Guiding Trail Law, Policy, and Initiatives

National Trail Strategy

The National Strategy for a Sustainable Trail System is a call to action to increase the stewardship of National Forest System trails. Initiated in 2018, the strategy builds on many examples from across the country of community-driven and locally sustainable trail systems. Forest Service employees, partners, volunteers, and friends (a.k.a. the Trail Community) are implementing the Trail Strategy through the 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge.
 

• Trail Strategy Publication

  

  The agency’s first national trail strategy.

  Open PDF (12.1 MB)

• Trail Strategy Overview

  

  An overview of the trail strategy.

  Open PDF (2 MB)

• Publication Graphics

  

  Individual graphic files from the trail strategy.

  Download .zip (281 KB)

10-Year Trail Challenge

The goals of the 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge are to increase the Trail Community’s collective capacity to care for trails and increasing trail sustainability. It is being implemented in three phases from 2020 to 2030. The Trail Challenge annual program of work is comprised of actions organized in seven elements: Training, Workforce, Trail Sustainability, Data, Agency Processes, Working Together, and National Scenic and Historic Trails. The program of work is developed each year with input from the Trail Community and focuses on high-level actions that will achieve the Trail Challenge goals, fulfil the National Strategy for a Sustainable Trail System and the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act of 2016.

National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act

The National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act of 2016 established several programs to support the Forest Service in substantially increasing the role of partners and volunteers in trail maintenance. To implement this law, the Forest Service:

• Established 15 Trail Maintenance Priority Areas to increase focus on addressing the deferred trail maintenance backlog by increasing partner support. These priority areas include 43 national forests and are supported by over 320 partner organizations, numerous local businesses, and individual volunteers. Learn more…

• Established the Outfitter & Guide Trail Stewardship Fee Offset Program, which allows, on participating units, for outfitter and guide companies to perform agreed-upon trail maintenance work to offset the cost of the permittee's annual land use fee.

For More Information

Please contact Forest Service Trail Management if you have questions or comments.