America's Best-Kept Secret: The National Recreation Trails

Parks & Recreation, March, 1999 by Deborah J. Chavez, Joanne F. Tynon, James A. Harding

The vast majority of National Recreation Trails provide parking areas, and two-thirds have restroom facilities available to the public. About half provide picnic sites and drinking water. Very few offer campsites, visitor centers, concessions, scenic overlooks, boat ramps, or fishing access.

All National Recreation Trails provide signs for the public. Most of these signs include information on trail length, rules and regulations, and trail uses. Nearly half offer interpretive signs. Relatively few signs note trail hazards. Most trail managers deem maps necessary, so remember to pick one up before you head out.

Who Manages Them?

Approximately two-thirds of our National Recreation Trails are federally managed. The USDA Forest Service manages 45 percent of them, and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service) manages another 10 percent. Other federal managers include the Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Most of the remaining trails are managed by local, city, county, and state entities. Six percent are managed by private companies or utilities, universities, and foundations.

Recognition for Designated Trails

The Register of National Recreation Trails (1993) notes that National Recreation Trail designation carries with it the prestige and recognition of being considered a component of the National Trails System. We found that many trail managers were not even aware that a trail they managed carried such a designation, much less that it conveyed prestige and recognition (Tynon, Chavez & Harding, 1997; Tynon, Harding & Chavez, 1998). Of the 658 National Recreation Trail managers whom we contacted, only one said that he had used the National Recreation Trail designation to enhance the ability to form a partnership. This suggests that there is an abundance of missed opportunities to gain prestige and recognition.

The lack of awareness by managers was surprising. If readers are not aware of National Recreation Trails, they are obviously in good company. Quotes from National Recreation Trail managers included:

"We haven't been able to locate this trail."

"We've talked to a lot of people, and they didn't know anything about the trail."

"No one has heard of this trail."

"There are very few people around anymore who know anything about it."

These statements are quite revealing. The last statement provides particular insight into the lack of awareness by managers. About 80 percent of the trails were designated before 1982, whereas most of the National Recreation Trail managers started their positions as managers of those trails after 1988. Most of them learned of the National Recreation Trail status via our phone call or mail correspondence. Our study found little institutional memory or record.

We did encounter some trail lore through our study. Evidently, many of these trails are federally managed because of an emphasis during the Carter administration to designate National Recreation Trails. It was suggested that each national forest and park designate two trails as National Recreation Trails. More than one-half of the trails was designated between 1978 and '81.