Federal trails get a nonprofit co-pilot—with veto power over plans
S. 2708 — Appalachian Trail Centennial Act · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Hearing held
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 strengthens the management of national historic and scenic trails (like the Appalachian Trail) by formalizing partnerships between federal agencies and volunteer organizations. It designates the Appalachian Trail Conservancy as the official operational partner for the Appalachian Trail, allows other trails to designate similar partners, and gives these partners a formal role in planning, maintenance, and property-rights enforcement—while keeping federal agencies in charge of final administrative decisions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is to codify and expand the role of nonprofit and volunteer organizations in the day-to-day operation and planning of national trails, moving from informal cooperation to formal designation and delegated authority. It is not a deregulation or a giveaway—it is a structural reform of how federal trail administration is shared with nongovernmental partners.
What the text implies
- Designated Operational Partners gain standing to initiate federal enforcement actions (trespass, property-rights violations) and may recover litigation costs if successful, creating a quasi-private enforcement mechanism for federal land protection.
- Partners can reject comprehensive plans submitted by federal agencies, giving nonprofits veto power over long-term trail strategy—a significant shift in decision-making authority from federal to nongovernmental entities.
- Surplus federal property can be transferred directly to Designated Operational Partners without competitive bidding, streamlining asset transfer but reducing transparency in the allocation of public resources.
- The bill authorizes appropriations for trail development through 2031 but does not cap spending or specify funding levels, leaving future budget exposure open-ended.
- Visitor-capacity determinations are shifted from trail-wide to segment-specific, potentially allowing partners to argue for higher use thresholds in popular areas, affecting resource protection.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill formalizes volunteer and nonprofit leadership in trail management, giving citizens and community organizations a structured voice in conservation decisions. It does not strip federal oversight—agencies retain final authority—but it shifts operational control toward entities with deep local expertise and volunteer networks, potentially improving trail maintenance, access, and responsiveness to community needs.
Who stands to gain
- nonprofit conservation organizations (especially Appalachian Trail Conservancy)
- volunteer-led trail maintenance clubs
- land trusts and conservation nonprofits designated as operational partners
Named in the bill
Appalachian Trail Conservancy, National Trails System, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Designated Operational Partners, volunteer organizations, gateway communities, federally recognized Indian Tribes
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 4, 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 9, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearings held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $334,430 in lobbying spend. A filing names 18 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 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Tim Kaine, the sponsor, reported $125,658 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Open Space Institute, Inc. — $155,000 on 1 filing
- National Parks Conservation Association — $139,430 on 1 filing
- Open Space Institute, Inc. — $40,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 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 (31,144 characters) on Sep 28, 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 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal trails get a nonprofit co-pilot—with veto power over plans” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s2708 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.