“Public access, visitor satisfaction, and recreation-based economic contributions will continue to decline in 2026 and beyond without direction to prioritize investments in recreation generally and the trails program specifically,” a brand-new internal Trail Program Status Report from the U.S. Forest Service says.
“This would include action in hiring, clearer communication, and improvement around grants and agreement (G&A) management. Without this support, the agency risks losing decades of investment in trail infrastructure,” the report, which was first obtained by The Washington Post, continues.
America’s national forests are crisscrossed by more than 160,000 miles of trails managed by the U.S. Forest Service—routes that lead not only into wilderness and recreation areas, but connect local economies and foster the everyday relationship Americans have with their public lands and waters.
Yet behind the familiar image of trailheads and switchbacks, a massive crisis is unfolding.
According to the Forest Service’s own Trail Program Status Report, the agency’s trail system is buckling under historic staffing losses, eroding institutional expertise, and mounting maintenance backlogs that threaten public access well beyond the next hiking season.
The report, completed in December 2025 after interviews with nearly 300 district-level staff across every Forest Service region, paints a stark picture.
In some districts, trail crews have been reduced by as much as 100 percent.
“Critical vacancies, staff reassignments, seasonal hiring restrictions, and G&A delays are impeding trail maintenance and partner support,” the report states. “The agency is losing out on tangible partner and volunteer contributions without the staff to coordinate and provide technical oversight. While partners and volunteers augment capacity, they cannot entirely replace agency staff.”
Massive cuts by DOGE, along with other policies of the current administration, have hollowed out what was once a deeply specialized workforce. The result is not merely fewer workers in the field, but the collapse of an entire system that depends on technical skill, coordination, and long-term stewardship.
Trail maintenance is not casual labor. Forest Service trails—especially in wilderness and backcountry settings—require expertise in rock masonry, rigging, blasting, crosscut saw work, bridge construction, pack stock management, and environmental compliance.
“Lost skills are weakening the agency’s ability to implement technical projects and oversee partner, volunteer, and contractor work, which is leading to unpassable trails, unsafe bridges, and negative environmental impacts,” the Forest Service report warns.
The report estimates that hundreds of cumulative years of trail expertise have been lost in just the past year alone, a hemorrhaging of institutional knowledge that cannot be replaced quickly, even if funding were restored tomorrow.
One forest recreation manager quoted in the report put it bluntly: “We lost 200 years of trail experience this year.”
The consequences are already visible on the ground.
Maintained trail miles are down 22 percent, while the number of miles meeting Forest Service standards has dropped by 19 percent—both the lowest performance levels recorded in at least 15 years.
Backcountry routes are increasingly being abandoned in favor of heavily trafficked front-country trails, a triage strategy that accelerates long-term degradation. Deferred maintenance compounds rapidly: drainage fails, erosion worsens, bridges rot, and informal user-created routes proliferate.
What looks like a missed maintenance season today becomes a far more expensive reconstruction project tomorrow.
“We were able to get through the summer doing basic clearing, which kept our overall accomplishment numbers fairly the same, but the reality is the other maintenance tasks such as drainage and brushing did not get done,” a district trail employee said.
“[That] maybe wasn’t an issue this year, but the cumulative effects will be worse and worse. Then we’ll have a huge backlog, even worse than it was before.”
Compounding the problem are operational failures that have everything to do with administrative paralysis. Millions of dollars in trail-related grant funding have gone unspent or been returned because districts lacked the staff capacity to process agreements or manage contracts.
Year-over-year funding opportunities are being forfeited, undermining future budgets and eroding trust with external partners. Contractors face stalled payments and unfunded agreements, putting small rural businesses at risk of insolvency and reducing the pool of qualified firms willing to work with the agency in the future.
Inside the agency, morale has cratered.
Staff interviewed for the report describe high stress, unclear priorities, inconsistent leadership messaging, and a growing sense that recreation—and trails in particular—are treated as expendable. One acting district ranger described their trail program as “suffering the worst morale setbacks of all my district programs.”
Another district trail manager reported overseeing more than 200 miles of trails, wilderness responsibilities, and volunteer coordination, after a staff of 20 was reduced to just six. These are not conditions under which safety, visitor experience, or resource protection can be sustained.
“To be honest, I heavily lean toward quitting and reinvention if we go another summer without seasonals. I have never lacked for motivation for trail work until now,” yet another district trail manager said. “[I]t feels like we are on the verge of not passing anything on for the future, and that feels like 24 years of trails and wilderness work rolling back to the bottom of the hill.”
The irony is that trails are among the Forest Service’s most visible and economically productive assets. Trails drive outdoor recreation, tourism, and rural economic activity, supporting gateway communities that depend on reliable access to public lands.
They’re also critical infrastructure for wildfire response, search-and-rescue operations, and ecosystem monitoring. Allowing them to degrade undermines not just recreation, but public safety and land management writ large.
“We were able to get through the summer doing basic clearing, which kept our overall accomplishment numbers fairly the same, but the reality is the other maintenance tasks such as drainage and brushing did not get done, which maybe wasn’t an issue this year, but the cumulative effects will be worse and worse. Then we’ll have a huge backlog, even worse than it was before.” - A U.S. Forest Service District Trail Employee
The Forest Service’s internal report does not merely diagnose the problem—it does also outline clear, actionable solutions.
Among its immediate recommendations are expedited seasonal hiring, expanded authority for externally funded positions, increased capacity for grants and agreements management, reinvestment in technical training, and consistent leadership messaging that affirms recreation as a core agency mission.
It also calls for renewed support for Youth Conservation Corps programs and improved trail condition reporting tools, both of which are proven, cost-effective investments.
What emerges from the report is a simple but urgent truth: the Forest Service’s trail crisis is getting worse every month, but it’s not irreparable.
It’s entirely the result of policy choices, budget priorities, and administrative constraints that can be changed—the only thing it takes is an executive or secretarial order.
The longer those changes are delayed, the more expensive and disruptive the consequences will become. Trails, once lost, are rarely easy or cheap to reclaim. Once an agency’s reputation as a reliable employer is destroyed, it becomes much harder to find qualified and skilled staff.
“To be honest, I heavily lean toward quitting and reinvention if we go another summer without seasonals. I have never lacked for motivation for trail work until now… it feels like we are on the verge of not passing anything on for the future, and that feels like 24 years of trails and wilderness work rolling back to the bottom of the hill.” - A U.S. Forest Service District Trail Manager
America’s national forests are often celebrated as landscapes of freedom and access, places where Americans can hike, ride, hunt, fish, boat, camp, and otherwise explore their public lands and waters.
But access does not maintain itself. Trails require people—trained, supported, and empowered—to keep them open. The Forest Service’s own report makes clear what is at stake.
Thanks for reading and for caring about our public lands and waters!
See you other there,
Bram