Trail running races on national forest lands may be significantly impacted in 2025 by U.S. Forest Service budget and staffing shortfalls.
The U.S. Forest Service recently announced that it will not hire seasonal workers in 2025 (except firefighting staff) due to severe budget shortfalls. The freeze started on October 1, 2024 and will continue through at least September 30, 2025. These staffing and budget shortfalls will have ramifications across all national forests and may significantly impact trail running and trail races taking place on national forest land. If you plan to direct a race on U.S. Forest Service managed land in 2025, there are a few things you should know and actions you should take right away.
4 things to know and actions to take now
- Know your 2025 race may be impacted by U.S. Forest Service staff and budget shortfalls.
- Call your U.S. Forest Service permit administrators now to ask about anticipated changes to the 2025 permitting process.
- If you have races in different national forests, contact each forest individually – every forest may be impacted differently.
- Runners for Public Lands is preparing an opportunity for race directors to advocate for more funding to support recreation and trail races on U.S. Forest Service managed land. Check back after the election to add your voice to our letter to Congress requesting more funding for the agency in this urgent time of need.
Read on for more details, resources, and information on how you can get involved. Photos courtesy of Elke Reimer.
Background: What does the USFS budget shortfall and hiring freeze mean?
Simply put—due to an ongoing lack of funding, key roles in the U.S. Forest Service will remain vacant for 2025.
In a typical year the U.S. Forest Service hires approximately 2,400 seasonal employees to help manage 193 million acres of National Forest land across the country. These personnel include trail crews, campground hosts, welcome centers and park kiosk workers, scientists, botanists, and more—quite literally these are the people that keep the trails open, care for the land, educate the public on recreation best practices, and keep trail users safe.
Different forests, and even different districts within the same forest, may be impacted by the hiring freeze in different ways, and many forests and districts haven’t figured out how to backfill these positions yet. In a recent public trails council meeting in the Inyo National Forest, U.S. Forest Service staff are calling for community volunteers and are weighing using regular full-time staff to help backfill key seasonal positions which would likely result in delays in their regular duties. In the Pike-San Isabel National Forest some Districts have already placed a moratorium on any new permits for special events such as trail races. And in Washington State, the Mountaineers—a nonprofit that has been providing high quality outdoor education for decades—has been increasingly struggling to get permits.
The hiring freeze will impact users of national forests in 2025; however, this issue is just the most recent piece of a larger and more complex budget crisis. The U.S. Forest Service funding and staffing deficit has been a growing problem for over a decade. As outdoor recreation activities such as trail running have been steadily increasing in our national forests, funding and personnel to support this level of recreation has been decreasing. According to a letter from the Outdoor Alliance to Congress regarding U.S. Forest Service funding, “between 2010 and 2020, funding for Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness decreased 23% accounting for inflation, while recreational visits increased 17%. Over the same time period, the agency saw a 29% reduction in full time equivalents for its recreation program.” You can see Outdoor Alliance’s post about the USFS hiring freeze here to send a letter to Congress.
Future Impact: How will this affect trail races and running in national forests?
As runners, we are among the most frequent trail users in national forests and are likely to recognize impacts on recreation and landscapes.
That recent blowdown tree blocking the trail?
The unserviced bathroom or trash receptacle?
A permit you still need signed?
The canceled trail work day you need to qualify for a race?
Maintenance to trails, facilities, and service roads, access to parking lots, staging areas and information centers, frequency and availability of volunteer events, and event permitting and monitoring could all be reduced, delayed, or blocked. On an all-employees call in September U.S. Forest Service Chief, Randy Moore said, “we are going to do what we can with what we have. We are not going to try and do everything that is expected of us with less people.”
Tim Tollefson, Race Director of the mammoth trailfest. in the Inyo National Forest, is taking an active role in attending local trail council meetings and volunteering personal time and race resources to steward high-maintenance and difficult to access trails such as the infamous Dragon’s Back Trail. He says, “I’ve always thought running was hard, but then I pictured running with a chainsaw strapped to my back. Our forest has more than 2.1 million acres, 1,200+ miles of trail, and similar to most, is understaffed and underfunded. If we do not help the Forest Service maintain this resource, we risk losing access to the spaces we love to run—or building quivers made of chainmail.”
Take Action: What can you do as an individual runner or race director?
Call your local permit administrator to ensure your permit is approved or on track for approval.
Join us in asking Congress to fully fund the U.S. Forest Service for recreation. Sign on to our letter that will come our after the election.
Share this information with other race directors and runners in your community. Tell them what is at stake and that their voice matters. Be ready to share our sign-on letter in November too!
As a race director, you can become a member of RPL and support us in the collective effort to give runners and race directors a seat at the outdoor advocacy table.
Volunteer your time for trail maintenance and organize additional days to help your Forest Service with necessary projects.
Consider getting crosscut and sawyer certified. Ask your Forest Service if they need more specialized volunteers and they may even be able to help facilitate training for you.
Collective Impact: What can we do together?
The most impactful things you can do right now are:
- Sign the letter to Congress that we will release soon after the election.
- Make a donation to RPL or become an RPL member. In 2025 we plan to invest in a Government Affairs platform so we can create more opportunities to share the voices of runners and race directors with members of Congress.
- Volunteer at an RPL event like our Trail Work Series or Camp and Run! This year, our volunteer events contributed over 1000 volunteer hours to assist public land managers, like the USFS, with trail maintenance and removing illegal fire rings. These programs save land managing agencies money and create opportunities for runners to give back to the places they love!
Resources:
Check out these resources below — an article from High Country News, information on Public Lands funding from Outdoor Alliance, the USFS’s Chief’s all-employee call, and a letter to USFS leadership from PNW organizations — to learn more about the USFS budget crises and see how other recreation groups are also being impacted by the USFS staffing and budget crises.
