As Congress and the Administration wrestle with the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, the Forest Service has the following to say:
The Southwest Idaho RAC recommended some Title II funds be used to improve trails in the Sawtooth Wilderness Area. This recommendation came in the spring of 2011 and the money reached the ground this summer with a trail crew using skill and brawn to improve many trails.
This project funds 159 miles of patrols and deferred trail maintenance/heavy maintenance on trails within Elmore and Boise Counties. The project is needed to address a critical backlog of trail maintenance due to years of fires, wind events, beetle-kill trees and neglect. Forest Service crews, youth crews and volunteer groups have been used to work on the trails but these efforts have barely been able to scratch the surface. In 2010 a large Federal earmark was given to the Sawtooth NRA to address declining trail conditions. Much headway was made; however, many of the trails were in such poor condition (in some burned locations there were up to 400 trees/mile) that progress was slow and many miles of trail are still in need of attention.