by Amanda Wheelock

This article was originally published in CDT Passages, CDTC’s e-magazine. To receive Passages in your inbox three times a year, become a CDTC member today. 

MANY things surprised me when I moved to the Rockies, like how people think it’s totally normal when it snows in May, or the fact that Coloradans are obsessed with hiking a specific set of mountains simply because they are slightly taller than other mountains. I wasn’t at all surprised, however, by the deep connection between the small towns dotting the Continental Divide and the public lands surrounding them.

Before moving to Golden to work for CDTC, I had lived in the PCT trail town of Julian, California – famous for its pies – and the designated Appalachian Trail Community of Hanover, New Hampshire – famous for its privileged college students – as well as several other towns that served as gateways to regionally renowned forests and parks. In all of these places, I discovered a rich, interdependent relationship between rural communities and the natural areas around them. From Maine to Hawaii, residents of such communities depend on public lands to create jobs and local economic resilience, but also to help sustain their health, happiness, and ways of life. In turn, our public lands often depend on locals to take good care of them, act as volunteer stewards, and speak up for their protection.

As CDTC’s Policy and Communications Manager, it is part of my job to amplify the voices of those who speak up for the CDT. Thus, when the opportunity arose this winter to testify in Congress about the importance of providing robust funding for public lands, it only felt natural that I would tell stories from CDT Gateway Communities. From serving as volunteer adopters of local sections of the CDT to traveling to Washington, D.C., to advocate on its behalf, residents of trailside towns are some of the CDT’s most adamant supporters. Their stories of what a completed CDT could provide for their communities make a much better case for investing in our public lands than I ever could, and I said as much to members of the House Committee on Appropriations in February:

“When we surveyed small business owners in 32 towns along the CDT last fall, 88% of them reported economic growth in their community over the last five years that was specifically due to use of the trail. And this isn’t isolated to those we think of as working in the “outdoor” industry, for while some of those surveyed own hotels or gear shops, others are graphic designers, healthcare providers, and even barbers. These people live in communities like Steamboat Springs and Silver City. While on the surface, these towns can feel worlds apart – one a world-famous ski town in the snowy Colorado mountains, the other situated where forest turns to desert in southern New Mexico, named for the metals that have sustained it for so long – they are connected by the thread of the Continental Divide Trail, and have more in common than you might think. Both are mid-sized communities with vibrant downtowns. Both are on the path of establishing themselves as year-round destinations and fantastic places to live due to their access to public lands. And both await access to new public land so that their local sections of the CDT can be routed off of dangerous roads.”

In early March, I opened an email to learn that President Trump was tweeting his support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is the most critical tool we can employ in our work to complete the CDT. Less than a month earlier, while I was in D.C., the President had released his annual budget recommendations, which included a proposal to cut LWCF funding by more than 97%. As I read the tweet, I somehow refrained from spit-taking my coffee, instead immediately texting my colleague: “TRUMP IS TWEETING ABOUT LWCF. WHAT WORLD IS THIS?!”

Seeing a President who has consistently supported rollbacks of environmental regulations and public lands protections suddenly ask Congress “to send me a Bill that fully and permanently funds the LWCF and restores our National Parks,” was certainly surprising. But here at CDTC, we firmly believe that protecting public lands and ensuring that everyone can access those lands are bipartisan issues. We were thrilled that, with the President’s support, the Land and Water Conservation Fund might finally receive the full $900 million it is supposed to receive each year, since Congress has siphoned off money from the fund to use for non-conservation purposes in all but two of the 55 years LWCF has been in existence.

That Monday, a group of bipartisan legislators introduced the Great American Outdoors Act on the Senate floor, pledging to pass the bill quickly, guaranteeing permanent full funding of LWCF in what would be a landmark win for public lands and the communities that depend on them.

The Monday after that, the CDC officially asked all Americans to avoid discretionary travel.

The last two months have been like nothing I have seen in my lifetime, and I suspect the same is true for almost every single one of you reading this. One constant remains from “pre-pandemic life,” however: my belief that public lands and trails are vital to our wellbeing. In fact, that belief has only been reinforced recently. Every text I send to a far-flung friend begins or ends with “so grateful I live in a place with gorgeous trails right outside my front door.” Every night, I hear my neighbors howling like coyotes to remind each other we’re pack animals, surviving this together. And every day, I see more news stories about overcrowded trails and how mountain communities are terrified that city dwellers looking for a nice place to ride out the pandemic will overburden their healthcare systems.

Imagine a country where people didn’t have to leave the city to access public land. Where each one of us lived within a 10-minute walk of a trail, a park, or both. Where those parks and trails were funded at a level that reflects the growing numbers of Americans who want to experience the natural treasures we all share. I firmly believe that the Great American Outdoors Act will help us get there. It is not the only step on the path, but it is a big one. For the past half-century, LWCF dollars have invested in more than 41,000 trails, parks, and playgrounds, in every county in the U.S. These successes have come even though Congress has diverted more than $22 billion away from LWCF. Imagine what could have been achieved with $22 billion more.

In addition to guaranteeing that Congress would never divert another dollar away from LWCF, the Great American Outdoors Act would also provide funding to address the deferred maintenance backlog on federal public lands. Federal land management agencies currently face approximately $20 billion in deferred maintenance: projects such as facility renovations, roadwork, and trail maintenance that cannot move forward due to lack of funding. By investing in these sorely-needed updates, the Great American Outdoors Act would make our nation’s parks, forests, and trails safer, more easily accessible, and better equipped to welcome all of us to our shared public lands.

I was supposed to write an article explaining why the Great American Outdoors Act will help CDTC in our mission to complete, promote, and protect the CDT, to compel you, dear CDTC member, to support the bill. And make no mistake – LWCF is the tool that could help us complete the CDT. Guaranteeing full funding for LWCF with passage of the Great American Outdoors Act would be a huge win for our favorite trail.

But in a time when we are all cooped up in our homes, or worse, putting ourselves at risk at essential jobs to ensure others are safe and fed, the CDT feels awfully far away for most of us. What feels absolutely vital and necessary are the bike paths in our neighborhoods and the parks just beyond that. For those of us who live in areas without these resources, their absence is even more apparent now. LWCF not only protects the vast vistas of the CDT – it’s also a critical source of funding for these local treasures.

The Great American Outdoors Act can help us build the country I asked you to imagine, the one where each of us can access public lands and trails, no matter where we live. Protecting public lands is not irrelevant in the time of COVID-19, but rather, more relevant than ever. So please, call your Senators and Representative. Ask them to pass the Great American Outdoors Act. And tell the staffer you talk to that you hope they get a chance to (safely) enjoy a trail today.

Amanda Wheelock is the Policy & Communications Manager for CDTC. She always welcomes new trail advocates – contact her at [email protected] to find out how to help.