Supporting Our National Trails

GAOA LRF and the National Trails System

GAOA LRF National Trails System Fact Sheet — Click here to access the National Trails System GAOA LRF Fact Sheet

The National Trails System consists of thousands of miles of national historic trails, national scenic trails, and national recreation trails and provides endless opportunities for recreation and inspiration. The Department of the Interior's (Interior) National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) U.S. Forest Service (USFS) help administer these trails, protecting these routes for recreation, reflection, and discovery.

Through the Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (GAOA LRF), Interior and USDA have funded line-item projects and Maintenance Action Team (MAT) activities to improve and maintain National Trails across the country. To learn more about GAOA LRF's impact across the National Trails System, click here to access the National Trails System GAOA LRF Fact Sheet.

To learn more about GAOA LRF-funded projects and MAT activities across the National Trails System, click through the Photo Gallery below:

GAOA LRF National Trails System Spotlights

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

Repaired section of Alanui Aupuni, Kingdom Era Trail. Photo Credit: National Park Service

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

National Parks Service, Hawai'i
The historic Alanui Aupuni and Ka’awaloa Road dates to the mid-1800s and represent fine examples of trails built by the Kingdom of Hawai’i. The Ala Loa is an ancient trail, dating back at least 500 years. Three of the four sections of these trails are contributing elements to the Kealakekua State Park Historic District, and the trails are on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. This project restored and corrected deferred maintenance (vegetation removal, dry set masonry stabilization and resetting curbing damage) along the seven-mile section of trail. It also helped in the perpetuation of traditional Hawaiian dry-stack masonry techniques and provides future education and interpretation programs related to cultural and natural resources.
Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

Washington Conservation Corps and Forest Service staff conducting trail maintenance on the PCT. Photo Credit: U.S. Forest Service

Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

U.S. Forest Service, California / Oregon / Washington
The U.S. Forest Service is the lead administering agency for the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail along the crest of the Pacific mountain rnage between Mexico and Canada.
Fires, natural disasters, and dense vegetaion growth have significantly degraded trail condition and access. The trail-wide GAOA LRF project is working with the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Washington Conservation Corps, and American Conservation Experience to address deferred maintenance along the trail through all 17 national forests to sustain continuous public access for the future generations. The project will address $4.6 million in deferred maintenance. Work is expected to be complete in late 2026.
Centennial Trail

View from the trail over the newly replaced creek crossing at the Alkali Creek Campground. Photo Credit: Ryan Larson, Bureau of Land Management

Centennial Trail

Bureau of Land Management, South Dakota
The Centennial Trail was created in 1989 to celebrate the 100th year of South Dakota statehood, and passes through State Park, National Park, National Forest, and Bureau of Land Management lands. Trail users experience a full range of natural environments, including open high plains, forests, meadows, riparian areas, and rock outcrops. This project replaced an unsafe creek crossing at the site that provides access to picnic areas and the Centennial Trail.
Catoctin Trail (Blue Trail)

Youth Conservation Corps member painting boardwalk on Catoctin Trail. Photo Credit: National Park Service

Catoctin Trail (Blue Trail)

National Park Service, Maryland
Catoctin Mountain Park provides quality recreational opportunities in the Catoctin Mountains while protecting and conserving the park's natural and cultural environments in the spirit of New Deal conservation programs. Portions of Catoctin Trails were originally designed and constructed by the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
This project completed a multi-phase plan to maintain the trail. A Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) crew of 15 -to-18-year-olds removed encroaching brush from trails, repaired water bars to control trail erosion, painted structures, maintained deer exclosure fences, and removed invasive plants.