Pacific Crest Trail Association

Trail maintenance:each year the pcta brings together agency partners and volunteers with shared values and serves as a liaison between people and public lands. Volunteers and corps crew members perform the hard, physical labor of performing annual and deferred maintenance and reconstruction on the pct, giving hikers and horseback riders the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of wild and scenic lands while traveling on safe and passable trail. Pcta volunteers contributed 57,515 service hours in 2024, an in-kind value of $1.9 million. These hours included:- 1,134 miles of trail maintenance- 12 miles of trail reconstruction- 59 volunteer training eventstrail skills college - recruiting and educating volunteerspcta's comprehensive training programs are designed to actively support and involve our volunteers in carrying out safe and top-notch work on the trail. Led by seasoned staff, agency partners, and volunteer leaders well-versed in trail maintenance and leadership, the pcta's training events provide an engaging platform for volunteers to learn the essential elements of trail design, reconstruction, maintenance, and upkeep. Additional training events focus on evaluating and certifying volunteer sawyers under the national saw program and providing wilderness first aid and cpr certifications. - 4 trail skills college weekends- 65 classes- 552 volunteers- 167 saw certification registrants- 26.5k hours contributed by first-time volunteersgreat american outdoors actthe great american outdoors act presented a distinct opportunity to tackle the deferred maintenance backlog in our national parks, forests, monuments, and other public lands. In 2024, the pcta successfully organized 105 gaoa-funded trail projects across national forests in region 5 and 6.

Trail promotion and education:through our print and electronic publications and personal outreach,- we promote the pacific crest trail as a recreation space for everyone- promote safe and responsible use of the trail by educating trail users in leave no trace principles, as well as informing trail users about trail closures and the impacts from wildfire- mobilize volunteers to maintain the trail- keep our members and elected leaders informed of programs and issues facing the trail - introduce new audiences to the richness of the pacific crest trail experiencein 2024, promotional activities included: - publishing three issues (33,000 copies) of the pacific crest trail communicator magazine, and distributing it to members, partners and elected officials; - publishing an annual calendar; - publishing twelve regular issues of trail dirt, the pcta's electronic newsletter;- publishing dozens of blogs and hundreds of social media posts & storiesthe pcta also...- responded to 6,802 inquiries from trail users and the general public;- issued 4,507 long-distance permits and 2,333 section hike permits;- garnered four million website visits;- engaged 323,000 social media followers