AHS Talking Points
for Visits to Senators and Representatives

From Hike the Hill: Trails Advocacy Week '99
March 13-17, 1999

The Threat:

Our recreational heritage is under threat today more than ever before, from the neglect of Congress and the Administration. The number of hikers and trail users grows every year Hiking alone grew 94 percent, to nearly 50 million participants between 1983 and 1995. But funding for building and maintaining trails on public land is shrinking or being slashed.

The result of this neglect is that existing trails are being eroded and destroyed In some cases they are being damaged so badly that they're removed from use. As a result, more Americans are forced onto fewer trails, causing even greater damage to those left open At the present rate, soon none of us will be able to have a quality experience on the trails that opened our nation or that traverse its mountains and scenic ecosystems. The trails system, built over the past century by generations eager to preserve our heritage of outdoor travel, will sink into disrepair precisely when it is under greatest pressure.

What Must Be Done:

We need to safeguard our trail heritage with funding adequate to meet the increasing demand on trails from a growing number of Americans.

1. Specifically, the Land, Water, and Conservation Fund should be revived. Any bill should:
• Include trails as a significant component
• Provide full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and an equitable allocation of funds between its federal and state-matching grants programs.
• Reject any restrictions on the Land and Water Conservation Fund and its 35-year tradition as the cornerstone of American conservation and recreation, especially those that limit acquisition to federal inholdings or adjacent lands, employ arbitrary geographic restrictions on the use of funds, require new authorizations, or prevent condemnation. In addition, any legislation must protect the traditional use of stateside funds for recreation enhancement.
• Not allow funds to be used for environmentally damaging activities
2. National Park Service funding for trails should be increased drastically, to get its fair share of the agency's budget. Both the Long-Distance Trails Program and the Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance program need to be increased to make up for years of stagnation.
3. The Forest Service budget should reflect recreation as one of the four agenda items articulated by Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck last year. Amazingly, the Forest Service FY 2000 proposed budget actually cuts trails spending in half
4. The Bureau of Land Management budget should include a line item for trails. Backpacking is one of the greatest uses of BLM lands, and it deserves to be recognized in the budget.