Senators Amy Klobuchar, Martin Heinrich, and Jeff Merkley have joined 19 colleagues in requesting further information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service regarding concerns raised in a December 2025 internal report on the National Trail Program.
In their letter to Forest Service Chief Schultz, the senators expressed concern about challenges identified by the report, which included sustaining trail operations and maintaining recreation access. The senators wrote: “We write with strong concerns regarding a December 2025 report published by the U.S. Forest Service on the status of the U.S Forest Service’s National Trail Program. The report warns of significant challenges in sustaining trail operations and recreation access, as well as potential loss of decades of investments in trail infrastructure.”
They highlighted the economic importance of public land recreation, noting its contribution to both daily and annual national revenue, and underscored that over 164,000 miles of trails are managed by the National Forest System (NFS), supporting millions of visitors and thousands of jobs each year. According to their letter: “The public land recreation economy contributes over $350 million every day to our national economy, $128 billion every year, and the National Forest System (NFS) plays a significant role in that contribution. There are over 164,000 miles of trails in the NFS, with 84 million people annually visiting trails and 143,000 jobs supported by recreation and tourism spending,” they continued. “Considering the importance of the National Scenic and Historic Trails statutorily created by Congress for the Forest Service to manage, and the Forest Service National Trail Program in general, the report findings that public access and overall recreation satisfaction ‘will continue to decline in 2026 and beyond without direction to prioritize investments into these programs,' is troubling.”
The letter was signed by Senators Patty Murray, Michael Bennet, Ron Wyden, Maria Cantwell, Jeanne Shaheen, Cory Booker, Adam Schiff, Raphael Warnock, John Hickenlooper, Ben Ray Luján, Mark Kelly, Mark Warner, Alex Padilla, Peter Welch, Jacky Rosen, Ed Markey, Catherine Cortez Masto, Chris Van Hollen, and Bernie Sanders.
The senators referenced several issues identified in the internal report based on input from district-level staff. These included workforce shortages leading to lost expertise within trail management teams; low morale; communication problems; operational gaps; delayed or unfunded contracts; unclear priorities; inconsistent messaging; misalignment between priorities and resources; as well as deficiencies in grants and agreement management for trail maintenance.
A particular concern was workforce vacancies resulting from hiring freezes or lost skills that have reduced capacity for both maintenance work and effective partnerships with outside groups. The senators noted that staffing at the agency has declined by at least 16 percent during the past year.
They also requested answers from Chief Schultz about plans for addressing these challenges—such as restoring direct hire authority for certain positions—and how statutory requirements under federal law would be met moving forward.
Senator Klobuchar serves as Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry—a standing committee within the United States Senate responsible for shaping national policies related to agriculture—including forestry issues such as those affecting federal lands (official website). The committee holds jurisdiction over agricultural commodities across the country (official website) through oversight hearings on food security as well as rural development initiatives (official website).
The Senate Agriculture Committee originated in 1825 to oversee agricultural matters nationwide (official website), including policy reviews concerning forestry resources like those discussed in this correspondence.
