Congress funds 10-year push to complete a 3,100-mile hiking trail
S. 1470 — Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Completion Act · Filed by Martin Heinrich (D-NM) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to complete the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail as a continuous hiking route within 10 years, establish a joint federal team to oversee the work, and develop a comprehensive plan identifying gaps and funding needs. The bill explicitly prohibits using eminent domain to acquire land and does not prioritize trail acquisition over other federal land purchases.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: federal agencies coordinate to complete a congressionally designated scenic trail within a defined timeline, subject to appropriations and explicit land-acquisition constraints. This is routine public-lands management legislation.
What the text implies
- The 10-year completion deadline is aspirational and subject to appropriations availability, meaning actual timeline may extend significantly if funding is not secured.
- The bill's prohibition on eminent domain and deprioritization relative to other land acquisitions may create practical bottlenecks if willing-seller easements prove insufficient to close trail gaps.
- Consultation requirements with tribal governments, state/local authorities, and landowners may slow planning but strengthen community buy-in and reduce future disputes.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds and accelerates completion of a public recreational resource available to all citizens at no cost, with explicit safeguards against forced land seizure. The primary beneficiaries are outdoor recreationists and rural communities along the trail corridor, with no identified costs to ordinary citizens.
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Agriculture (Forest Service), U.S. Department of Interior (Bureau of Land Management), Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, National Trails System Act
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Dec 17, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $426,409 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Martin Heinrich, the sponsor, reported $455,777 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- The Conservation Fund — $400,000 on 2 filings
- Backcountry Hunters & Anglers — $26,409 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,914 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress funds 10-year push to complete a 3,100-mile hiking trail” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1470 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.