By Claire Cutler, CDTC Trail Policy Specialist
As we approach the end of 2025, CDTC’s policy team is turning our attention to preparing for Hike the Hill 2026, when CDTC staff members will head to Washington DC for a week of advocating for the CDT, trails, and public lands and communities along the Divide. During Hike the Hill 2025, we met with nineteen congressional offices, representing all five CDT states and both major political parties.
2025 has been a year marked by changes, challenges, and opportunities for public lands.
Over the last year, the workforce at land management agencies has experienced enormous turbulence and significant cuts. Between January and June of 2025, the National Park Service lost approximately a quarter of its permanent workforce. The US Forest Service lost no less than 4,000 employees, with another massive “reduction in force” expected in the coming months. This was the loss of dedicated civil servants who built and maintained the CDT and connecting trails, fought wildfires, issued permits, conducted search and rescue missions, shared information with visitors, and so much more. AmeriCorps programs, a critical gateway for young people looking to enter the civil service or and the natural resources workforce, have faced significant disruption.
The US Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management are facing significant funding cuts. The administration’s 2026 budget proposed to decrease funding for these agencies by more than a third of the previous year’s levels, despite 75% of all voters in eleven Western states opposing funding cuts for these agencies.
The proposed cut to the National Park Service’s budget represented the largest in the agency’s over 100-year history. As visitation continues to grow to public lands across the country, federal agencies must consider how to care for ecosystems and keep visitors safe with scarce resources.
Across the country, nonprofit organizations and communities are grappling with how to respond to attempts to undermine hard-won environmental laws. Implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act was upended, limiting input from local voices in the management of public lands. The US Forest Service is also in the process of revoking the overwhelmingly supported 2001 Roadless Rule.
And, perhaps most visibly, public lands drew widespread national attention in June when a group of Senators and Representatives attempted to include widespread, indiscriminate sale of public lands in the budget reconciliation process. In the face of this threat, we saw champions arise for public lands from all corners of the country and, in Congress, from both sides of the aisle. We saw solidarity.
The Surge of Bipartisan Support for Public Lands
Americans from across the country spoke out in opposition to this proposal. Hikers, hunters, anglers, campers, and outdoor enthusiasts stood together against the privatization of public lands. Republicans and Democrats alike stood in firm opposition to the sale of public lands, eventually leading to the proposal’s removal from the reconciliation bill.
Many of these same elected officials joined the newly-formed Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, a group of Representatives from both parties committed to protecting access, recreation, and preservation of public lands. In both chambers of Congress, elected officials have introduced bills that would make the CDT safer, more enjoyable, and more accessible. The Continental Divide Trail Completion Act was reintroduced in the House and the Senate, which would direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to complete the CDT within ten years of the bill’s enactment. In the Senate, the America the Beautiful Act was introduced, which would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund, a lifeline of funding for overdue maintenance on public lands. Right now, this momentum in Congress and in communities demonstrates widespread, resounding support for the continued protection of our public lands.
Preparing to Hike the Hill
As we prepare to head to Capitol Hill in early 2026, we’re ready to advocate for the CDT, public lands, and the communities that care for them. We’ll support strong funding and staffing at land management agencies, the CDT Completion Act and the America the Beautiful Act, and the needs of communities along the Divide.
Heading into the new year, we’re buoyed by strength and solidarity of the public land champions that surround us: each of the organizations working to protect treasured places and the land management agencies that steward them; the community members and small businesses that help folks enjoy natural places; and, above all, each of the outdoor enthusiasts that love these places.
As we prepare for Hike the Hill, we’ll ask our community to help us advocate for the CDT – I hope you’ll stay tuned and join us in speaking up for the trail.
Keep in touch
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