Trail Work
Restoring the Paths and Stories of America's Public Lands
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Mapping the past—and the future—of American trails.
"Dillon Osleger is a new voice in the wilderness, and what a voice it is." —Jason Roberts, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Every Living Thing
In Trail Work, Dillon Osleger excavates the forgotten trails of the Western United States. He shows how one of the greatest infrastructure investments in the nation's history—paths through our public lands—has been rubbed away by time and deliberate neglect. Osleger unearths the wagon roads, water sources, trap lines, and Indigenous trading trails that once knitted the West together. He reveals centuries of path building, more than two-thirds of a nationwide network of trails and campgrounds, now erased from the map. Dwindling federal investment and privatized timber forests, ranches, and oil fields have blocked access to public lands, prompting Osleger to ask: How can we better care for the places that are claimed for the American public, but are too often abandoned or sold? Osleger has trail eyes like no other from his years as a trail builder, geologist, professional mountain biker, and public lands advocate. Here he offers a land ethic born of joy in stewardship, attention to history and community, and living and cycling lightly. From the Central California Coast to the Sierra Nevada, out to Colorado and up to Washington, Osleger embarks on a wayfinder's journey, revealing an atlas of lost trails for everyone who loves the outdoors.
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Geologist and environmental advocate Osleger debuts with a passionate call for investing in the maintenance of trails in public lands across the U.S., "not to boost economic opportunity but to provide equitable access to what is ours and to what we should seek to protect and conserve." Noting the U.S. once had "the greatest infrastructure of trails and connectivity in history," he demonstrates how shifting priorities—dwindling federal investment and the privatizing of land for settlement, mining, and logging—have led to the erasure of more than two-thirds of such paths. He pairs scenes from his journeys on neglected trails in California, often "fighting through thickets of brush for miles," with historical asides, explaining, for example, how the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 led to the establishment of thousands of miles of trails, many across Native American territory. Though many trails are now earmarked for recreation, others have been used by lumber and mining industries, practices that not only harm the environment but limit public access, Osleger explains. Through deep research and eloquent depictions of natural landscapes, Osleger reveals America's complicated relationship with preserving the outdoors. This deserves a place in every wilderness explorer's backpack.
