PHOENIX – Your opinion matters when it comes to trail use in Arizona! After a year of gathering data about motorized and non-motorized trails in the state, Arizona State Parks and Trails has released the draft 2025 Trails Plan for public comment.
In 2020, data showed that people in Arizona used trails more than 103 million times in one year. The economic value of trails is estimated to be more than $8.3 billion. Arizona’s outdoors continues to attract visitors and influence how residents spend their time, and even where they live. The 2025 Trails Plan provides a blueprint for future actions and priorities regarding trails, grant funding distribution, and how land managers can work together.
Starting in 2023, Arizona State Parks and Trails worked with Partners in Brainstorm (PIB) to conduct a random sample survey of Arizona residents and also gathered feedback from land managers and other trail users. More than 10,000 survey responses were collected, guiding the Plan’s development. Respondents were offered the choice to complete the survey in English or Spanish.
The plan includes data-informed recommendations and action items to protect and enhance trails throughout Arizona, including those in local city, county and state parks as well as those on National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands. Arizona State Parks and Trails is required to prepare a report about Arizona’s motorized and non-motorized trails and their users every five years.
The Trails Plan provides information about trail users, their preferences, opinions and important issues facing recreational trails and off-highway vehicle routes in Arizona. The plan also offers a list of recommendations and priority actions that both trail users and land managers can implement to protect and improve Arizona’s motorized and non-motorized trails. Non-motorized trail uses include hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding; the most common motorized pursuits are quad or all-terrain vehicle driving, four-wheel driving and dirt biking.
To view and comment on the draft 2025 Trails Plan, visit AZStateParks.com/2025-Trails-Plan and email comments directly to TrailsPlan@azstateparks.gov. Feedback will be accepted through April 10, 2025 at 5 p.m.
