Abstract
What value does federal designation add to open space resources that are not all federally owned and managed? Over the years the federal government, under the auspices of the National Park Service and USDA Forest Service, has designated trails across the United States as National Recreation Trails. A survey of federal, nonfederal public, and private National Recreation Trail managers indicated that few knew they maintained a federally designated trail. As a result, the managers could not use the designation to help them manage the trails. The time is right to revitalize this system.