The President’s proposed FY26 budget recently sent to congress proposes drastic cuts to trails. The Forest Service will face trail funding cuts of 60% for maintenance and the elimination of $6 million in funding for Legacy Roads and Trails, funding for the BLM National Scenic and Historic Trails line item has been eliminated, and the overall National Park Service budget has been cut by over a billion dollars, including $900 million for park service operations which funds trails.
We ask that you reach out to your members of congress RIGHT NOW to tell them that these cuts are unacceptable. Congress is in the process of drafting legislation to fund the government for the next fiscal year and they need to hear from you.
Below is a draft letter with verbiage that you can use.
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Dear Senator / Representative,
I am reaching out today with grave concerns for the proposed drastic cuts or elimination of funding for our nation’s trails and the National Trails System in the President’s proposed budget. If enacted, these cuts would have far-reaching impacts including: decimating, severely curtailing the public’s ability to access these trails, crippling the federal agencies and non-profit partners that co-manage these trails, negatively impacting the economic development of the cities and towns that rely on these trails for their livelihoods, and putting the continued preservation of these trails at risk for future generations.
Protect Trail Funding
I am asking you to reach out to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House/Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to voice these concerns. If you’re a member of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee I am asking you to ensure our nation’s trails, including the National Trails System, are fully funded with the necessary direction by congress.
The President’s FY26 budget proposes drastic cuts to trails. The Forest Service will face trail funding cuts of 60% for maintenance and the elimination of $6 million in funding for Legacy Roads and Trails, funding for the BLM National Scenic and Historic Trails line item has been eliminated, and the overall National Park Service budget has been cut by over a billion dollars, including $900 million for park service operations that funds trails.
If funding to the National Park Service were cut, the already understaffed NPS – National Trails office in Santa Fe, which administers ten of the twenty-one National Historic Trails in the country, including El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, would have even less staffing capacity to perform the tasks it is mandated to perform by Congress and the National Trails System Act. This would result in their work for National Historic Trails to come to a grinding halt. And non-profit partners who work with the National Trails office, such as El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, would be greatly impacted in their ability to work with local communities and private-landowners who want to benefit from the economic generation of heritage tourism fostered by the trail. Projects such as the creation of a publicly-accessible park on privately-owned land of the Tonkawa Tribe, which is arguably the largest historic preservation project currently underway in Texas, will be greatly impacted by the funding cuts to the NPS. Communities such as Tilden, Texas and Robeline, Louisiana will be unable to receive the economic benefits and developments of the National Historic Trail, because the NPS will not have the ability to work with local communities to foster that economic development and historic preservation. And future generations will not have the ability to see and experience these irreplaceable sites that have had a profound impact on the face of our nation.
It is now more important than ever for Congress to ensure its role in appropriating funding and provide clear and direct guidance on how this funding should be used. Report language and bill text is critical to ensure that the trail line items are funded at an appropriate level and congressional direction is followed. The recommendations in this letter are supported by over 250 organizations and nearly 100 Members of Congress.
Reject LWCF Funding Cuts
Additionally, the President’s budget proposes to dismantle the overwhelmingly bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act and renege on its promise to the American people. The budget attempts to eviscerate the law by proposing to divert funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund — America’s best conservation and recreation program — further threatening our National Parks, forests, and wildlife areas and jeopardizing the recreation access to them that America’s sportsmen, families, and communities need. This proposal must be rejected. The trails community has benefited from LWCF, since its creation, to complete our nation’s trails system from coast to coast. Congress must and should continue to address the deferred maintenance backlog, but the way to do that is by extending the National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund and not by looting the LWCF.
The trails community and all trail and outdoor users, nationwide, are looking to your leadership to ensure that these places remain open and accessible to the American people. Please show your commitment to the great legacy of our American public lands and heritage sites by ensuring that trail funding is protected and that the LWCF remains a robust, privately-funded mechanism for protecting our irreplaceable patrimony.
Thank you,
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