How the Forest Service staffing crisis will affect your hike – and what you can do
Right now, a budget crisis and staffing cuts at the Forest Service are threatening our ability to reach hikes in our state's national forests. So, we need your help. Your donation will help us maintain trails that the Forest Service cannot reach this summer, keeping these places open for you and other hikers.
Updated Feb. 19, 2025. The Forest Service staffing crisis has been compounded by additional cuts across Forest Service and National Parks in the last few days.Read the latest and take action.
Feb. 10, 2025 Washington’s national forests contain some of our state’s most iconic outdoor places, including Mount St. Helens, the Enchantments and Lake Chelan, along with your favorite go-to hikes, like Snow Lake, Dog Mountain and Lena Lake.
But right now, a budget crisis and staffing cuts at the Forest Service are threatening our ability to reach these hikes. So, we need your help. Your donation will help us maintain trails that the Forest Service cannot reach this summer, keeping these places open for you and other hikers.
With your support, WTA can fix bridges and clear logs on trails the Forest Service is unable to reach. Photo by Scott & Deeann Means.
A different Forest Service means a different experience on trail — if you can even get there
Last September, in response to the agency’s budget deficit of more than $700 million, the Forest Service announced it is cutting most temporary positions from its staff.
Then last month, the White House announced a hiring freeze for all federal employees, which includes the Forest Service.
Cutting temporary Forest Service positions means eliminating more than 2,400 seasonal jobs across the U.S., including trail crews, wilderness rangers, biologists and many other roles. Here in Washington, most of the national forests will not have their own backcountry trail crews to help maintain the more than 9,000 miles of Forest Service trails in the state.
What this means for Washington hikers
The Forest Service manages more miles of trails in Washington than any other agency. Without temporary staff, you’ll see negative impacts when you hike in national forests this spring and summer.
Some of those negative impacts may include:
- Trails clogged with logs and overgrown with brush
- Toilets that are cleaned infrequently
- Trash cans overflowing and illegal dumping unaddressed
- Toilet paper and human waste in the backcountry
- Limited hours at visitor centers and ranger stations
- Deferred maintenance projects, like fixing broken bridges, will be neglected. National forests will continue to get further behind on fixing infrastructure the public depends on
How WTA will step up, with your support
Your support is essential for WTA to be able to work on trails in our national forests this year. Forest Service budget cuts are eliminating funding for WTA trail crews. We’ll need to reduce our presence in some areas, unless donors step in.
Plus, with a reduced Forest Service staff, WTA crews will have little to no on-the-ground support. We’ll need to cover the cost of materials, pack support and other resources to fix trails.
We hope you will make a donation, become a monthly sustaining member or increase your yearly membership donation.
Your support will help us maintain trails to keep them open and safe for hiking.
We are ready to support our partners at the Forest Service during a year where they are facing unprecedented funding and staffing shortages — but we need your help.
Most of Washington state's national forests will not have their own backcountry trail crews to help maintain the more than 9,000 miles of Forest Service trails in the state. Photo by Kae-Lin Wang.
A long-term partner like WTA is needed now more than ever
WTA founded our trail maintenance program in 1993 to support the Forest Service in the face of its dwindling maintenance budget. Since the 1990s, consistent underinvestment in the Forest Service has led the agency to lose nearly half of its trail crew and forestry technician positions nationwide.
An underfunded Forest Service is not how it always was — and not how it needs to be.
While there are half the staff working on the ground in our national forests compared to three decades ago, there are more people visiting these places. Visitors made 14 million more trips to Forest Service lands during the years of 2018-2022 compared to a decade earlier.
WTA partners regularly with the Forest Service to complete the maintenance that’s needed to keep trails open and functioning. We also step in to reopen trails when natural disasters like floods and fires wreak havoc on beloved landscapes.
Our decades of experience mean we are well-positioned to keep trails open during this crisis.
While we’re clearing and maintaining trails in the short-term, we are also working on long-term solutions to help get the Forest Service the resources it needs to steward our public lands.
Comments
WildCreek on How the Forest Service staffing crisis will affect your hike – and what you can do
When I've traveled to other countries, they charge out-of-country visitors a much higher amount. In some countries, a local may pay the equivalent of $2.00 to enter, but a tourist (out of country) would pay a $15 to $25 equivalent. Can we adopt successful systems used in other countries to ensure a good upkeep of our resources?
Posted by:
WildCreek on Feb 12, 2025 05:37 PM
Brabbit on How the Forest Service staffing crisis will affect your hike – and what you can do
Agree, out of state residents who visit a park should pay a higher fee but that can only happen in a park with a manned entrance booth. You are going to get people paying any fees on hiking trails unless you put those fees into the Forest Service passes and Discovery Park Passes. Individual hiking trails cannot be fee'd it would be hard to do and enforce.
Posted by:
Brabbit on Feb 15, 2025 01:55 PM
Seacreatures on How the Forest Service staffing crisis will affect your hike – and what you can do
I wish I could donate money. How can we all donate time and man/woman power? Boots on the ground help?
Posted by:
Seacreatures on Feb 19, 2025 09:59 AM
melanib on How the Forest Service staffing crisis will affect your hike – and what you can do
@Seacreatures thanks for your question! I'm Melani Baker, advocacy coordinator at WTA. I wanted to offer that volunteering with WTA and other nonprofits that do trail work is one way to help. Another way is to get action alerts through WTA's Trail Action Network. Sign up at wta.org/tan to know when and how to use your voice to ask for the staffing and funding our public lands need.
Posted by:
melanib on Feb 19, 2025 03:37 PM