Written by Lauren James Budhu
Who doesn’t love lacing up a comfy pair of shoes and exploring the great outdoors? Luckily, there are trails in nearly every town and state across the country, making it easy to enjoy hiking. Yet with climate change and overuse of visitors, trails can be damaged and littered without routine maintenance.
That’s where National Trails Day comes in! Hosted by the American Hiking Society on the first Saturday in June, thousands of hikers, bikers, paddlers, federal and local agencies, as well as businesses, come together to advocate for, maintain, and clean up national and scenic trails, plus trails on public lands. While that date this year has already passed, it’s never too late to support the trail system year-round to keep them safe and clean for everyone to enjoy.
Six years ago, the National Trails System celebrated its 50th birthday. Congress passed the 1968 act to promote the establishment of scenic trails as well as recreation and historic trails. Now, the network of government-protected paths is composed of over 1,000 trails, including the 11 National Scenic Trails, which range from long hauls such as the 4,600-mile North Country NST to shorter hikes like the 220-mile New England NST and encompass nearly 18,000 miles.
These days, climate change has had adverse effects on the trail system. It is a contributor to more frequent and intense weather events such as severe storms, floods, and droughts, which can ultimately cause erosion, washouts, landslides, and flooding, which makes trails unusable. Additionally, rising temperatures and drier seasons can lead to increased wildfires that can damage trails and cause unsafe air-quality conditions, plus melt glaciers like at Glacier National Park in Montana.
Nationwide, Rail-to-Trails Conservancy’s trail counters showed an average increase in trail use of 9.5% between 2022 and 2021, and a lowly 1.5% decline compared with 2020—the most significant year for trail use on record. Notably, trail use in 2022 was 45% higher than in 2019, showing an enduring demand for trails nationwide. That’s thousands of people who hike, bike, and horseback ride through rocky mountain passes and grasslands. This can lead to overcrowding, more litter, and general “wear and tear” of the trails.
To help make the transition as easy as possible, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a variety of resources. This includes:
- Commit to trail service this year: Find a trail service project to make a difference in your area!
- Give a gift: Make a donation! Your support will build and maintain trails across the United States, engage the next generation of trail volunteers and advocates, and educate voters and lawmakers on issues important to the hiking and outdoor community
- Speak up: Advocate for the great outdoors! Tell the Senate to pass the EXPLORE Act, which “will help get people outdoors by modernizing federal recreation systems and eliminate barriers of access to the outdoors.”
- #RecreateResponsibly: Keep yourself healthy, keep others safe, preserve and protect public lands, waters, and parks, and help make the parks inclusive.
It’s never too late to help preserve and keep our trails and parks beautiful so everyone can enjoy them. See you on the trails this summer!
