On Friday, June 12, the Arizona Legislature and Governor reached a compromise on the state’s budget for fiscal year 2027 (July 2026-June 2027). Within the $18.3 billion budget was a total allocation of $0 for the Arizona Trail. A special Arizona Trail Fund was established in 2006 with an initial investment of $500,000. Since that time, it has only received an allocation five times. This is the second year in a row it has been unfunded. While we recognize it was a tough budget year for AZ, there is really no excuse for a state not investing in its only state scenic trail and national scenic trail.

Our initial ask was for $500,000. This is 0.0027% of the state’s budget. Then, the Senate hacked that down to $100,000. Then the House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee refused to hear it. And in the end, it was reduced to $0. Dedicated funding for Arizona Trail construction and maintenance is clearly not a priority for the State Legislature or Governor’s Office.

What does this mean for the AZT?

• We won’t be able to put young Arizonans who work for conservation corps (Arizona Conservation Corps and American Conservation Experience) to work on trail projects over the next year.
• Volunteers will need to leap into action to support priority trail maintenance and construction projects.
• We won’t be able to leverage state dollars as “matching funds” within federal grant opportunities, meaning our grant applications won’t be as competitive.
• Big trail construction projects will need to be paused until dedicated funding is secured.
• We won’t be able to support Arizona’s professional trail contractors (Flagline Trails, Cuddy Mountain Trail Construction, and Proline Trails) over the next year – this will have an impact on locals who work for them as well as Arizona’s outdoor recreation economy.
• The Governor is going to have a difficult time reaching her goal of building 200 miles of new non-motorized trail by 2030.
• In order for the ATA to meet our goals and maintain momentum, we will rely on friends like you to provide support.

Our most sincere thanks to everyone who reached out to their state representatives and senators over the past few months. We encourage you to reach out to Governor Hobbs and your state representatives to congratulate them on passing the budget while expressing respectful disappointment for not funding the Arizona Trail.

If you haven’t donated to the ATA this season, please do that soon. We really need your help to step in where the state has failed.

DONATE HERE