Focus on the Positives A Path to Moving Forward with Trail Work in 2025

2025 has certainly seen a flurry of activity with the transition to new leadership in the White House and major changes in the structure of governmental agencies. Many of our partners have expressed concerns about being able to get trail work done in 2025 with hiring freezes, spending freezes, and changes in how business is done. It is easy at times like this to throw your hands in the air in frustration, and just do something besides volunteering your time to do trail work, but our sport is heavily reliant on the great work you do. After a discussion with some other motorized trail advocacy and education organizations, we decided to share some information about how certain groups have navigated these times of change and how they planned to keep moving forward. Hopefully this provides direction and inspiration for other groups to continue providing high quality recreation experiences. 

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  With seasonal hiring on hold, the Colorado OHV Coalition worked with national and regional Forest Service Leadership to get permission to hire seasonal trail crew members funded by the Colorado OHV Program. In region two they were allowed to hire up to 122 seasonal trail crew members, as long as they were rehire candidates. Being that these positions have dedicated funding, their positions have no impact on the Forest Service Budget. 

• Other groups in Colorado have begun examining the scope of work in grants and agreements to determine if portions of their project can be implemented without additional staff or funding to keep the project moving.
• Groups that have dedicated funding sources outside of federal funding like RTP (gas tax, OHV registration funds, etc.) will be focusing on those projects this year until federal programs stabilize and receive direction on how they will be operating in the future.
• For some groups, like the NV County Woods Riders in California, it is business as usual, as they will continue to offer over 2000 volunteer hours per year to maintain trails on the Tahoe National Forest. This Forest does not currently have staff to provide this work and relies heavily on their dedicated volunteers. The NCWR has received a lot of positive attention for their efforts, with other enthusiast groups looking to emulate their efforts.
• The Stewards of the Sierra National Forest are gearing up for another year of trail work, after logging up to 9,000 hours per year of trail work and clearing between 3,000 and 5,000 fallen logs off the trails. 

Change is often hard and uncomfortable, and right now many of us are experiencing that discomfort, but there are paths forward. Take comfort in the fact that there are strategies to keep your partnerships with the governmental agencies alive and efficient. 

Currently, many agencies have reduced their external outreach efforts until appointees have been confirmed which however does not limit or restrict incoming communications from OHV partner groups.  Maintaining those important lines of communications is now more important than ever to help ensure continued access to high quality trail-based recreation.  

We encourage you to share your strategies for navigating these changes with your fellow riders by sharing your successes with us by sending an e-mail at trailhead @nohvcc.org. These successes will be shared in future communication by NOHVCC and other partner organizations. 

Thank you all for the great work you do providing a positive future for OHV recreation.