Backpacker (March 11, 2025) by Nathan Pipenberg

With the busy summer season around the corner, there’s one prevailing sentiment among those who look after the nation’s trails: uncertainty. After news of mass firings and funding cuts at federal agencies like the National Park Service, many hikers and other outdoors recreationists held out hope that nonprofits, conservation corps, and volunteers would be able to pick up the slack. Instead leaders at trail organizations say they are canceling projects, disbanding trail crews, and delaying volunteer projects, all due to delayed or missed payments from federal contracts. For anyone planning to explore public lands this summer, that will mean more downed trees across trails, reduced access to campgrounds and other services, and fewer rangers to provide information and emergency help.

Since the Trump administration took office in January, the Elon Musk-led Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) has enacted a dizzying number of staffing cuts and funding freezes affecting public land agencies and their partners, though some directives have been walked back and many others face legal challenges. In February, the government fired thousands of permanent and seasonal employees at the NPS. Days later, it changed course and announced that the Park Service would hire about 7,700 seasonal workers in 2025, but about 1,000 full-time employees, including park rangers and trail workers, remain fired. The administration also plans to close 35 offices at land management agencies around the country, including National Park visitors centers and Forest Service research offices, according to the DOGE “Wall of Receipts”.

At the US Forest Service, cuts have been even more drastic. The Administration axed 3,400 permanent positions at the agency (the USFS cut 2,400 seasonal jobs in September 2024, in response to a House budget proposal that didn’t leave them with enough leeway to fund them). Those firings are now under review, after the Merit Systems Protection Board temporarily reinstated 6,000 terminated employees at the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, last Wednesday. The Forest Service could not be reached for comment, and it’s unclear if or when terminated Forest Service workers might be reinstated.

Now, conservation nonprofits like the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) and Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) are raising the alarm around the lack of federal support and the impacts trails could suffer. In a joint statement issued March 6, PCTA CEO Megan Wargo and ATC CEO Sandra Marra wrote that “we never imagined we would have to fight to keep the partnership with the government afloat and the trails accessible.”

For both the ATC and PCTA, the funding struggles and federal firings come on the back of a difficult year. On the PCT, wildfire damage impacted some 247 miles of trail. And the AT is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which tore through about 500 miles of trail, damaging shelters, campgrounds, and the trail tread itself.

As a direct result of the funding cuts, neither organization plans to hire seasonal trail workers in 2025, and the PCTA said it would cancel 56 weeks’ worth of planned trail maintenance.

“If large sections of the trails are forced to close because of a lack of maintenance and care, it will be the federal government reneging on the deal we made 57 years ago to trade limited federal assistance with legions of volunteers and non-governmental support,” the PCTA and ATC’s statement reads.

These funding struggles come amidst another convoluted legal battle revolving around the Trump administration’s January 28 executive order freezing trillions of dollars of federal grants and funding. Although a federal judge has since blocked the order, trail stewards say that funds still appear to be frozen, and a number of groups echoed the struggles of the ATC and PCTA.

“Recent events have underscored how much nonprofits do depend on federal funding,” said Melanie Vining, executive director of the Idaho Trails Association. She said that about 40 percent of her group’s budget comes in the form of federal funds. Other trail organizations report figures ranging from 35 to 50 percent.

The Continental Divide Trail Conservancy is postponing projects because of downsizing at partner organizations, executive director Teresa Martinez wrote in an email. At the Arizona Trail Association, executive director Matthew Nelson shared similar news.

“We are taking a very conservative approach to hiring conservation corps and contractors, since funds that are Congressionally approved and protected have been frozen,” he said. “We don’t have enough cash on hand to pay for services and then hope we get a percentage reimbursed.”

Nelson is rethinking trail improvements that seemed like a sure thing a few months ago, including a plan to reroute 70 miles of the AZT away from roads and onto dedicated singletrack.

Other trail groups have taken to social media to highlight that even existing contracts are going unpaid. The Siskiyou Mountain Club wrote that they’re still waiting on unpaid invoices for government contracts, while also facing the loss of a $320,000 contract for trail work in California’s Marble Mountain Wilderness.

In conversations with Backpacker, trail group leaders stressed that federal agreements aren’t handouts, but contracts that require specific benchmarks be met, down to the number of hours worked or miles of trail maintained. They’re often awarded after the work has been completed.

“We spend money on projects and people, and after three months, I submit a detailed report on accomplishments, matching funding and volunteer labor, and then request payment,” Nelson said. In many cases, grant money funds trail work that the Park Service and Forest Service, now chronically understaffed after decades of budget cuts, used to complete internally.

With no guarantee that these federal grants will materialize any time soon, organizations are making other plans. The Sawtooth Society, a small nonprofit in Idaho that partners with the Sawtooth National Forest, announced an $80,000 fundraising drive to hire additional trail workers. In the announcement, the Sawtooth Society wrote that the fundraiser would enable the group to double the size of its trail crew, and hoped it would restore essential maintenance and visitor support after the Sawtooth National Recreation Area lost nearly 50 percent of its staff.

Most trail groups Backpacker spoke to said they plan to continue or increase their focus on volunteer efforts, since it’s a cost-effective way to complete trail work. But even organizations that are mostly volunteer-based, like the Idaho Trails Association, require funding.

“Our job is to raise funding to be able to send volunteers out. We spend a lot of time and money training our volunteer trip leaders in first aid, other certifications, and trail skills,” Vining said. “There’s really no way to get a volunteer force out into the field at no cost.”

There are also certain trail maintenance tasks that simply exceed the scope of a volunteer crew, Vining said, due to the difficulty or time required. “There are certain trails that would be ignored by volunteer crews. That’s how we complemented the Forest Service, filling in the gaps of the paid trail crews.”

Another hurdle is lack of federal oversight for nonprofit partners. Many trail groups rely on employees at federal agencies to approve work plans, even if the work is not funded with federal dollars. As of now, trail groups say there’s confusion as to whether their normal points of contact are simply not responding or no longer with the agency.

“I don’t know who is still working in their positions,” Nelson said. “I do know that everyone’s job is about to get more complicated as existing staff will have to absorb responsibilities for those who were let go.”

In the midst of all the uncertainty, one thing is clear: Unless federal funding begins to flow again, the work that trail groups do will soon grind to a halt.

“Right now, we feel like we’re in a position to help. We’re not panicking and we’ll get through the year,” Vining said. “But eventually, you have to ask yourself if this is an emergency. If we can’t do trail work, what are we actually doing?”

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