Summit Agenda + Program

The Summit Program is online!

Tuesday 4/15:
Keynote Speaker

James Edward Mills

American Trails and the Professional TrailBuilders Association are excited to announce the keynote speaker for the 2025 International Trails Summit is James Edward Mills. As a freelance journalist and independent media producer with a career spanning more than 20 years, he specializes in sharing stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and sustainable living practices.

James is the author of The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors, which was named by Outside Magazine as one of the 10 “Outdoor Books that Shaped the Last Decade.” James is also the co-writer/co-producer of the documentary film “An American Ascent.”

James is the Founder/CEO/Executive Producer of the Joy Trip Project, a news gathering and reporting organization that covers the business, art, and culture of the outdoor recreation industry.

Join us for our keynote during the Welcome General Sessions on Tuesday, April 15 starting at 9:00 am!

Book Signing Following Keynote!

Working with local bookseller, A Room of One’s Own, the keynote will be a doing book signing for his book, The Adventure Gap (10th anniversary edition).

Limited quantities available for purchasing onsite ($21.95)!

Please note that book sales/signings will only take place during the break and following the general sessions. (Schedule subject to change.)

Offsite Day

Thursday, April 17
11:30 am - 4:30 pm
Babcock County Park

The Offsite Day at the International Trails Summit takes place on Thursday, April 17, from 11:30 AM to 4:30 PM at Babcock County Park.

Attendees can enjoy hands-on experiences with trail-building equipment, including mini-excavators, mini-skid steers, articulating loaders, and a variety of hand tools. There will also be opportunities to test out trail equipment and ride a Ford Bronco on a course! There are over 20 exhibitors that will showcase their products in the dirt demo area!

Participants can also attend free educational sessions covering topics such as trail building, drone use for trail assessment, and ergonomics for trail work. Food trucks and a beer tent will be available, with your registration including three $5 vouchers for meals.

Shuttles will provide transportation between the convention center and the park, making this an accessible and exciting day for summit attendees.

Summit Schedule-at-a-Glance

Monday, April 14:

  • Registration open

  • Pre-Summit Technical Training Workshops

  • Pre-Summit Field Trips

  • Pre-Summit Meetings

  • Exhibit hall set up

Tuesday, April 15:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch, PM break, happy hour apps

  • Registration open

  • Opening plenaries and keynote address (morning)

  • Concurrent sessions (afternoon)

  • Exhibit hall (full day)

  • Happy trails hour + poster presentations in the exhibit hall 

Wednesday, April 16:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch, PM break

  • Registration open

  • Concurrent sessions (full day)

  • Exhibit hall (full day)

  • World Trails Film Festival (evening, Monona Terrace Lecture Hall)

Thursday, April 17:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch (food trucks offsite)

  • Concurrent sessions (morning)

  • Offsite Field day (included in registration) with transportation provided (afternoon)

  • Takeover Night at Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. in downtown Madison

 2025 Key Areas of Focus

  • Career Pathways and Trail Training: Inspire and empower the next generation of trail professionals.

  • Comprehensive Public Engagement: Share solutions for designing, constructing, and managing outdoor spaces that serve and welcome the full spectrum of potential trail users.

  • Interpretation and Storytelling: How can outreach, marketing, storytelling, interpretation, graphic design and/or art support trails and improve the user experience?

  • Partnerships and Collaboration: Share new and innovative strategies for bringing together land conservation, social service, preservation, tourism, economic development, resource management, trails, and outdoor recreation communities.

  • Research and Technology: Share innovative efforts and emerging topics in recreation ecology, soil science, social science, economic analysis, and the cutting-edge technology that enables filling the gaps in research needed to make the case for trails.

  • Technical Trails Skills: This category feeds the PTBA Trailbuilders Technical Track and other technical training opportunities that focus on specific skill development in trail construction, trail maintenance, and project  planning and design, crew management, and program administration (see the Trail Competency Framework for details).

  • Trails and Community Resiliency: How do trails and outdoor recreation facilities, services, providers, and users: 1) respond to a changing world (pandemic, disaster response, climate change, demographic shifts, increased trail use, etc.); 2) help shape the international trails and outdoor recreation industry to become more sustainable; 3) become recognized for contributions to society, tourism, and rural economies; and 4) strengthen communities and provide resources for economic growth.

  • Trail Funding: Ensuring that trails and trail organizations are well resourced by providing tools and techniques for increasingly effective fundraising on the local, State, Federal, and Private foundation levels.

Learning Credits

Learning credits will be available to attendees and are included in the registration fee. The length of the session will determine the number of hours/credits given.

American Trails is an approved provider for the American Planning Association (APA) and can offer Certification Maintenance (CM) credits, as well as an LA CES approved provider for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Sessions are also eligible for CEU equivalency petition for park professionals with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and CEU/PDH equivalency petition via other accepting organizations.

For sessions to qualify for these credits, attendees must fill out an evaluation survey for each session they attend, as well as complete a learning credit tracking form noting each session they are requesting credits for. This form (and complete instructions) will be available online as well at registration.