Trail dogs deserve respect, fighting fires dries up funds for trail maintenance

By Jimmy Tobias

Trail dogs—that’s what trail workers across the country call themselves. It tells you what life is like for the thousands of young men and women who spend their summers tending to the travel corridors on our country’s public lands.

...The Forest Service, which manages more trails than any other agency, is currently burdened with more than $500 million in backlogged maintenance costs for its trail system. The hemorrhage of resources that has caused such neglect shows no sign of abating. In 1980, reports The Wilderness Society, the Forest Service budget allotted $793 for every trail mile on its system. Today, that amount has fallen to about $540.

...The Forest Service released a report this August that pinned the blame for its declining trail budget on its fire-suppression crusade. The report noted that the number of firefighting personnel—12,000 people—now exceeds the number of land managers employed on our national forests—11,000 people. When people call the agency the Fire Service, they are only half joking.

 Jimmy Tobias is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a column service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a freelance journalist and former Indy staff writer. He also used to be a trail worker with the Forest Service.

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 An interesting column, especially from the viewpoint of trail builders and users.  I'm afraid that Tobias misses the bigger picture.  The disturbing trend in the Forest Service budget will continue as long as the Courts, the Congress and in some instances internal policy, prevents Forest Service managers from managing.  This has led to longer fire seasons and larger, more damaging fires.  The trend will continue until the professionals in the Forest Service are turned loose to manage the resource.