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 | | In the second newsletter of the year, we take a look at our upcoming programs, some of which are kicking off in February, plus a call for 2025 RPL Ambassadors! But first, a letter from Vic Thasiah, RPL Board President. |
| | | | Near where RPL is based, the wildfire impacts on homes and lives have been devastating. Meanwhile, recent executive actions flooding the zone threaten the environment and public lands. I don’t like feeling the fear and anger I feel, and processing these emotions on runs with friends can only do so much. And at least at the moment, I’m not taking running for granted. |
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| The Palisades fire just led to the postponement of a race I was planning to run last weekend in the Santa Monica mountains, so I signed up for another race instead. Then the Hughes fire destroyed the area of that race.
Volunteering is how I take action on what I care about. The life-giving beauty of the urban, rural, state, and federal public lands we run continues to generate the very love for them that seeks to protect them. And in that they are “public” lands, this means that we collectively own them. So even if they’re in another state, they belong to us just as much as those nearby.
In this sense, we’re both public lands beneficiaries and trustees. Ideally, we’re the fortunate beneficiaries of their support and solace, and if we so choose, the tried and true trustees of their resilience and regenerativity for present and future generations.
Finally, as I’ve been thinking about RPL’s work in 2025, I’ve been interested in how the conservation practice of reassembling whole and healthy natural communities informs our organization’s practice of building a national runner environmental movement. How our work, like a massive rewilding project, can establish corridors between places and connectivity between people, especially after the election. So while some scrap and even scrub their websites of this inclusivity work, we continue in it inspired by the joy of “reassembling” whole and natural running communities, serving together as trustees of public lands, and ensuring that everyone benefits from them, now and forever.
In stride,
Vic Thasiah,
RPL Board President |
| | Upcoming Events: RPL’s Calendar |
|  | | 2/9: Ventura Trail Work Series kicks off (see below) 2/18: Community Run @ Ventura Patagonia, 5:30pm 3/22: San Diego Trail Work Series kicks off (see below) 3/30: Community Run @ Cardiff Patagonia, 7:45am 4/2: Trail Running Film Festival @ Topa Topa Brewing in Ventura, CA (rsvp here) 4/22: Colorado Trail Work Series kicks off (see below) 4/24: Flagstaff Trail Work Series kicks off (see below) 4/18: Trail Running Film Festival at Bermuda Club in Carlsbad, CA (rsvp here) 6/13-6/15: 2025 Leadville Camp & Run in Leadville, CO Stay tuned for more trail work events in Santa Barbara, San Diego and beyond!
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| We hope to cross trails and paths with you sometime this year. |
| | | | Program Highlight: Trail Work Series |
| | Our 2025 Trail Work Series kick off in February.
We are stoked for our 2025 Trail Work Series, which has doubled in size, thanks to grants we received to scale and grow this program. Where are we going to be this year? Hopefully somewhere near you. See our see for full details. |
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| | Upcoming Trail Work Series events:
2/9: Ventura Trail Work Kickoff at Rose Valley Campground. Refreshments and an optional run to follow. Link here to register. 3/1: Ventura Trail Work #2 at Cozy Dell Trail 3/22: San Diego Trail Work Kickoff at Elijo Lagoon 4/5: Ventura Trail Work #3 at Pratt Trail 4/22: JeffCo Colorado Trail Work Kickoff at Van Bibber Open Space Park 4/24: Flagstaff Trail Work Series Kickoff 4/26: Ventura Trail Work #4 at Horn Canyon 5/13: JeffCo Colorado Trail Work #2 at Mt Falcon 5/29: Flagstaff Trail Work Series #2 6/3: JeffCo Colorado Trail Work #2 at Matthews/Winters Trail and Zorro Trail 6/24: JeffCo Colorado Trail Work #3 at South Table Mountain Trail
Right now, only Ventura Trail Work Series is open for registrations. The others will be opening soon. Keep tabs on our site and social for when those are announced. |
| | Are you new to or less familiar with our Trail Work Series?
Overview: Through our Trail Work Series, RPL partners with local trail maintenance organizations, clubs, and races to educate and activate runners through recurring trail stewardship events. All of our events are approved, permitted, and insured by the local land managing agency and led by trained trail work leaders. RPL Ambassadors and our partners are at each event to share news and upcoming ways to get involved in our organizations.
How does it work? Each Trail Work Series is unique and based on the needs of the local running community! Every Series will include multiple (usually 3-4) independent trail work or clean-up events, combined with a relevant education element. Participants are not required to attend all events in a series, but are encouraged to, and can earn prizes/incentives from RPL and our brand partners for repeat participation.
What’s the impact been like? When you add up all the events, volunteers, and hours, the impact is collective. From a single trail work event last year—and not the entire series, but just one event—our volunteers saved the National Park Service $6,000 that was then redistributed toward their new Indigenous Cultural Trails Project. That is the power of this program: that we are able to help land management agencies care for our public lands. To date, we had 291 volunteers perform over 815 hours of work in 21 events, clearing drainage issues and landslides, restoring many miles of trails, removing hundreds of pounds of invasive species, and replanted hundreds of native plants.
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“RPL plays a vital role in fostering education, activism and advocacy for public lands with the rapidly growing trail running community and beyond. The Trail Work Series gives the community opportunities to give back to the landscapes that we recreate on, enhancing a sense of place while helping to spread pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors that can help protect these wonderful landscapes for future generations.”
— 2024 Trail Work Series Partner |
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| | | Community: Call for 2025 RPL Ambassadors |
|  | Ever wanted to be an RPL Ambassador? Now is your chance.
RPL is looking to bring on new ambassadors from states around the country. Are you someone who loves road or trail running, advocating for your local public lands, and volunteering for causes you care about? If so, we’d love to hear from you. To apply to be a 2025 Ambassador, simply fill out our Ambassador Interest Form by February 28, 2025. We will be selecting a few additional Ambassadors to join our national efforts by the end of March.
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| | | Event Spotlight: TRFF 2025 |
|  | RPL is hosting two special screenings of the Trail Running Film Festival.
Curious to see what films are in the 2025 Trail Running Film Festival? Click here or below to get to know this year’s films and stories, athletes and filmmakers. We hope to see you at one of our two screenings. |
|  |  | | Policy: The EXPLORE Act is a win for all. |
|  | The RPL team is working hard to craft their policy strategy for the year ahead.
While we’ll be facing some strong headwinds, we believe our mission to protect public lands and expand access to nature for all people is a nonpartisan issue and a great way to find common ground and garner broad support in this deeply divided time. As a reminder, we began 2025 celebrating the passing of the EXPLORE Act—a first of its kind, and unanimously supported, package of laws supporting outdoor recreation. Check out this article by journalist and RPL Board Member Zoë Rom sharing how the EXPLORE Act is a win for public lands and runners! |
| | Charity Partner: Denver Colfax Marathon |
|  | | | Love to our friends & fam in LA |
|  | Our hearts continue to be with all of our friends and fam, and communities who are affected by the wildfires in Los Angeles.
As a grassroots-organization that started in Ventura, CA, our home is rooted here. We live with the reality of wildfires, which continue to affect our lands, homes, air, and so much more. Right now, we’re tending to our communities impacted by the fires, and have all the gratitude and respect for the broad network of frontline responders working tirelessly to support those in the need. If you have the means, we recommend donating to California Community Foundation (@calfund) and LAFD Foundation (@lafdfoundation). While this is happening in LA and California, it affects us all. |
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