National Forest 10 Year Trail Challenge Partner Meetings

American Trails, a 501c(3) non-profit organization, in conjunction with the Eastern Region (Region 9) of the USDA Forest Service (NF), is holding a series of meetings regarding the Forest Service's 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge (Trail Challenge).

The meetings will be a discussion of how we can collectively elevate the sustainability and experience of the NF trail systems.  To that end, meetings have scheduled.  Participants will include valued existing and potential new partners identified by the NF, staff from the Eastern Region and local forests, and the American Trails Team.  The purpose of the meetings are to:

• Increase understanding of the USFS 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge (10-YTC) among partners
  
• Build partners’ awareness of the state of the NF trail programs
  
• Explore existing and possible future initiatives that support the 10-YTC
  
• Hear from you about your possible future contributions to trails along with your needs, ideas, and opportunities to improve the state of the trails system
• Explore potential synergies between partners to take the experiences and condition of the trail system to the next level

Meetings for the US National Forests in Minnesota will be:

• July 19th from 3:00 - 5:00pm for the Chippewa National Forest
• July 20, 2022 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm for the Superior National Forest

Please send a message to Candace Gallagher with American Trails to let her know you will attend the meeting and what organization, municipality, or agency you represent by July 13th.

The meeting will also feature a few partner organizations to give a brief 5-minute overview of a recent partnership success. Hopefully, these presentations will stimulate conversations and ideas about future possibilities.  

To let you know a little bit more about these meetings and the 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge, the following information is provided:

• 10 YTC Overview - USFS (draft)
  
• Synopsis of Subregional Discussions
• American Trails 10-YTC Webinar (from March 17, 2022)

These meetings are being held for all Eastern Region forests. If your organization works in more than one forest, you do not need to attend multiple meetings (unless you would like to).