Rewilding

In 2024, we signed a new lease with the Welsh Ministers that will see rental income from BPW invested in projects that will improve biodiversity and resilience within the forest in which we ride. Find out more about this groundbreaking initiative.

The future of BikePark Wales

Watch the video to find out more about our exciting plans.

What is changing and why?

BikePark Wales opened in 2013, and for the first 10 years we operated under a lease with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) that allowed the continuation of commercial forestry within the bike park.


At the time of signing that lease, nobody had developed a bike park of this scale for year-round use anywhere in the world. After a few years of successful operation, it was clear that BPW was going to be a success thanks to the way the British mountain bike community wholeheartedly embraced our vision. This brought many positives, but one of the challenges it brought was a clash with commercial forestry. As the site became busier and busier, it became hard for NRW to fell and extract any timber from within the bike park. 

In 2020 we approached NRW with a new vision for managing the forest and in 2024 a new lease was signed by BikePark Wales and the Welsh Ministers that would change the way the forest is managed for decades to come.

A Future Forest Vision

Our new lease ring fences and area of 600 acres that covers all the trails and uplift route, this area has become a “reserve” that is protected from commercial forestry, felling trees for profit is now contractually prohibited within the bike park. Instead, the land will be managed with two priorities: 

  • The continued improvement and development of the bike park.
  • Improvement and enrichment of the environment within the bike park.

A 30-year initiative

The new agreement which will span more than three decades grants permission for major developments across the park covering everything from trails, to uplift routes, car parking and the addition of accommodation. Whilst it will take time to realise this vision, work is already underway on many elements and visiting riders will see the benefits almost immediately.

The Plan

The other side of the agreement, which is equally exciting is that in partnership with NRW we have created a “Future Forest Vision Plan” that will see us reinvest the rental income that BPW pay to NRW in projects that enhance the environment within the bike park. This ground-breaking plan will see 300 acres of forest transformed in the coming decades from a predominantly monoculture forest that is not very species rich to a forest that is more similar to the native woodland that would have inhabited our mountainside hundreds of years ago. It is an unbelievable honour for us here at BPW to be the stewards of this forest and we are so proud that mountain biking, and you, our visiting riders has enabled this amazing transformation to take place. NRW will be undertaking works across the site to improve the resilience of the forest and encourage a gradual transformation back to it’s pre-industrial state.

Goals & aims

We have set clear deliverable goals within our plan setting out what NRW will be doing to manage the forest in detail over the next 5 years and then in outline for the next 20 years. Exactly what the forest will look like as we transition through this change remains to be seen, but we are very excited to get behind this amazing project and see what happens.

  • No commercial forestry in the core area
  • Maximise tree cover within the bike park
  • Increase the diversity of species and habitats within the bike park
  • Increase resilience to pests and diseases
  • Create a forest that is more resilient to storm and fire risks
  • Create a forest that provides a beautiful and diverse environment to ride through

Closing the loop: Funded by mountain biking

As if this project wasn’t unique enough already! There is an extra magic that makes this whole opportunity even more exciting, it would never have been possible if it weren’t for the positive force that is mountain biking.

Commercial forestry is big business, the trees in our forest are worth millions of pounds. This means that it’s very difficult to change the priorities in a forest such as ours without a bit of financial fire power. For the first time in history, as far as we are aware, we have been able to reach an agreement to essentially pay NRW rental income that frees them from the need to sell those trees. Not only that but our rental income is also funding all the work that will be undertaken to improve the environment in the forest.

Little old mountain biking has come a long way, and we are so proud to be a small part of this change. Don’t forget, though, that it’s you the visiting rider that has ultimately made all of this possible by supporting the bike park, so we’d like to say a huge thank you and well done. Let’s see how the next few decades unravel.