A budgetary shortfall has led to a hiring freeze that will impact trail runners and race directors alike. Here’s what we can do about it.
This fall, the United States Forest Service (USFS) announced a hiring freeze for the next fiscal year, meaning the agency would not hire thousands of seasonal staff except for firefighting positions. This decision stems from budget shortfalls as appropriations from Congress fell about half a billion dollars short of the Forest Service’s request. While outdoor recreation accounts for 2.2% of the U.S. GDP, but only 0.16% of the federal budget goes to outdoor recreation management on public lands. While specific data isolating trail running’s economic impact is limited, running, jogging, and trail running collectively had 64.5 million participants in 2021, making it the leading outdoor activity in the U.S.
Over the last decade and a half, outdoor recreation has increased steadily on public lands, but funding for those lands has decreased. While some legislation, like the Great American Outdoors Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, provided some additional funding, regular budgets for retaining staff haven’t increased with the demand or in concert with an increase in employee pay to keep up with inflation.
Seasonal employees are critical in managing the 193 million acres managed by the Forest Service. The freeze will impact about 2,400 seasonal roles, including employees responsible for trail maintenance, campgrounds, and ecological research. Trail runners will likely be some of the first to feel its effects. Impacts might include reduced trail and facility maintenance and even impacts to permit processing, a major concern for race directors.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, Runners for Public Lands started gathering signatures from race directors whose jobs will be significantly impacted by the freeze to send to Congress.
Race directors can sign on to tell Congress to fix the freeze here. The deadline to sign is December 2nd, and race directors are urged to circulate the letter in their networks for maximum impact.
“It’s clear that many road and trail running race directors care deeply about public lands – seeing road race directors step up in support of trail races and seeing RDs in states without any national forests add their names is exactly the outcome we hoped for,” said Kat Baker, Executive Director of Runners for Public Lands, and a race director herself. “This shines a light on the really strong relationships the running community has built with public lands agencies.”
Do you like ducking under fallen trees while you run? Has the race you were trained for suddenly been canceled? With an underfunded and understaffed USFS, maintenance to keep trails open and staff to issue permits both lay in jeopardy
Tim Tollefson, Race Director & Board Member at Runners for Public Lands
Different forests will be impacted in different ways, as permitting is managed differently from district to district. Some permitting processes could be delayed, and some new races might not be able to get permitting at all. Baker recommends race directors start their permitting process earlier than usual and anticipate delays. Without trail maintenance, race directors might want to encourage additional trail work opportunities to make sure their trails are in good condition for race day.
“Do you like ducking under fallen trees while you run? Has the race you were trained for suddenly been canceled? With an underfunded and understaffed USFS, maintenance to keep trails open and staff to issue permits both lay in jeopardy,” said Tim Tollefson, a Runners for Public Lands Board Member and race director for the Mammoth Trail Festival. “We take for granted that our favorite trails will always be open but the reality is that we must be an active part in keeping them open.”
Even if they’re not racing on public lands, trail runners should be invested in this issue. Seasonal staff handles the majority of trail and facility maintenance, so challenges like unkempt bathrooms and downed trees, or trail erosion are likely. Aside from limited bathroom access and downed trees on the trails, the impacts of this freeze could be felt for years to come. Seasonal workers that won’t be hired include staff who monitor carbon emissions, who manage forest growth and ecology, wildlife, and even avalanche foresters.
Baker and Tollefson hope that RPL’s letter brings more race directors into advocacy, and helps race directors and runners alike that they can have an impact on the public lands that so often support our sport.
“This RD sign-on demonstrates that collectively our voice has the power to impact positive change in a world that can make us feel individually incapable,” said Tollefson. “With the success of this sign-on, we will continue to advocate for issues important to our communities and build a sustainable framework for the next generation of runners.”
So far, over 120 race directors have signed, representing over 520 races in 30 states. More than forty different national forests are represented, and the events represented have a total of over 99,000 participants each year.
Runners can also contact their elected officials to advocate for additional funding. The Outdoor Alliance created a template for outdoor athletes to contact their congressional representatives. The Senate’s proposed budget offers better funding for land management and agencies like the Forest Service. The Outdoor Alliance is pushing for a $70 million increase plus a budget for salary increases for the Forest Service’s recreation budget. Runners are the single largest recreation group in the U.S., with over 60 million Americans identifying as part of the most diverse and fastest-growing group in the outdoor economy. Runners report visiting public lands more frequently than other outdoor recreation groups, making them key stakeholders in the hiring freeze.
“We have the opportunity to be good partners to the Forest Service and advocate on their behalf to refund their efforts. Our relationships with the Forest Service needs to become a kinship,” said Tollefson.
“We would also like to remind runners that they can contribute to caring for the places where they run by supporting local organizations that do trail work and running path cleanups,” said Baker. “Hands-on community service is going to be increasingly important if land managing agency budgets remain low in the future.”
Outdoor recreation has become a powerful economic and political force, and many are hopeful that trail runners could push congress to act.
“Our voices can be even stronger when joined with others,” said Baker. She and Tollefson encourage runners to get involved in their area and see how they might be able to assist with trail maintenance and ask their elected officials to support the USFS with a budget that’s conducive to better trail running and a better climate.
Author’s Note: Zoë Rom also serves on the Board of Directors for Runners for Public Lands.
Thank you for bringing attention to this. As a federal scientist working across public lands we need the public to get engaged in advocating to their representatives for better investments in the management of the places we run.
One can also consider joining volunteer groups to help with trail maintenance. For expand: North Country Trail has chapters of volunteers along its path who take care of the trail.
I guess it is time for increased volunteerism