Ask seven park superintendents to designate paved paths for powered micromobility devices before 11 September 2026

What PEVRA is asking each superintendent for

On 11 September 2026 the National Park Service rule on powered micromobility devices takes effect. New 36 CFR 4.32(a) provides that operating a powered micromobility device is prohibited except in designated locations, and it places the designation decision with each superintendent. The rule lets a superintendent designate paved and gravel sidewalks and paths after public notice under 36 CFR 1.7, without rulemaking, except where 36 CFR 1.5(b) applies.

Three asks, in the next compendium revision:

• Designate every paved or hardened multi-use path, sidewalk and road already open to bicycles. Those surfaces were improved by artificial or processed materials, which the rule's own text places inside compendium authority. A device that weighs 30 to 80 pounds, is 20 inches wide and carries one person standing has no larger effect on the surface, on other visitors or on wildlife than a bicycle does.
• Confirm in writing that an electric unicycle is a powered micromobility device under 36 CFR 1.4. The definition — a human-operated, self-propelled device with a curb weight of less than 150 pounds and without an internal combustion engine — covers it on its face, but the preamble's examples are only electric scooters, hoverboards and Segways. Without a written line, a ranger in the field must guess, and guessing produces inconsistent enforcement.
• Set the rules by place, not by machine. A posted path limit, and a walking pace whenever a pedestrian is within reach, rather than a device-level speed cap or governor. 36 CFR 4.32(d) already applies the park's speed-limit, right-of-way and unsafe-operation rules to every rider.

Who is being written to, and in what order

Golden Gate National Recreation Area first — it has the most electric unicycle riders and its current compendium, dated 30 December 2025, closes every trail, path, sidewalk, walkway and sea wall to these devices. Then National Mall and Memorial Parks, Rock Creek Park, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Cape Cod National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore. An eighth letter goes to National Park Service headquarters asking for a written interpretation that electric unicycles are inside the 36 CFR 1.4 definition, and for the public e-bike page to be updated before 11 September 2026.

The seven letters and the headquarters letter are in the repository at docs/alerts/2026-08-28-nps-superintendent-letters.md.