National Trails System
The national trails provide opportunities for hiking and historic education, as well as horseback riding, biking, camping, scenic driving, water sports, and other activities.
In response to a call by President Lyndon B. Johnson to have a cooperative program to build public trails for "the forgotten outdoorsmen of today" in both urban and backcountry areas, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation released a report in 1966 entitled Trails for America.
[2] Sponsored by Senators Henry M. Jackson and Gaylord Nelson and Representative Roy A. Taylor,[5] part of the bill's impetus was threats of development along the Appalachian Trail, which was at risk of losing its wilderness character,[4] and the Land and Water Conservation Fund was used to acquire lands.
These agencies may acquire lands to protect key rights of way, sites, resources and viewsheds, though the trails do not have fixed boundaries.
[7] These partnerships between the agency administrators and local site managers are vital for resource protection and the visitor experience.
Due to the extent of construction of route realignments, segment alternatives, and measurement methods, some sources vary in their distances reported and values may be rounded.
[5] Six trails are official units of the NPS, managed like its other areas, as long, linear parks.
Their routes follow the nationally significant, documented historical journeys of notable individuals or groups but are not necessarily meant to be continuously traversed today; they are largely networks of partner sites along marked auto routes rather than the exact non-motorized trails as originally used.
[29] Nine are administered by the NPS National Trails Office in Santa Fe and Salt Lake City.
They have a total length of approximately 40,000 mi (64,370 km); many trails include several branches making them much longer than a single end-to-end distance.
Though there are no guidelines for how these are managed, these have been designated by the secretary of the interior to extend trails beyond the original congressionally established route.
