The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and management of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (usually abbreviated as the PCT), a 2,650-mile hiking and equestrian trail in the western United States that runs through California, Oregon, and Washington. The southern terminus is in Campo, California at the Mexican border approximately 50 miles east of San Diego. The northern terminus is at the US–Canadian border at E.C. Manning Provincial Park, which lies just north of the border between Washington and British Columbia.
History
The PCT was established as a national scenic trail by the National Trails Systems Act of 1968. In 1971, the Pacific Crest Trail Club was founded, and in 1977 the Pacific Crest Trail Conference was incorporated. The two groups merged in 1987, and in 1992, the name was changed to the Pacific Crest Trail Association. The Association hired its first paid staff in 1993.
The PCTA works under a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S.D.A Forest Service (the lead agency responsible for governmental oversight of the trail), and other federal agencies.
The PCTA is headquartered in Sacramento, California.
Mission and partnerships
The PCTA's mission is to protect, preserve and promote the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail as a world-class experience for hikers and equestrians, and for all the values provided by wild and scenic lands.
The USDA Forest Service, the governmental agency charged with overseeing federal oversight of the trail, elaborates that the PCTA fulfills this mission by 1) promoting the use and protection of the Pacific Crest Trail to reflect its world-class significance for the enjoyment, education and adventure of hikers and equestrians 2) publishing information on the PCT including books, guidebooks, maps, condition reports, videos, and permits 3) sponsoring a wide variety of public service volunteer projects and programs in cooperation with agency partners such as the USDA-Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, California State Parks, and others.
In 2021, along with the USDA Forest Service and the National Park Service, the PCTA collaborated on a Foundation Document to identify the significance of and fundamental resources for the entire 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The project considers the perspectives of stakeholders and organizations including the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, California State Parks, the PTCA, Backcountry Horseman of America, 60 Indian tribes whose current and ancestral lands are along the trail, hiking clubs, volunteers, thru-hikers, trail towns, and others.
Education and trail support activities
The PCTA serves as a clearinghouse for information about trail conditions, threats to the trails, and issues that affect hikers and equestrians. In 2019, the Trust for Public Land announced that in partnership with the PCTA, it had protected 17 miles of trail in northern California, and identified climate change and fires, timber cutting, increased usage, threats to wildlife from human interaction, and maintaining funding from the federally administered Land and Water Conservation Fund as key management priorities.
Through media campaigns and its own outreach, the PCTA educates hikers about issues that affect the trail. These issues can include temporary closures, or can be more global. For example, the PCT makes hikers aware of how climate change is affecting large-scale western forest fires, which can destroy hundreds of miles of trail and create life-threatening conditions that force hikers to abandon their itineraries.
Additionally, the PCTA website contains comprehensive information about trail closures, conditions, relocations, events, books, maps, and upcoming trail events that educate hikers in safe backcountry travel and Leave No Trace principles. In 2017, in cooperation with some of its donors, it operated a program it called P3 (Preserve, Protect, and Promote—taken from its mission statement), which highlighted ten Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers who would help promote and advocate for the PCT via blogs and social media during their thru-hikes.