Trails maintained by the U.S. Forest Service nationwide are being “abandoned” and deteriorating rapidly, threatening visitor safety, after the Trump administration cut staff, according to an internal report obtained by The Washington Post.
The December report finds that some Forest Service districts have lost up to 100 percent of their trail staff under President Donald Trump, departures representing “hundreds of years of trail expertise”; that the remaining staff members are suffering widespread burnout and low morale, leading to “poor customer service”; and that millions of dollars in unspent grant funds have been returned to the agency, often because of vacancies or extra red tape imposed by the Trump administration.
“Many districts are unable to conduct basic trail maintenance … backcountry trails are being abandoned [and] deferred maintenance is exponentially compounding,” the report states. “Compliance issues are rising (e.g., illegal motorized use, user-created routes, trash). The public reports missing trail signage, trees blocking access, bridges in disrepair, and tread erosion.”
The report states it is based on the accounts of nearly 300 district-level workers whom the Forest Service sent out to assess the state of the agency’s trails.
Asked for comment Monday night, the Forest Service sent an email from an unnamed spokesperson midday Tuesday saying the agency was “working on a response,” but that it was “nearly impossible to respond by your deadline.”
Since the start of this year, the Forest Service has lost nearly 6,000 employees to firings, resignations and retirements pushed by the Trump administration, The Post previously reported. By the summer, some of the agency’s regions were missing three-quarters of their trail and recreation staff, spurring a bevy of volunteers — some of them elderly Americans in retirement — to try to fill the gaps, The Post’s investigation found. In Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest, for example, an 81-year-old former Forest Service worker spent his summer cleaning five bathrooms a day.
But those efforts have not been sufficient, the report states: “While partners and volunteers augment capacity, they cannot entirely replace agency staff.” And, the report warns, the damage is swiftly becoming irreversible.
The Forest Service is responsible for 193 million acres of public forests and grasslands — more than twice as much land as what the National Park Service maintains — and a network of trails in nearly every state, 164,000 miles in all. The land is multipurpose, supporting activities beyond just recreation: Every year, 160 million Americans visit some part of the Forest Service holdings to hike and camp as well as hunt, conduct research, cut timber, fish and graze cattle, among other pursuits.
But this year, the number of trail miles maintained is down by 22 percent, according to the report, while the number of miles “meeting standard” has sunk by 19 percent — the lowest share in 15 years.
Staff who have left the Forest Service include skilled stone masons, riggers, blasters, construction workers and animal packers, among other positions, the report states. The Trump administration made things worse by barring seasonal hires, the army of temporary workers the Forest Service normally brings on during its busiest seasons, the document found.
“Lost skills are weakening the agency’s ability to implement technical projects and oversee partner, volunteer, and contractor work,” the report states, “which is leading to unpassable trails, unsafe bridges, and negative environmental impacts.”
Meanwhile, remaining staff members are reporting high stress levels, poor communication from leadership, inconsistent messaging from the top of the agency and a “misalignment of priorities and resources,” the report states. Although the Trump administration says it is prioritizing public access to national forests and grasslands, it is not sending enough money and manpower to the Forest Service to keep the lands safe for use, the report says.
The report recommends expediting seasonal hiring; holding a run of trainings for staff, partners and volunteers on “technical trail skills”; increasing spending on grants and agreements to support trail maintenance; and allowing the Youth Conservation Corps programs to hire people directly, which it used to be able to do.
If this kind of drastic corrective action is not taken, the report states, “public access, visitor satisfaction and recreation-based economic contributions will continue to decline in 2026 and beyond.”
The report ends with six anonymous testimonials from Forest Service personnel throughout the agency and the country.
A district trail manager reports going from 20 recreational staffers to six, with one person now responsible for 200 miles of trails and wilderness. A forest recreation manager notes their program lost 200 years of trail experience this year. A district trail employee reports their team was unable to complete any drainage this summer, and “the cumulative effects will be worse and worse.”
And another district trail manager is quoted as saying they will quit if forced to face another summer without seasonal hires.
“I have never lacked for motivation for trail work until now,” the trail manager said, according to the report. “It feels like we are on the verge of not passing anything on for the future, and that feels like 24 years of trails and wilderness work rolling back to the bottom of the hill.”
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