March Newsletter

In the third newsletter of the year, we take a look at the recent firing of 5,700 public land workers, provide a letter template for emailing Congress, and other ways to take action to protect your favorite public lands. But first, a letter from Kat Baker, RPL Executive Director.

Dear RPL Community:

Threats to our communities and public lands have been realized and more loom. Feelings of fear and anger persist in our communities, and for me, heartbreak when I think about what may be in store for our treasured national parks, forests, and other public lands.

The firing of more than 5,700 civil servants at federal land management agencies hits hard for me. I spent the majority of my career as a dedicated public servant and members of my family continue to serve today. I chose a government career because it offered the opportunity to do meaningful work that directly benefited all people across our country, and like many of my colleagues, I believed deeply in the mission of our office. I now work closely with federal employees in land managing agencies as a race director and in my role at RPL, and despite the challenges they face—ever-increasing demands, years of being under-resourced, and inadequate pay—my experience is that they are also greatly invested in their agency’s missions and care deeply about the people and places they serve.

Seasonal and full-time staff are responsible for essential roles that we rely on as runners and race directors, but collectively they ensure the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service perform their missions to preserve, maintain, manage, and protect our public lands and waters. Without these roles these agencies are ineffective, leaving our public lands vulnerable to numerous threats, which will not only limit our recreation opportunities but put at risk the wellbeing of the lands and waters themselves. It’s not too late to reverse the damaging decisions that have been made, prevent further reductions to agency staff and funding, and change the direction we are headed.

As individual runners we make up the largest human-powered recreation group in the country. As race directors we bring hundreds of thousands of people together and contribute millions of dollars to the economies of our communities. Our voice is powerful, but only if we use it. See the next section below to join us in writing letters to Congress.

In stride,
Kat Baker,
RPL Executive Director

Take Action: Contact Congress

As mentioned above, now is the time to contact your lawmakers. You can call the Congressional switchboard here — 202-224-3121— or if you prefer to send a personal email, below is a template email to get you started. Your lawmaker's email address can be found with a quick Google search. For additional information on agency staff reductions read more below and on our blog, and please share this call to action with your networks.

Subject: Please Protect Our Public Lands

Body: As a runner and public lands advocate, I’m urging you to consider the impact of recent staffing cuts and repair the recent damage to land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These agencies are essential to keeping our running trails—and all public lands—accessible, safe, and well-maintained.

ADD PERSONAL STORY HERE

Public lands are not just places we visit—they are central to our way of life and the 1.2 trillion-dollar outdoor recreation economy. The dedicated public servants who manage these lands need proper funding, leadership, and support to ensure they remain protected, open, safe, and sustainable for future generations.

Thank you for your consideration,

NAME

If you are a Race Director we have two additional ways to take action:

• Sign our collective Race Director Letter to Congress. The link to join this effort has been sent directly to our Race Director Collective and is open to sign until Thursday, March 6th. If you have not received this email please contact us at info@runnersforpubliclands.org to be added to the collective.

• Let us know how this is affecting your event and your community. Please submit testimonials here.

Upcoming Events: RPL’s Calendar

March to June at RPL:

• 3/9: Santa Barbara Trail Work Series kicks off

• 3/18: Community Run Ventura @ GPIW, 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)

• 4/5: Ventura Trail Work Series

• 4/5: Repurpose Revival @ Topa Topa Brewing Company

• 4/15: Community Run Ventura @ GPIW, 5:30pm

• 4/18: Trail Running Film Festival at Bermuda Club in Carlsbad, CA (RSVP here)

• 4/22: Colorado Trail Work Series kicks off (see below)

• 4/24: Flagstaff Trail Work Series kicks off (see below)

• 4/27: Santa Barbara Trail Work Series

• 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! We hope to cross trails and paths with you sometime this year.

Event Spotlight: Run for Public Lands

In case you missed it, Evergreen Trail Runs is hosting a virtual, weeklong running event — Run for Public Lands — that raises funds for 3 public lands-based nonprofits, including Runners for Public Lands. It cost $10 to register, and Evergreen Trails donated $.50 per mile that runners ran (up to $3,000) to our nonprofits.

We’re grateful to Evergreen Trails for bringing road and trail runners together from around the country to shine a light on the urgent situation we’re facing right now. With 60+ million runners in the US alone, there are so many simple ways we can come together to make direct, immediate, and collective impact. If you joined Evergreen Trails and RPL for this weeklong event, thank you so much! If you missed this event, don’t worry: there will be more where these came from.

To note: the weeklong event ends March 4, so you could technically still register and run today or tomorrow to log your miles. Or, you could make a small donation over on our website here. Every dollar, mile, and action makes a difference.

Program Update: Trail Work Series

Our 2025 Trail Work Series program is officially underway, and we’re already see the direct and immediate impact of this program and events.

We’ve had the first 2 Trail Work Events in Ventura and welcomed a total of 53 runners, who contributed nearly 200 hours of hands-on work. Thank you to all the volunteers who came out and to Los Padres Forest Association, Coyote Two Moon, Sisar Run Club, and our educators from RPL. Curious to see if one of our Trail Work Series are in your area? Check out our site below.

Policy Updates: Recent Firing

The recent mass firing of thousands of public employees from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has rightfully generated swift condemnation across the country.

The dismissal of over 5,700 public land workers includes emergency responders, wilderness rangers, trail maintenance crews, and other key staff. This wholesale dismissal of key land management employees will negatively affect trail runners in the following ways:

• Recreation Infrastructure Neglected: Trailheads in disrepair or closed; restrooms not maintained and garbage not removed; road and park closures; trails not maintained.
  

• Land Management and Planning: Public land closures; Trail races delayed or canceled; impacts to sensitive natural and cultural resources; Search and rescue operations greatly reduced or eliminated; ;ack of fire-fighters as forest fires worsen which will inevitably lead to more public land closures.
  

• Economy: Local race directors, outfitters, and recreation businesses will suffer; the brands of communities neighboring public lands will degrade.

Announcing Soon: 2025 Ambassadors

Thank you to everyone who applied to be a 2025 RPL Ambassador. We are currently going through applications and will be in touch in the coming weeks with an update on the status of your application. We can’t wait to work with this new cohort of runners, advocates, and organizers.

Run with public lands in mind.