AMC-Berkshire volunteer Cosmo Catalano discovered the Appalachian Trail during a family trip to Mount Greylock when he was a boy. He recalls being intrigued by a footpath that led from Maine to Georgia. Now, he is one of the volunteer leaders who are responsible for making decisions about the maintenance and management of the Trail.
Cosmo began volunteering on the A.T. in 1998; for his first project, he helped build a bridge. Though he is still an active Trail maintainer – he participates in twenty work-trips each year and serves as a corridor boundary monitor, for instance – he has taken on leadership roles at his club and within the larger A.T. community. Cosmo is an active partner, with other volunteers, ATC, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service in the management of the Appalachian Trail. As he puts it, he just “hung around long enough” to work his way into the job. Says ATC’s Bob Proudman, however, “Cosmo is the quintessential Trail-management volunteer . . . as knowledgeable as agency staff about the demands and subtleties of public-lands management . . . and dynamic as a leader at the local and regional levels.”
For his part, Cosmo finds that Trail management is a good fit. He’s applying the skills he uses every day, “but in a much nicer place.” The Trail is managed “by citizens instead of for citizens” says Cosmo, and he takes the responsibilities entrusted to him seriously. ATC thanks Cosmo for his dedication to the A.T.!