Sustainable Trails Coalition

What Sustainable Trails Coalition does

The Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC) is a Colorado-incorporated 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 2015, operating from a San Jose, California mailing address (P.O. Box 402, San Jose CA 95103). Its mission is to reverse the 1984 blanket ban on bicycles in federal Wilderness areas — including the Pacific Crest Trail and parts of the Continental Divide Trail — by lobbying Congress to restore land managers' authority to permit mountain biking on a case-by-case basis. STC is governed by a seven-member board of directors with backgrounds in access advocacy, trail work, and mountain biking, supported by a grassroots base of tens of thousands of followers on social media.

The organization pursues its mission through legislative advocacy rather than products or services. Its primary vehicle has been the Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act, introduced across four congressional sessions (S.3205 in 2016, H.R. 1349 in 2017, S.2877 in 2018, and S.4561 in 2024), primarily sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Congressman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). In November 2020, the USDA Forest Service and the Department of the Interior testified before a Senate subcommittee supporting bicycle access, providing material federal agency endorsement of STC's position. STC's distribution channels are grassroots and digital — Facebook, press releases, congressional testimony, and a website offering educational resources and how-to-help guidance.

STC's business model is donation-based: as a 501(c)(4), contributions are not tax-deductible and the organization has no products, services, or pricing structure. Revenue is not disclosed. It maintains a mutual-respect relationship with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), whose 501(c)(3) status limits direct lobbying, allowing complementary — rather than competitive — positioning between the two groups.

Name

Sustainable Trails Coalition

Legal name

Sustainable Trails Coalition

Website

https://sustainabletrailscoalition.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Sustainable Trails Coalition is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization that lobbies Congress to reverse the blanket ban on bicycles in U.S. Wilderness areas, serving mountain bikers and human-powered outdoor recreation enthusiasts via grassroots mobilization and legislative reform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Conservation Advocacy

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Education & Outreach (BPAGAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Forestry & Reforestation (BPAGAGAD)

Keywords

• Trail access advocacy
• Wilderness legislation reform
• Mountain biking advocacy
• Nonprofit conservation advocacy
• Outdoor recreation policy

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations: The organization accepts donations from individuals who support their mission to restore bicycle access in Wilderness areas. As a 501(c)(4) organization, donations are not tax deductible.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Sustainable Trails Coalition is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization that promotes mountain biking in select U.S. Wilderness areas through legislative reform efforts and public education. It advocates for the reversal of the 1984 blanket ban on bicycles in Wilderness, Recommended Wilderness, and Wilderness Study Areas, the Pacific Crest Trail, and parts of the Continental Divide Trail, and supports the Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act. The coalition mobilizes grassroots support through social media, congressional testimony, and coalition-building, rather than selling any products or paid services.

Product overview

The Sustainable Trails Coalition is a nonprofit advocacy organization rather than a product company. It does not offer products, services, or technology platforms in the traditional SaaS or software sense. Its mission is focused on legislative advocacy to restore bicycle access in Wilderness areas, working through Congressional legislation such as the Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act (S.3205, S.2877, S.4561) and H.R. 1349. The organization provides educational resources, Congressional testimony, and grassroots advocacy support for trail access issues.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Federal agencies now agree that bikes represent a fundamental recreational activity for the enjoyment of the American people and that allowing cycling on selected Wilderness trails aligns with agency goals.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 May 2016IMBA and STC issued a joint statement affirming mutual respect for each organization's different advocacy approaches. IMBA's 501(c)(3) status limits its direct lobbying activities, while STC's 501(c)(4) status allows direct legislative advocacy. Both organizations share the goal of expanding mountain biking opportunities but employ different strategies.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• PeopleForBikes: PeopleForBikes is the US bicycle industry's trade and advocacy coalition, representing riding access and infrastructure at the federal level. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps with STC on bicycle-access policy but operates at industry-scale rather than the narrow Wilderness niche.
• The Wilderness Society: The Wilderness Society is a large, established environmental organization that defends the Wilderness Act's strict preservationist interpretation — including the bicycle ban STC seeks to overturn. It is a broad incumbent in the same Wilderness-policy space and often an institutional counterparty to STC's advocacy.
• Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is one of the largest and oldest US environmental organizations, with extensive Wilderness preservation advocacy. It is a broad incumbent in the environmental advocacy space and historically a leading defender of the bicycle prohibition STC is working to reverse.

Emerging players

• Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics: Leave No Trace is a nonprofit that educates outdoor recreation users on minimizing environmental impact. It intersects with STC's work at the trail-use-policy level — its principles directly inform arguments about whether bikes are compatible with Wilderness character — but operates as an education/standards body rather than a direct lobbyist.

Direct peers

• Partnership for the National Trails System: The Partnership for the National Trails System is a coalition of trail organizations advocating for the 30+ National Scenic and Historic Trails, including the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails that STC focuses on. It is a directly relevant peer given overlapping geographic and policy interests.
• International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA): IMBA is the leading US mountain biking advocacy organization and STC's closest peer and formal partner. Both advocate for expanded mountain biking access on public lands, but IMBA operates as a 501(c)(3) (limited lobbying) while STC operates as a 501(c)(4) to lobby directly — they intentionally occupy complementary roles within the same movement.
• American Hiking Society: American Hiking Society is a national nonprofit advocating for hiking trails and foot-powered access on public lands. It is a comparable peer in the trails-and-public-lands advocacy space, sharing STC's focus on preserving and expanding trail access — though without the bicycle-specific policy lane.
• Winter Wildlands Alliance: Winter Wildlands Alliance is a nonprofit that advocates for human-powered winter recreation (backcountry skiing, snowshoeing) on public lands, including in Wilderness areas. It mirrors STC's playbook: grassroots mobilization, federal land-management policy advocacy, and case-by-case access reform on Wilderness and wilderness-adjacent lands.
• Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization that mobilizes sportsmen to defend public-lands access for hunting and fishing. It is a structurally analogous peer to STC: a movement-driven, grassroots access-advocacy nonprofit using public-lands policy to expand recreational access — just for hunting/angling instead of mountain biking.

Regional players

• Appalachian Mountain Club: The Appalachian Mountain Club is a regional recreation and conservation organization focused on the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. It overlaps with STC in trail maintenance, volunteer stewardship, and outdoor recreation advocacy, but its geography (Northeast US) differs from STC's western-federal-land focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/SustainableTrailsCoalition
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sustainable-trails-coalition

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Trails Coalition