Last month, partners from across the National Trail System converged on Washington D.C. for the annual Hike the Hill event to celebrate shared success from 2023, identify shared priorities, and plan for opportunities in 2024 and beyond. Teresa Martinez and L Fisher from the Continental Divide Trail Coalition were joined by partners in the U.S. Forest Service CDT Program, Ben Lara and Valery Serrano-Lopez, to tell the story of shared stewardship that connects the cultures, communities, and landscapes of the Divide!
Members of the National Trails community held large group meetings with agency leadership, including Chief Moore, Director Stone-Manning, and Director Sams. The focus of these meetings highlighted alignment with key initiatives including:
- USFS’s Reimagine Recreation
- BLM’s Blueprint for 21st Century Recreation
- Forest planning & trail completion
- Landscape-scale conservation
- Impacts from natural disasters and wildfire
- Growing popularity of public lands
- Staffing, capacity, & partnerships
A major topic that intersected discussion on capacity, resources, and cooperative stewardship was the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF), which was funded through the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. National Scenic Trails such as the Pacific Crest Trail and others have received trail-specific buckets of funding to invest in stewardship along the trail, and the CDT hopes to follow in these footsteps, with a CDT-specific GAOA request for Regions 2, 3, and 4 pending passage of a final budget by Congress in 2025 (Note: Region 1 submitted a separate funding request in the previous years, which was approved and covers deferred maintenance on the CDT in the Region). And all trail partners expressed the need to see LRF reauthorized to halt the boom and bust cycle of funding and make proactive investments in models like the National Trail System, where the agency and partners are operationalizing those resources effectively and efficiently.
The CDT Program and CDTC also hosted 1-on-1 meetings with all three primary agency partners, including a first-time meeting with National Park Service leadership. In discussion with the agency Trail Leads, Brenda Yankoviak and Chad Schneckenburger (acting) with USFS, Carin Farley with BLM, and John Cannella with NPS, there was a lot to celebrate and greater discussion on future opportunities for partnership. Accomplishments in the past year included the submission of a LRF request for the CDT Program, the upcoming designation of Hidalgo County as the CDT’s 21st Gateway Community, the release of part one of the Connections to the Land film, the publishing of the 2023 CDT Small Business Survey, and the work being done to fill the gaps of the CDT through local working groups and the CDT Completion Act.
Discussion of what’s to come in 2024 and beyond demonstrated the exciting work ahead on the CDT. Partners continue to collaborate around growing CDT usage at the Northern Terminus, with CDTC partnering with the Park to rollout a “Hiker Hang Tag” for the first time ever! The BLM continues to invest in the CDT, particularly working on filling the gap areas in New Mexico and Colorado, as well as investing in infrastructure to help with challenging access to the Southern Terminus. And the Forest Service continues to provide tools to build the cooperative stewardship model across boundaries with the recent release of the Cultural Landscape Training Path, to strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities. For more information, take a look at our Agency Handouts: U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management.
In 2023, the ROI was a 7.5 to 1 (in private funding and valued volunteer hours) value returned to the public for the $305,000 invested in the CDT’s private partners like CDTC!
Later in the week, CDTC staff held meetings with Congressional offices from each of the trail states. In these meetings, CDTC staff meet with members of Congress and/or their staff to highlight the benefits of the trail for constituents in CDT states, like the economic, recreational, and health benefits for local communities. Every year, we also advocate for the need for resources and more capacity within our federal partners, pointing toward examples like the CDT partnerships Return on Investment. The CDTC’s 2024 Congressional Report highlights the success of the partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and partners like CDTC, spotlighting the Return on Investment (ROI) from partners. In 2023, the ROI was a 7.5 to 1 (in private funding and valued volunteer hours) value returned to the public for the $305,000 invested in the CDT’s private partners like CDTC!
The other top priority actions CDTC staff advocated for Congressional leaders to take is to support the CDT Completion Act, which aims to complete the trail by the trail’s 50th anniversary in 2028. Of the trail’s 3,100 miles, there are around 180 miles where those seeking a continuous journey are forced onto road walks on busy roadways and highways. This makes for a journey that is not only less scenic, but less safe for trail travelers as well. Reasons to support the CDT Completion Act are numerous, including improving safety and the experience, investing in the outdoor recreation economy, and providing better connection to the outdoors for local communities. So far, our trail community has helped to keep up momentum for the bill by continuing to advocate to their leaders in Congress about the important need for filling the trail gaps. And just last year at the end of 2023, this support helped to pass the bill out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee – a significant milestone, and the farthest the bill has made it so far!
In every state, Congressional offices were impressed to hear about the enthusiasm and innovative stewardship happening around the CDT. New Mexico offices were excited to hear about the 10th anniversary of Silver City’s Gateway Community status and the work CDTC is doing to get Indigenous youth outdoors. Staffers from Colorado offices were excited to hear about the breadth of community stewardship coming out of Gateway Communities and the potential opportunities at the Camp Hale— Continental Divide National Monument. The designation of Rawlins as a Gateway Community and the work being done to demonstrate the economic opportunity for the trail were celebrated with Wyoming offices. In Idaho, we talked about the growth of the Trail Adopters program and the opportunity for future community-led stewardship. And in Montana, CDTC staff elevated the work at the northern terminus in Glacier and the small business roundtables hosted in 2023, as examples of where we continue to build our network of partners, advocates, and our trail community.
Together, CDTC and partners told the story of a growing community that is motivated to continue to build the legacy of cooperative stewardship on the CDT! The enthusiasm and energy of agency staff, partners, volunteers, and community members makes the story of the CDT an exciting one to tell, and one that we hope will mobilize the hearts and minds of D.C. as much as it inspires those who live, work, and love the Divide.
For more information, contact L. Fisher at CDTC: lfisher-at-continentaldividetrail-dot-org.
