Along the 1,200 mile Pacific Northwest Trail, the PNTA engages a wide variety of organizations and individuals in the construction, maintenance, and protection of the National Scenic Trail corridor. After successfully advocating for congressional designation for the PNT in 2009, our work to fully protect the trail continues.
Trail maintenance and construction on this mountainous northern route also offers unique challenges. Due to its remote location and east-west orientation, most of trail corridor remains snowbound until summer, leaving a challengingly, short season to work with, typically, just eight weeks long.
Trail maintenance provides young adults with an opportunity to experience a summer outside, to pursue a career in public land management and to make a lasting impact on one of America’s newest National Scenic Trails.
PNTA Trail Crews
Our Youth Programs offer both paid employment and volunteer community service opportunities to local youth, ages 14-18. Currently, PNTA Performance Trail Crews build and maintain trails across Washington State.
PNTA Work-Based Learning Trail Crews work with young adults, ages 16-24. These young men and women are often from local alternative schools, such as Job Corps, that specialize in reaching students who are struggling socially, economically, or academically. Crew members achieve personal growth, learn teamwork, trail stewardship, and Leave-No-Trace Ethics, all while working and living in a rugged, backcountry setting.
Each season, a team of experienced sawyers, on our Performance Logout Crew, services hundreds of miles of trails in the Colville National Forest, keeping them free of down trees and open to equestrians, cyclists and hikers.
With 1,200 miles to maintain, the PNTA’s trail crews have the opportunity to explore national parks and national forests — from lowland temperate rainforests to alpine meadows and crags. Participating in trail maintenance on the PNT isn’t just up-keeping a trail, it’s upholding a legacy of stewardship, preservation and the epic journey of a Crown to Coast hike.
Trail Maintenance Partners
The PNTA maintains tread all along its 1,200 mile path, but we don’t do it alone. We partner with a variety of federal, state, and municipal agencies in the maintenance of the trail corridor, which spans across three states, seven National Forests, three National Parks and a variety of other public and private lands.
Local trail clubs also play an important role in the maintenance of the Pacific Northwest Trail, which in turn, helps benefit their communities by providing economic opportunities and trails for everyone to enjoy.
The Skagit-Whatcom-Island Trail Maintenance Organization (SWITMO), has been our partner in maintenance of the PNT in the Puget Sound and North Cascades since 1999. Dedicated SWITMO volunteers have played an outsized role in the creation of the PNT trail corridor and other recreation trails in Skagit, Whatcom and Island Counties.
We also work with a variety of organizations including the Back Country Horsemen (BCHA), Student Conservation Association (SCA), Washington Trails Association (WTA), Montana Conservation Corps (MCC), and many others.
The Back Country Horsemen of America plays a key role in the maintenance of the Pacific Northwest Trail and other outdoor infrastructure across the United States. The BCHA are a national non-profit organization of volunteers, with chapters in 31 states, including Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
BCHA volunteers play a critical role In the backcountry by using their pack stock—horses and mules— to supply trail crews with needed supplies and heavy tools. In designated wilderness, where mechanized equipment is not permitted, pack stock offer the most practical means of transporting equipment to remote worksites and spike camps.
Trail maintenance is needed now more than ever. As the rate of wildfires across the United States has increased exponentially and the demand for accessibility is the highest it’s ever been — trail maintenance becomes imperative to keeping our National Trails alive. With your donations and volunteer work, we can provide a more sustainable accessibility to the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.