Professional Trail Crew Support
The U.S. Forest Service - Ketchum Ranger District (KRD) has more than 400 miles of single-track trail for a wide variety of users, from hikers to mountain bikers, equestrians to dirt bikes. The KRD lacks the appropriate annual funding to adequately finance a trail crew for routine maintenance and new trail projects. Without predictable federal funding, the Forest Service struggles to keep up with the constant workload and backlog of trail maintenance.
This is where the Wood River Trails Coalition comes in. One of our focus areas is supporting our local land management agencies’ trail crews so they can worry less about money and more about digging in the dirt. Our goal is to give our land management agencies the financial security to plan for years in advance with trail projects, routine maintenance and hiring crew members. Check out the video below that showcases our partnership!
How we do it
In 2024, the WRTC and the KRD launched what we are calling a “hybrid trail crew” model. Due to lack of funding and various federal hiring issues, the KRD was going to only be able to hire half of their typical crew of six for the 2024 season. Luckily, we had been working with them for over a year on putting together a hybrid crew model, so the WRTC was able to step in and hire the other three members of the crew. The crew will be three WRTC employees and three KRD employees working side by side, supervised by KRD staff. We are excited to bring this model to the Wood River Valley and hope to continue it for years to come.
The WRTC also has a Collection Agreement with the Sawtooth National Forest – Ketchum Ranger District to fund trail crew member positions if needed on a year-to-year basis. This allows the KRD to hire trail crew members as USFS employees, with the WRTC reimbursing the costs of crew members.
This system gives us multiple way to make sure the KRD crew is always fully staffed, and ensures you have a professional crew maintaining the trails you enjoy and love!
Click the links below to view the Ketchum Ranger District Annual Reports.