#FindYourTrail Celebrates America’s National Trails System

June 1, 2017

SILVER SPRING, MD – Today, several federal agencies and nonprofit organizations announced the launch of #FindYourTrail to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the National Trails System as well as the Wild & Scenic Rivers System in 2018. Over the next two years, #FindYourTrail will invite visitors from all backgrounds to explore America’s trails in urban and suburban areas as well as in the rustic and wild backcountry.

Find Your Trail expands on the National Park Service and National Park Foundation’s Find Your Park movement and invites the public to discover their own personal connections to thousands of trails across the U.S. Through social media, local and national events, videos, and other programs, Find Your Trail aims to build public awareness of all of America’s trails and increase engagement and volunteerism to support them.

The launch of Find Your Trail is accompanied by the first in a summer-long series of videos (the video may be found on the Department of the Interior’s YouTube page) produced to depict the different ways in which people, families and communities connect to and experience public lands through trails and rivers.

Immediately following this launch, partners across the country are inviting the public to Find Your Trail at celebrations on American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day on Saturday, June 3. The public can find an event near them at bit.ly/ntd-events. Activities include: hikes, bike rides, trail runs, photography clinics, birding, paddle trips, trail dedications, horseback riding, children’s activities, and more.

On October 2, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Trails System Act and the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, establishing the two systems. Legislation establishing National Historic Trails was enacted in 1978. Criteria for designation vary, and elements of the systems are stewarded by a variety of federal, state, and local agencies and nonprofit organizations.  More information is available about the National Trails System at Trails50.org and the Wild & Scenic Rivers System at rivers.gov/wsr50/

About the 50th Anniversary Partners

The river and trail communities commemorating the 50th anniversary of their establishment include both federal government and non-profit partners. Trails nonprofit partners include American Hiking Society, American Trails, the Partnership for the National Trails System, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy. River nonprofit partners include American Rivers, American Whitewater, River Management Society, and River Network.  Federal agency partners include the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

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