Mid-term between the 2007 and 2009 biennial meetings is a good time to reflect on the progress ATC has made and the ongoing challenges we face.
There’s great progress to report! We are seeking to involve new Appalachian Trail supporters and volunteers through classroom and community outreach. We are finding new sources of funding, including the license-plate program in North Carolina and similar programs initiated in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee (www.appalachiantrail.org/licenseplates). A record number of Trail club and other volunteers reported time spent working on the Trail and for ATC and the Trail clubs last year. The MEGA-Transect and environmental monitoring programs are involving citizen scientists in using the Trail as an indication of environmental health.
The National Park Service recently announced that ATC will receive a major matching grant as part of the Centennial Initiative celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NPS. With these funds, ATC has retained Dr. Roger Moore, an A.T. thru-hiker, former ATC Board and Stewardship Council member, and professor of outdoor recreation and resources management at North Carolina State University, as interim program manager for the A.T. MEGA-Transect beginning this July.
We continue to support the Trail clubs in their projects on the ground and in helping them develop and manage their volunteer base. More than $22,000 was awarded to 10 Trail clubs through the L.L. Bean Grants to Clubs program this spring. Additional grants were awarded from the North Carolina license-plate grant program. A volunteer clearinghouse for the Trail is being developed and tested and will be available for clubs to use later this year.
And yet we face challenges. We must communicate with and persuade countless people in diverse jurisdictions across 14 states to minimize the effects on the Trail of proposed towers, power lines, gravel pits, and subdivisions. Given the climate and energy crises, we must search for more sustainable and climate-friendly ways to manage the Trail. Given the economic downturn, we must recruit more volunteers nearer the Trail who can work in our behalf, and enhance our productivity while reducing our “carbon footprint.”
One of these challenges is keeping the cooperative management system vital, which requires consultation and consensus among the clubs, ATC and the agency partners for all major new projects. With turnover of leadership in the Trail clubs, retirements and reassignments of agency staff, changes in ATC’s governance and organizational roles, and other pressures, we need to find ways to strengthen our partnership’s effectiveness.
In this issue, we have reports and proposed policies from ATC’s Stewardship Council. As always, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail deserves our mutual best efforts. We’re making progress, and we look forward to working with you as the National Park system looks toward its second century and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail toward its fifth decade.
Hawk Metheny, Stewardship Council Chair
Robert Proudman, Director of Conservation Operations
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