Who are trail people? Are we defined by our activity: runners, hikers, equestrians, bike riders, motorists? Are we defined by how many trail maintenance days we do, how many dollars we donate, how many legislators we call?
My first California Trails and Greenways Conference (opens new window) was an introduction to another facet of “trail people”, in this case, the government workers who facilitate our public trails and the small industry of consultants and manufacturers who supply them.
In aggregate, my non-scientific napkin guesstimate would be that 40% of the conference works for a government agency, 30% for a consultancy or other trail-oriented business, 20% for a land trust or conservancy, and then a remainder of folks from other nonprofit or community-level groups. This is a conference that is built around professionals thinking about trails.
However, as someone coming from the small and scrappy world of community-level trail advocacy, the California Trails conference didn’t feel unwelcoming. Instead, it felt starved for more “grassroots” level advocates.
# Wednesday Morning Keynote by Jim Hasenauer
Wednesday morning’s keynote speaker, Jim Hasenauer, spoke about the conference’s inaugural year of 1984. From his description, in its infancy California’s trail advocates were a ragtag band more closely resembling our rural community-level trail groups. Equestrians were a core demographic, mountain biking was basically non-existent. DIY trail efforts were the norm.
Of course, the recent spending cuts by the Trump administration and the uncertainty they are causing for trail work across the nation was also a cornerstone of Jim’s keynote. At a conference dominated by professionals who rely on the public dollar to create trails, he called for more creativity, more mutual aid, and above all more advocacy to ensure the survival of our trail systems. I think the words “be loud” were said…nothing gets done if you’re not a PITA to your congressperson. Trails are often the “last to eat” when it comes to public funding, and we’re seeing that they are certainly first to starve.
# My Session: More Easements, More Trails
I was fortunate enough to be selected to present a talk on acquiring trail access rights called “More Easements, More Trails”. My co-presenter, Nate Waddell, is an experienced land agent and manager at Peak Land Services. Combining his deep experience in utility/commercial land rights with my knowledge of trail-specific land rights, we gave a “trail rights 101” overview, then discussed more ways that small community-level trail groups can interface with government to create more protected trails.
If you’re going to a conference, it never hurts to put in a session submission. By presenting, I became a magnet for like-minded trail advocates trying to acquire more trail rights, meeting people I would never have “run into” by chance. One particularly relevant introduction connected me to a lobbyist interested in trail legislation, while another connected me with a trail advocate local to my area. Those introductions were worth the trip alone.
# More Sessions
But what about other sessions? Limited to a single day (my job isn’t trails, and my family is young), I was only able to get a sample platter of what was on offer, but here is a quick rundown on some of the sessions I attended:
# Inventorying Trails
A technical talk providing an overview of how CA State Parks has inventoried their trail system, including the tools (ESRI FieldMaps + Survey123 and the Arrow-100 GPS unit).
# Interpretive Design
An overview on how consultancies design and create interpretive signage, interactive displays, and other design elements to help visitors understand the historical, cultural, and ecological importance of the trail environment.
# The State of Mapping
A discussion between several mapping technology companies on where the technology is going and current tooling. I had to leave midway through this to catch my flight, so I’m excited to see the PowerPoints!
# Looking Forward to 2026!
Overall, the California Trails and Greenways conference was a perfect introduction to a broader world of trails and the people behind them. If you’re a community-level trail organizer: GO TO THIS CONFERENCE! It will expose you to new perspectives on trails, but equally important, it will expose trail professionals to YOUR perspective. At a time when public funding for trails is even harder to find, volunteers at the community level are vital to filling in the gaps and pushing forward new initiatives.