HELENA – The Montana Trails Coalition (MTC) highlights the current public land trail infrastructure needs and lack of current funding in their newly released Montana Trails in Crisis report. Along with identifying the shortfalls, the report provides recommendations for sustainable funding for public trails that will continue to maintain access, preserve Montanan’s outdoor way of life and the $7.1 billion outdoor recreation economy.
MTC is a coalition of diverse user groups that support trail and outdoor recreation opportunities for all Montana trail users - motorized, non-motorized, equestrians and bikers.
In the report, trails are identified as the primary access for the 30 million acres of public lands in Montana. Federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service land have 14,000 miles of trails. A 2013 US Government Accountability office report found that 75 percent of the trails in the National Forest are not up to standard. While local ranger districts used to have three to four seasonal trail crews dedicated to keeping the trails open and maintained, now have two or three seasonal employees given the same task.
Montana Wilderness Association Stewardship Director Matt Bowser said trails are eroded, overgrown and infested with weeds. The signage on many trails is missing or unreadable. The trailheads are unmaintained, corrals for stock are broken and sometimes roads to the trailhead are impassible.
Since 1980, Congress has cut trail funding by 32 percent, leaving the national forests with a $296 million maintenance backlog.
“There is not close to enough funding for the US Forest Service to maintain their trails let alone improve them or add more to the trail systems,” said Bowser. “Trails are the arteries that feed the heart of Montana’s $7.1 billion outdoor economy that generates $2.2 billion in wages and 71,000 jobs and those numbers are only going to increase.”
Bowser said that volunteers and service organizations have played a critical role in maintaining trails on public lands. With the passage of the National Forest Trail System Act in 2016, the Forest Service hopes to double the volunteers on trails nationwide within five years.
“This highlights just how dire the funding shortfall is for our trails,” said Bowser.
Angie Grove from Montana State Parks said there is also a trails crisis in the front country. State parks visitation has risen 33 percent since 2012. In 2016 there were 2.5 million visitations to State Parks.
A University of Montana study that looked at what visitors want when visiting the 55 state parks reported 89 percent of those surveyed said trails were the single most important amenity for them to enjoy their state park experience. In the 18-35 age group, the number increased to 95 percent.
“Our future state park visitors are demanding trails at an extremely high rate and we don’t have the infrastructure to meet the demand,” said Grover who added there are currently only 112 miles of trails in the state parks. “To meet this demand, we think it is essential that we identify a broader based funding structure for our trails, not just in state parks, but on all our public lands across the state.”
Currently, the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funds a majority of the trails work in the state. RTP is a federal program created by Congress in 1991 that gives states a refund from the gas tax. Projects are identified through a competitive grant application process managed by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Funding is dispersed equitably to 30 percent motorized, 30 percent non-motorized and 40 percent diversified projects.
Since 2014, the program has generated over $24 million for Montana on 267 projects.
Vice President of the Montana Trail Vehicle Riders Association Russ Ehnes said that one of the reasons the RTP program is so successful is because of the matching funds required. In Montana, Ehnes said that 200 percent of the money granted for the project is also contributed back to the project in the form of other grant money, cash donations, labor and volunteer time.
However, this still is not enough. Since 2014, more than 128 trails projects that applied for RTP grants were unfunded. In the last five years, that is $4.6 million in projects. Ehnes said if the 200 percent match is applied, that is $14 million lost.
“That is a huge amount of money that would have benefited all trail users,” said Ehnes. “RTP has been a great program and it has worked really well but it only part of the solution.”
MTC proposed a Made-in Montana Trail Program that would create a Montana recreational trail fund that is run by the state.
“Any federal program comes with a lot of string and red tape. We need more flexibility in a Montana State Trails Program than is allowed in the RTP program. The flexibility would allow the state to distribute the money where the need is better than RTP currently does,” said Bob Walker from Montana Trails Coalition. “With the state trails grant program, we would have more assurance of the long term nature of it and we would avoid what I can congressional dysfunction.”
Walker said the MTC has put in two requests to the legislative service bureau for bill drafts. One proposal would increase the light vehicle registration fee from $6 to $9. With the $3 increase, trails and the state parks would each receive about $1 million annually. The Heritage Commission that manages Virginia and Nevada cities would also receive funding.
The second proposal is a one percent increase in the lodging facility use tax, or the bed tax. That would raise up to $3 million with a similar distribution strategy.
“Our public lands in Montana are common ground. We need trails to access these beautiful area that we love so much,” said Walker. “If we can create new ways to invest in our trails, our children will thank us for passing along a way of life that our forefathers left us.”
For more information about the Montana Trails Coalition and to read the full report visit https://www.montanatrailscoalition.org/
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