Advocates and Ambassadors:
How the ATC
Protects the Trail
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ATC's success in advocacy is perhaps best illustrated by the organization's efforts to secure federal authorizing legislation, first in 1968 and again in 1978, granting recognition of the A.T. as one of the nation's first national scenic trails and authorizing what became one of the largest and most complicated land-acquisition programs in the U.S.
But, the Conservancy's efforts did not begin and end with authorizing legislation. In virtually each year since 1978, ATC has sought and secured federal appropriations to support A.T.-related land acquisition by both the National Park Service and the USDA Forest Service, culminating in unprecedented levels of federal conservation-related funding approaching nearly $200 million.
ATC also has been engaged in a number of high-profile trail-protection or "trail-threat" issues, including the Saddleback Ski Area in Maine, the Pico and Killington ski areas in Vermont, several major new highway or highway-expansion projects and a number of electric and gas transmission corridors. In fact, in any given year, ATC can be engaged in dozens of issues or projects involving potential adverse impacts to the Appalachian Trail and adjacent resources at the federal, state, and local or municipal levels.
Beyond legislative advocacy and project-impact mitigation, the Conservancy regularly participates in regulatory review and comment, primarily at the federal level. Most recently, for example, ATC has developed detailed comments on a range of federal policies including (disabled) accessibility guidelines affecting outdoor-recreation resources in the National Forest System; transportation planning and off-road-vehicle use (USFS); forest-management planning guidelines (USFS); roadless-area administration (USFS); chainsaw-safety and -training requirements (NPS/USFS); air-quality standards and enforcement guidelines (EPA), telecommunications regulations and procedures (FCC), and contributions and fund-raising guidelines (NPS—DO-21). In a number of those instances, the Conservancy's comments also have provided useful guidance to other conservation organizations, particularly other long-distance trails organizations and A.T.-maintaining clubs.
ATC staff members and club volunteers also have been active participants in the development of national forest plans, national park general-management and backcountry-management plans, state forest and park management plans, and a host of land-management proposals such as timber-harvesting and road-construction projects.
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