail riding, however, Voller, who spends a lot of time volunteering cleaning up the trails there, thinks the refuge is primarily suited for an outdoor conservation area and cannot provide much improvement on the trail-riding aspect.
“The Noxubee Wildlife Refuge’s primary mission is wildlife management, and not outdoor recreation,” Voller said. “It is also 15 to 20 minutes away, and poorly suited for more than what it is now. Trails are very limited.”
Starkville Alderman Jason Walker said the city had little to do with the purchase and resulting shutdown of the Research Park trails.
“It’s unfortunate that they are no longer open. It’s more about Oktibbeha Country Economic Development, not the city of Starkville, that sold that land for profit,” Walker said.
Even so, Walker said the city is looking for ways to bring more outdoor activity areas to Starkville, and he is hopeful about them being completed in the future, but the timeline is undetermined.
“Right now, we are looking at the Cornerstone Park area, and building a major sports tournament facility complex there,” Walker said. “There is a good chance for recreational trails. It is not an eminent issue, but we are still looking for other opportunities for bike trails in Starkville.”
Voller said he believes there are various, positive reasons to create off-road trails in Starkville, which may appeal to the city to continue this important discussion and make faster strides toward building more off-road trails. One reason is the rise of high school mountain biking.
If Starkville had trails which were conducive to the sport, that would be an attraction towards the city, according to Voller.
“High school mountain biking is growing like crazy,” Voller said. “Four hundred-plus kids are showing up to races in Alabama, and the league is only a few years old. We have two Mississippi Composite teams, one in Jackson and one on the coast. The goal is to have a Mississippi State league eventually.”
Furthermore, Voller said safe and fun bike trails could to lead a healthier lifestyle in children.
“Mississippi has an obesity problem, and increasing outdoor activity is a great way to combat this issue especially among young people,” Voller said.
If these are not enough reasons to build more trails, the students of MSU are negatively affected by the closing of the trails as well.
Will Spencer, a junior marketing major, said he is upset about the closing of the trails because he used the outdoor area to relax after stressful days of school.
“As for me, I’m really upset. One, because of the fact that I worked on those trails, but also for the fact that that is where I went after school often to just unwind and enjoy the outdoors,” Spencer said. “It wasn’t much, but it’s better than fields and gravel to just go out, set up an Eno, and listen to the wind blow through the trees.”
Another MSU student, Yoseph Alabdulwahab, a junior computer science major, said the lack of outdoor trails and safe bike lanes in Starkville is not only upsetting, but inconvenient.
“For those of us who don’t have cars, it is that much more upsetting,” Alabdulwahab said. “I used to ride both road and mountain bikes, and each would fill a different part of my overall school-life balance. However, now I literally cannot mountain bike without asking for favors, which doesn’t help if I have to go out alone.”
Fortunately, both Voller and Walker agree Starkville is at least making some strides toward safer bike lanes.
“The city is making great strides in improving bike lanes across town, but all this takes time,” Walker said. “The Starkville Parks and Recreation Department is looking for opportunities to build in public parks, and this will create more opportunities for bike paths.”
Voller said the university has achieved some success with bike safety, but it needs to continue.
“I think MSU has done some good things the last two years, with Hail State Boulevard and all the new sharrows [bike arrows] on campus,” Voller said. “The bike paths are very poorly designed, but are also 15 years old. Starkville has done some good things, but really should keep pushing forward with incremental improvements.”