Mark Larabee
Larabee is the associate director of advocacy and government relations for the Pacific Crest Trail Association and lives in Portland. He previously worked as a staff writer for The Oregonian from 1995 to 2009.
The iconic Pacific Crest Trail runs for 2,650 miles through the heart of California, Oregon and Washington. During this unprecedented fire year, in which more than 5 million acres burned in these three states, about 90 miles of the PCT were damaged as well.
Wildfires along the trail are nothing new and are often restorative. Still, it takes time and effort to fix fire-damaged trail. Volunteers for the nonprofit Pacific Crest Trail Association are still working on repairs from two years ago.
The PCT travels through the most wild and scenic areas of the American West, connecting animal and plant habitats, providing clean air and water to nearby cities, and offering solace, healing and life-changing experiences for tens of thousands of backcountry travelers. We want those same opportunities available for future generations.
But surprisingly, more than 50 years after Congress designated it as a National Scenic Trail, the PCT is not fully protected. While half the trail is in designated wilderness, 10% remains on private property. In many places the trail crosses private land on narrow easements, leaving the path and the wild experiences it offers vulnerable to development from new homes, power lines, roads, timber extraction and mining.
As we build deeper into forests and open spaces, we also are increasing the risk that wildfires – many of which are caused by humans – will take more lives, homes and livelihoods. The sad truth is that we cannot prevent wildfires, but we may be able to minimize human tragedies by limiting development in our best wild spaces.
We have a huge opportunity to protect these important landscapes with the recent passage this year by Congress of the Great American Outdoors Act. The new law includes permanent annual funding of $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is seeded from fees on offshore oil and gas exploration permits, not taxpayers.
Originally approved by Congress in 1965, the fund has not lived up to its full conservation potential. While money has gone toward protecting lands, waterways and recreation areas in all 50 states, Congress appropriated the full $900 million only twice in 55 years. Many years, less than half the amount available was spent. With the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, the full annual appropriation is automatic.
This renewed commitment to public lands is long overdue. And it’s a real chance to change the face of conservation in the Pacific Northwest, along the PCT and across the entire nation.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund is vital to the work of large land trusts, government land management agencies and small nonprofits like the PCTA. We hope to protect private property along the trail before it can be developed. We work only with willing sellers and do not buy land to own it permanently. We hold it temporarily then sell to a state or federal land management agency for public ownership. Over the past 18 years, almost $46 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund has been used to acquire and permanently protect just over 33,000 acres along the PCT. There is more to do.
There already has been too much development in wild places. By purchasing private property within the PCT corridor, we can complete the trail as Congress intended, insulate communities from fire and secure healthy forests for recreation, wildlife, and clean air and water.