Pacific Crest Trail Association Drastically Reduces Trail Work Due to Federal Funding Cuts

The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), the non-profit organization responsible for preserving and promoting the West Coast’s iconic 2,650-mile trail, announced on Wednesday that it will drastically reduce its planned program of work in 2025. According to a statement on the organization’s website, the decision is a result of delayed grant funding, which is part of the administration’s efforts to reduce federal spending.

The PCTA partners with the US Forest Service (USFS) to collaboratively manage the PCT and relies on federal funding, volunteer hours, and fundraising to support trail maintenance and repair projects, the hiring of trail crew leaders, and more. PCTA CEO Megan Wargo wrote in the statement that this week’s announcements have caused great uncertainty about the organization’s capacity to support hikers.

Wargo announced that the organization will cancel 56 weeks of planned trail projects in 2025 due to the funding loss. They’ll likely be unable to hire six trail crew leaders, who are responsible for providing trail-building expertise and coordinating volunteer efforts. According to the PCTA, the reduction is equal to “more than one full year’s worth of trail crew maintenance. ”

“Cutting back needed trail maintenance will directly affect the PCT experience this year and in the future, and surely will increase the amount and cost of work we will need to address later,” Wargo wrote in the statement. “Hikers, equestrians and local trail communities will feel this as they traverse the magnificent lands through which the trail passes.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the PCTA historically relies on a $667,000 federal grant each year to fund trail projects, along with funds from the Great American Outdoors Act and disaster relief funds. The Chronicle wrote that these sources make up about 48 percent of the PCTA’s yearly budget and that that money “became imperiled last month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to halt spending. About a week later, the Trump administration withdrew the freeze but said it is withholding federal program funding pending internal reviews.”

The PCTA specified several trail projects that will be eliminated or delayed in an email to the San Francisco Chronicle. These include “dry masonry work around Donner Summit near Truckee; stone step repairs in Inyo National Forest near Mount Whitney; creek crossing repairs in Sierra National Forest outside Mammoth Lakes, and rehabilitation around Snow Creek Village near the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County.”

“Those unmaintained spots are going to be hell for hikers,” PCTA Advocacy Director Mark Larabee told the Chronicle.

In the statement on the PCTA’s website, Wargo called on volunteers to help fill in the gaps left by the funding freeze. She wrote that the organization will continue to lean on volunteer labor and donations to address trail maintenance projects and advocate for the future of the PCT. Wargo also encouraged hikers to contact their senators and representatives to speak up for the PCT and public lands everywhere.