{"id":22336,"date":"2025-04-30T01:30:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T07:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=22336"},"modified":"2025-04-29T23:27:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T05:27:58","slug":"trails-open-to-uncertain-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/trails-open-to-uncertain-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Trails open To Uncertain Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maintenance Volunteers Step Up With Federal Staff Stretched Thin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

BY Mark Dee<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
A profusion of wildflowers brighten a trail out Greenhorn Gulch. Photo credit: Carol Waller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier this month, Greg Travelstead headed south out of Hailey to get an early start on spring. But at public campsites and popular trailheads through Utah and Arizona, he saw a bleak vision of the summer ahead in central Idaho.
\n\u201cMountains of trash\u2014mountains,\u201d said Travelstead, president of the Pulaski Users Group, a central Idaho-based trail maintenance nonprofit. \u201cIt looks like a garbage strike in New York City already, and it\u2019s only April.\u201d
\nWith federal land managers stretched by the job cuts, hiring freezes and incentivized resignations\u2014plus reports of employees bracing for further layoffs\u2014Travelstead\u2019s PUG and other partner groups are preparing for an uncertain summer in the Sawtooth and Wood River valleys. That\u2019s especially true on the trails, which require steady maintenance to keep pace with mounting recreational demand\u2014work that often depends on federal coordination and funding.
\n\u201cIt\u2019ll only take one season of not doing trail maintenance for people to feel the hurt,\u201d he said.
\nThe Sawtooth National Recreation Area, which at last count saw some 600,000 of the 1.8 million people that visit the Sawtooth National Forest annually, has \u201czero\u201d summer staff dedicated to recreation for the upcoming year, Travelstead told the Wood River Weekly. (By press time, neither the U.S. Forest Service nor the BLM responded to requests for comment on summer trail and maintenance plans.)
\n\u201cThey\u2019re dropping like flies,\u201d said Travelstead. Many have been reassigned, or took early retirement, or are on some sort of administrative leave. It\u2019s a changing of the guard\u2014and it\u2019s chaotic. Morale is low, and they\u2019re going to ground.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re an extended family. You\u2019re doing the same thing\u2014whether you\u2019re with the agency or outside, we\u2019re stewarding public lands. And we\u2019re grieving.\u201d
\nIdaho\u2019s public lands host more than 10,000 miles of defined trails, according to state figures. About two-thirds are maintained by \u201cpartner agencies,\u201d volunteer groups, contractors and outfitters that work with federal land managers to clear priority trails on public lands. Many, like the statewide Idaho Trails Association, rely on federal grants to reimburse their costs.
\nLast year, the ITA worked on 332 miles across 75 projects, Melanie Vining, executive director, told the Wood River Weekly. This year, they hope to cover 400 miles over 90 projects, she said\u2014just 4% of the state\u2019s trail system. The ITA and Forest Service formalized those plans last fall, and Vining said they\u2019re already funded for 2025. Going forward, though, she\u2019s in \u201cwait and see mode\u201d about future efforts.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like being on a treadmill, in some ways,\u201d she said. \u201cYou think you\u2019re making headway, but there are just still so many trails out there that haven\u2019t seen maintenance in 10 or 15 or 20 years. It takes a lot more work to get those back. This hit to the Forest Service is going to be a huge detriment toward making forward progress every year. It will just require a lot more from partners if this is the new normal, or at least the normal now.\u201d
\nTrail users may not immediately notice changes on remote backcountry trails, which year to year are less likely to be cleared anyway, Vining said. She expects popular trailheads closer to town\u2014with their parking lots, trash cans and vault toilets that Forest Service staff typically prioritize\u2014to feel the pinch more acutely.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s going to be catastrophic,\u201d Travelstead said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they have anyone to clean the toilets.\u201d
\nWith that in mind, Travelstead urges anyone interested to get in contact with local organizations for quick-hit front country days. (PUG\u2019s trips, often five- or six-day packs, aren\u2019t casual affairs.) Locally, the Blaine County Recreation District and Wood River Trails Coalition aim to maintain the roughly 400 miles of trails around the valley, with the latter hosting volunteer events weekly throughout the summer.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t know what the next few years are going to hold, but we do know that public lands and trails aren\u2019t going to maintain themselves,\u201d Vining said. So, she hopes, Idahoans will make an extra effort to leave no trace, or clean up campsites, or volunteer in whatever capacity they can. And, she urges recreationists to call their elected officials and let them know the value of Idaho\u2019s trails.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s what we can do right now that helps. It helps me not feel so powerless,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of decisions are out of our hands. There are things we can\u2019t do anything about. But we can still definitely get out on the ground and find ways to support Idaho\u2019s public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

BCRD Emphasizes <\/strong>
\nEarly-Season Trail Etiquette<\/strong>
\nWith snow melting and trails drying fast, the BCRD\u2019s network is already seeing \u201ca lot of foot and bike traffic,\u201d Ashley Knox, Blaine County Recreation District trails coordinator, said.
\n\u201cTrail users need to be flexible with their plans when they head out on trails in the spring since some sections of trails take longer to dry out than others,\u201d she said. \u201cTrails that pass through north-facing slopes and that are at higher elevation will hold snow and stay wet for longer. This time of year, it\u2019s common to start out on a dry trail and run into snow or mud along the way.\u201d
\nIf you do hit wet or snowy sections, turn around and find a better option. Only use trails that are dry or totally frozen, Knox said; if you\u2019re leaving footprints or ruts in the trail, it\u2019s not ready. Don\u2019t ride around snow or mud.
\n\u201cIf turning around is not an option, walking through the mud is much better than walking or riding off trail,\u201d Knox said.
\nHere are a few more points of etiquette to remember this spring, according to Knox:
\n–Bikes yield to hikers and horses, hikers yield to horses. Then, downhill yields to uphill traffic. When yielding to another trail user, bikers should put one foot down on the edge of the trail providing space for hikers or uphill traffic to pass. Please do not ride off the trail to go around people.
\n–Dogs must be under voice control or on a leash. Never let your dog chase wildlife.
\n–And remember, Knox says, \u201cBe kind on the trails.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Maintenance Volunteers Step Up With Federal Staff Stretched Thin BY Mark Dee Earlier this month, Greg Travelstead headed south out of Hailey to get an early start on spring. But at public campsites and popular trailheads through Utah and Arizona, he saw a bleak vision of the summer ahead in central Idaho. \u201cMountains of trash\u2014mountains,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":22338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-in-brief"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22339,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22336\/revisions\/22339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}