ACTIVITIES
Making a Difference
Whether we recreate on foot, on skis, on horseback, by kayak, or on wheels, we have in common our love for trails. Together we can address the challenges facing trails in Oregon and ensure access to outdoor recreation for all in our communities.
Volunteers and land managers working in partnership to care for our treasured trails. That's how we do it in Oregon. The Oregon Trails Coalition seeks to lift up local stewardship efforts through relationship building and providing training opportunities.
"In order to provide for the ever-increasing outdoor recreation needs of an expanding resident and tourist population and in order to promote public access to, travel within and enjoyment and appreciation of, the open-air, outdoor areas of Oregon, trails should be established both near the urban areas of this state and within, adjacent to or connecting highly scenic areas more remotely located."
Oregon Recreation Trails System Act of 1971
The Oregon Trails Summit brings together more than 200 recreation, conservation, planning, tourism, and health professionals, agency staff, policy makers, advocates, and visionaries to build relationships, learn, and develop solutions that advance Oregon’s world-class trails and scenic routes.
ADVOCACY
Oregonians love the outdoors. Trails connect us to what matters and help our communities thrive. We are dedicated to preserving and increasing local, state, and federal funding for trails in Oregon. Read our 2019 platform.
Over sixty tribes and bands of Indigenous Peoples have lived in the northwest region since time immemorial. Despite the treaties of the 1800s, termination, restoration, and other barriers, nine tribes are currently federally-recognized in what is now Oregon. Other federally-recognized tribes outside of Oregon have interests in the state and still others are working toward this recognition.
Today, tribes work extensively to manage resources throughout their original territories playing active roles in their regions, counties, states, and communities, leveraging their extensive knowledge and history of the area. In Oregon, outdoor recreation occurs on the ancestral lands of these original peoples and current caretakers. We are called to seek out the history of the places where we live, travel, and recreate and continue to learn how to best participate in their caretaking.