The U.S. Forest Service may have more than $314 million in a backlog of trail maintenance. The Government Accountability Office says the agency is able to keep only about a quarter of its trails up to its standards.

Some members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, are giving the Forest Service a needed nudge to get the work done.

The National Forest Systems Trails Stewardship Act would require that a plan be put in place within two years to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance. It would require that the agency look at using fire crews for the work. And it allows a pilot program for outfitting or guide companies that have permits to operate on forest land to work off some of their fees with trail work.

The Forest Service is not opposed to the ideas. It already uses volunteers. The Deschutes and Ochoco national forests work with a number of organizations. The Deschutes gets about 70 percent of its trail work done by volunteers.

But the Forest Service has concerns about the bill. Robert Bonnie, an undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture, testified recently about it. He said there are worries about liability, oversight, injuries, training and tools for the workers. Assigning fire crews to trail work could also be problematic, he said, because they need to be able to be shifted quickly to areas with immediate fire danger and may be doing other work for the Forest Service. Bonnie said the pilot program for permit holders could help, but it would mean a reduction in fees available to pay for maintenance by Forest Service staff.

Those all sound like problems that can be solved. They are not problems that should derail this bill.

Bonnie said the agency wants to work with Congress to fine tune language of the bill. And that’s encouraging. The deferred maintenance can mean erosion and other damage to the national forests, diminished trail use and increased maintenance costs in the future. The bill should pass.