Continental Divide Trail Coalition
“Complete, promote, and protect the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.”
The work
What they do
Trail building, maintenance, volunteer coordination, and advocacy for the 3,100-mile CDT from Mexico to Canada. Works to close trail gaps on federal lands.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “CDTC IS THE LEAD NATIONAL PARTNER WORKING WITH THE USFS IN THE ADMINISTRATION, COMPLETION, PROTECTION, AND VOLUNTEER STEWARDSHIP AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL.”
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Keeping wilderness wild
$622KPublic Information Outreach and Communication - CDTC hosted CDT Trail Days in Silver City, NM and welcomed over 3500 people to participate in the free and family friendly events.
Read it as they filed it
Public Information Outreach and Communication - CDTC hosted CDT Trail Days in Silver City, NM and welcomed over 3500 people to participate in the free and family friendly events. In addition, CDTC supported over 20 public events across the CDT that reached over 4500 people and helped raise awareness about the CDT and cooperative stewardship efforts. This included hosting 8 hikes in the Gila National Forest to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Gila Wilderness designation. In addition, CDTC worked with rural communities across New Mexico to invite first time stewards to the CDTC shared stewardship work through on the ground community stewardship events. CDTC continued to update its website to provide high quality, free online resources for trail information, including releasing a new hiker registration program, and continued work with partners all across the CDT to create broad support for the CDT and CDTC work.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Boots on the ground
$548KStewardship - in 2024 CDTC continued work to cooperatively steward the CDT providing 17,305 volunteer hours dedicated to trail stewardship activities.
Read it as they filed it
Stewardship - in 2024 CDTC continued work to cooperatively steward the CDT providing 17,305 volunteer hours dedicated to trail stewardship activities. This included supporting 12 volunteer projects, 3 adopter trainings and 338 volunteer Trail Adopters who conducted regular maintenance along the CDT. Success included adding an additional 15 gates to support trail infrastructure across southern New Mexico. It also include continued efforts to participate in over 20 public processes to participate in agency project planning efforts affecting the CDT support of the Partnership for the National Trails System and showcasing the CDT shared stewardship model across the BLM, NPS and USFS. CDTC continued work to build relationships with Tribal Nations through development of trailhead kiosks across the Carson National Forest and work with 5 Tribal fellows across the entire CDT. CDTC continued signage efforts and trail clearing and installed 34 drains, 102 signs and markers placed, 33,301 feet of trail maintained, 3800 pounds of rock removed, 1425 trees cleared, 2 double stringer bridges installed and scouted 71,000 feet of CDT for trail condition needs. Work also included close collaboration with the USFS CDT Program team on a 2025 GAOA project submission for Regions 2,3,and 4 of the USFS.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Boots on the ground
$344KCommunity Engagement - CDTC continued work with all 21 designated gateway communities and began working with new communities seeking designation in MT and NM.
Read it as they filed it
Community Engagement - CDTC continued work with all 21 designated gateway communities and began working with new communities seeking designation in MT and NM. In January 2024 Hidalgo County Commissioners officially and unanimously passed a resolution as the 22nd Gateway Community of the CDT. CDTC produced its 2024 small business survey results, and once again participated in events all across the CDT with communities including Leadville CDT Days, the Pinedale Outdoor Festival, Get Outdoors Hidalgo, Lincoln Days, and events in Rawlins, WY and Steamboat Springs, CO. CDTC once again hosted its Gateway Community Summit and supported the PNTS National Trails Workshop in Tucson AZ with presentations and training in many of our programmatic work.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
81 cents of every dollar goes to the work
That ratio is a good sign, not a scorecard. Plenty of great groups run leaner and lumpier. What matters is the extremes, and Continental Divide Trail Coalition is nowhere near one.
Backed on the record by Western Conservation Foundation, REI Cooperative Action Fund and Wilderness Society, latest filing FY24.
$1,513,252 programs, $137,003 management, $225,545 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The people
Who does the work
Succeeds Greg Pierce in the officer table.
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. This one caught a changing of the guard in the act: the FY2024 officer table lists Greg Pierce, the return itself is signed by Teresa A Martinez. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at CDTC? Claim this page.
Those 512 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If CDTC is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Make it 513The filings
13 years of filings
13 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2012 | $3,618 |
| 2013 | $56,909 |
| 2014 | $125,991 |
| 2015 | $223,816 |
| 2016 | $205,201 |
| 2017 | $449,681 |
| 2018 | $531,354 |
| 2019 | $665,231 |
| 2020 | $922,703 |
| 2021 | $1,009,924 |
| 2022 | $1,913,374 |
| 2023 | $1,437,384 |
| 2024 | $1,975,590 |
From $4K in 2012 to $2.0M in FY24, with no missed filing in 13 years. The 2024 peak of $2.0M reads like one-time gifts, so trust the line, not the peak.
Across the 5 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 43 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
81 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with Continental Divide Trail Coalition
14 years on the ground, 512 volunteers, 81 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.