Episode 5: Show Me the Money! Paying the Cost for Public Lands

Release date: May 8, 2026 

Outdoor recreation on public lands is booming. More people than ever are heading outside to hike, camp, fish, ski, climb, and explore. But while visitation continues to rise, the funding needed to maintain and protect those places is disappearing.

In this episode of Trail Break Radio, panelists dig into one of the biggest questions facing the future of public lands: who is actually going to pay for them?

The conversation explores how public lands are traditionally funded through Congressional appropriations and federal legislation, and why those systems are increasingly strained. As budgets tighten and staffing cuts deepen across federal land management agencies, states, nonprofits, volunteers, and local communities are being asked to step in and fill the gap.

But our expert panelists challenge whether that approach is truly sustainable.

• Betsy Robblee, Conservation and Advocacy Director, ⁠The Mountaineers⁠
• John Garder, Senior Director of Budget & Appropriations, ⁠National Parks Conservation Alliance⁠
• Dan Gibbs, Executive Director,⁠ Colorado Department of Natural Resources⁠
• Moderator: Garett Brennan, Raven Analytics + Three Pin Strategy

Can local communities realistically absorb responsibilities once handled by the federal government? What happens when nonprofits are cleaning bathrooms, maintaining trails, and staffing recreation programs in place of federal employees? And

 if states increasingly manage federal lands, does that fundamentally change what national public lands are meant to be?

The discussion also examines innovative funding models emerging across the country. At the same time, panelists warn that volunteer labor and local partnerships cannot fully replace a functioning federal land management system.

At its core, this episode asks a difficult but increasingly urgent question: what happens to America’s public lands if the systems designed to care for them continue to erode?