U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both Democrats from Washington state, last week joined Senate colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tom Schultz pressing for more information about problems identified in an internal report on the National Trail Program, a news release from the senators stated.
“We write with strong concerns regarding a December 2025 report published by the U.S. Forest Service on the status of the U.S Forest Service’s National Trail Program,” wrote the senators. “The report warns of significant challenges in sustaining trail operations and recreation access, as well as potential loss of decades of investments in trail infrastructure.
“The public land recreation economy contributes over $350 million every day to our national economy, $128 billion every year, and the National Forest System (NFS) plays a significant role in that contribution. There are over 164,000 miles of trails in the NFS, with 84 million people annually visiting trails and 143,000 jobs supported by recreation and tourism spending,” the Senators continued. “Considering the importance of the National Scenic and Historic Trails statutorily created by Congress for the Forest Service to manage, and the Forest Service National Trail Program in general, the report findings that public access and overall recreation satisfaction ‘will continue to decline in 2026 and beyond without direction to prioritize investments into these programs,’ is troubling.”
In March — following reports of widespread firings across the USFS and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) — Cantwell and Murray sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and USFS Chief Schultz requesting immediate reinstatement, as well as more details about the fired Washington state personnel certified for wildland firefighting. In Washington state, layoffs at the USFS resulted largely in cuts to boots-on-the-ground positions — those tasked with keeping trails safe, clean and passable for visitors, according to the senators.
U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) led the group of 22 Senate Democrats who cosigned the letter. The full letter is available at https://tinyurl.com/wad34zx.
