The Great American Outdoors Act put real money behind the maintenance backlog on America’s public lands. In 2025, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) CDT Program received $4.8 million through the National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund for deferred maintenance in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho, the largest federal investment in the trail’s history. About $1.9 million of that comes to CDTC over three years to lead the work on the ground, and we and our partners committed another $2 million in matching funds and volunteer hours alongside it.
In practice, that money looks like 20 professional GAOA crew projects this year, part of 52 trail projects planned with partners in 2026, the largest stewardship season in the CDT’s history.
It also looks like an orange tent pitched in a wet meadow with cattle grazing past it at dusk. Ally Ehrlich is part of our four-person GAOA trail crew, the first professional trail crew we have put in the field with GAOA funding. She sent this report back from the Canjilon Ranger District, and her words follow.
By Ally Ehrlich, CDTC GAOA Trail Crew
Into the Carson National Forest
In late July, we began our GAOA project work in Carson National Forest. The Carson is beautiful and has a diverse ecosystem. The eastern side boasts craggy mountains, one of which is Wheeler Peak, the tallest point in New Mexico. Our crew is working on the western side with rolling hills and lush green meadows that are soaked from the monsoon rains. After meeting with USFS staff at the Canjilon Ranger District office, we set out to improve the trail south of Canjilon Lakes.
Afternoon storms rolled in most days of the hitch. Open meadows at this elevation are no place to be when lightning starts.
Monsoon season is upon us in northern New Mexico and the afternoon storms were an added challenge this hitch. Lightning was especially concerning while working in open, grassy, high-altitude meadows. The rumbling thunder was the background noise at camp, as was the mooing of cows. This area is home to many cows that graze in Carson National Forest. The males call out a frightening cry (which we mistook at first to be human) and the calves look at us with confusion and interest. The cattle use the CDT like hikers do, as a path through the forest. They also create their own trails, which can confuse hikers. We installed signage and built rock cairns to help clear things up when the trail got confusing.
Camp for the hitch, with the neighbors grazing nearby.
Fifty trees over eight miles
In this eight-mile section we passed through mixed conifer forests, stands of aspen growing in the meadows, and dense clusters of Gambel oak. Much of our time was spent clearing downed trees that had fallen across the trail.
The majority of the 50 trees that we cleared were aspens. Aspens grow fast and tall, but have a shorter lifespan compared to other trees we see along the CDT in northern New Mexico such as ponderosa pine, white fir, and Engelmann spruce.
By removing these blowdowns, we open up the trail and create easier passage for hikers. This work gives us a great sense of satisfaction, and we love the chance to use our chainsaws!
Ally clears an aspen that came down across the trail. Most of the trees the crew cut this hitch were aspen.
Halfway through the season
This hitch marks the halfway point of our season as the first GAOA funded professional trail crew for the CDTC. Every hitch gives the sense of progress, purpose, and adventure. I am working to better a trail that may serve as a sort of odyssey for its users. Taking a hike is an opportunity to change one’s life, whether on trail for a day, or a month, or longer! I am certainly impacted by my time on trail and my time with the crew.
Trail work serves as a reminder that when my capabilities are put to the test, I have the capacity to do more than I thought was possible. Hiking and using tools all day reminds me that movement is the joy of my life. Spending the majority of my days with (the three individuals who make up) my crew encourages me to laugh as much as possible.
A stop at Bode’s, a longtime resupply landmark for CDT hikers passing through northern New Mexico. Trail crews appreciate it too.
Join us out there on the Trail
Most of this work happens where nobody is watching, which is exactly why we like telling you about it.
Our crew does not do it alone, and they were never meant to. Volunteers work alongside our professional field operations staff from spring through autumn, on projects that run from a single day to a full week, in all five CDT states, and no experience is necessary. Find a 2026 volunteer project and come get a little dirty with us.
If a week in the field is not in the cards this year, there is another way in. Federal dollars only go so far. CDTC and partners committed $2 million in matching funds and volunteer hours to this GAOA work, and a gift to CDTC helps us meet it.
See you on the trail.