Breaking Down Barriers to Getting Outside

The history and current reality of racism have created barriers for many people getting outside to enjoy the benefits of nature. WTA has been supporting the hiking community since our founding, but in the past decade we have been more intentionally focused on lowering barriers to access the outdoors and making our community more welcoming to all.

The history and current reality of racism have created barriers for many people getting outside to enjoy the benefits of nature. When you consider the uneven distribution of funding, information, green spaces and other resources, it is clear that many Washingtonians aren't able to benefit from or deepen connections to nature.

Trails for Everyone is building off of work WTA has been doing for years to make experiences on trail accessible and rewarding for everyone. We’ve been supporting the hiking community since our founding, but in the past decade we have been more intentionally focused on lowering barriers to accessing the outdoors and making our community more welcoming to all. We're doing that in a few ways.

Reducing Barriers to Getting Outside

We want to make it easy for hikers to find the information they need to get outside. We do that in a lot of ways — through our Hiking Guide and by sharing basic hiking skills in our Trail Smarts series, for instance. Our website is full of good information — and thanks to the support of our members, it has always been free.

We’re also doing hands-on work to help people gain new skills and get outside. One way is through our Outdoor Leadership Training program, which in the 10 years since it was founded, has trained more than 400 leaders. Those leaders have taken more than 19,000 people on outdoor excursions.

Creating Safe Spaces

WTA began offering shared-identity trail work parties more than 10 years ago to provide a safe space for volunteers from similar backgrounds and communities, including women and the LGBTQ+ community. This approach expands our volunteer base and helps more people gain skills in trail stewardship and access opportunities in the outdoor industry. Volunteers who have joined us on these trips have said that, while they had considered volunteering in the past, it was this community opportunity that encouraged them to finally sign up.

We've also built successful weeklong Latinx trail crew experiences in partnership with Latino Outdoors, in addition to work parties with other community-based organizations. And we created a New to Trail Work series to lower barriers for folks to try trail stewardship for the first time.

Our leaders are trained how to foster a welcoming environment, how to recognize bias and how to step in as needed to ensure everyone feels safe and supported while volunteering their time for trails.

We're also helping diverse individuals, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, gain skills and experience while exploring career paths in the natural resources and outdoor recreation sectors.

building Partnerships — the Cornerstone of Trails for Everyone

None of the work we are doing to create trails for everyone is done alone. Partner organizations are key to making this vision a reality. We are constantly learning from one another and finding new ways to collaborate and grow. Together, we can all get more done.

Read about our work in action

Video: Spotlight on WTA's Outdoor Leadership Training Program

Oct 25, 2023

Hear from WTA staff and partners about how the program has made 18,000 outdoor experiences possible.

10 Stories from 10 Years of Outdoor Leadership Training: How WTA Helps Community Leaders and Kids Get Outside

Oct 06, 2023

Over the last decade, WTA has met some incredible leaders through the Outdoor Leadership Training (OLT) program from a variety of programs, including educators, therapists, youth ministers, scouts, environmental justice workers and members of tribal and affinity groups. As a way to look back and celebrate the OLT program’s 10th anniversary, we wanted to revisit 10 stories from our partners.

Hiker Headlines: Emerging Leaders Program Hiring, Breaking Ground on New Trail, Mount Rainier Road Closures

Sep 28, 2023

WTA is hiring for its next Emerging Leaders Program cohort! We’re excited to have started work on a new trail in Whatcom County. Some new funding come to Pacific Northwest urban forests and communities. You'll want to plan around some road closures that might affect your upcoming hikes, as well as some upcoming prescribed burns near Trout Lake. And we’re starting to see some snow in the high country!

Dash Point State Park Reveals: WTA is More Than Trails

Oct 02, 2023

Dash Point State Park is a great example of how WTA works in many different ways to create trails for everyone, forever. We are working behind the scenes to fund land management agencies, and we’re working on the ground to rebuild trails. From empowering partners to get their communities outdoors – to helping everyone who gets outdoors to see the part they play in stewarding the places they love, we are building a better future for trails.

How WTA is Building a Path to Outdoor Jobs With Leadership and Collaboration

Sep 26, 2023

WTA's Emerging Leaders Program, which helps increase access to jobs in the outdoor sector, is heading into its fourth year. We're now accepting applications for the 2024 cohort. And we're looking back at what the program has accomplished so far.

Hiker Headlines: 30 Years of Trail Maintenance, More Highway 20 Trails Reopen, Hurricane Ridge Road to Close Temporarily

Sep 14, 2023

We’re celebrating 30 years of trail maintenance at WTA! Sept 23 is National Public Lands Day. Take a survey to help Gifford Pinchot National Forest develop a sustainable trails strategy. There are some current and upcoming closures you might want to note when planning your weekend, but — in good news — some of the North Cascades wildfire closures have lifted.