The Continental Divide Trail Society was founded by Jim Wolf, who hiked the Continental Divide from the Canadian border to Rogers Pass in Montana in 1973 and began to advocate for the CDT’s official designation. He formed the Continental Divide Society in 1978 in Baltimore to continue his efforts to encourage awareness of the Trail, to bring together hikers and other supporters, to publish guidebooks and newsletters and to comment on proposed Trail locations.
The Continental Divide Trail Alliance was formed in 1995 as a public-private partnership with the Forest Service (the lead federal agency in charge of the CDT), the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. A significant part of what CDTA has accomplished is recruiting volunteers who have built hundreds of miles of trail. CDTA has also been successful in securing private sector funding (donations, grants, etc.) and securing targeted funding in the federal budget for the CDT. CDTA assists in the management of the Trail, but ultimately, managing the Trail is the Forest Service’s responsibility.
