 WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 23)—Aided by members of Congress, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) recently honored leaders in five states of programs to engage youth in recreational and service activities related to the fabled footpath it manages.
Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), an Appalachian Trail hiker himself, presented a certificate to Steve Golden of the National Park Service’s Northeast regional office in Boston, now an official with that agency’s rivers, trails, and conservation assistance program who was in 1978 one of the first two officials hired for the service’s Appalachian Trail office.
Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.) presented the award to Estelle Ruppert of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Harrisburg, an early and ardent supporter of the ATC/NPS “Trail for Every Classroom” (TTEC) program that so far has trained more than 150 teachers in the 14 trail states in ways to incorporate the trail into curricula at every level.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), home representative for the Harpers Ferry-based ATC, helped recognize Blue Ridge Middle School of nearby Purcellville, Va., home to four TTEC graduates so far, which has renamed its hallways after trail landmarks and sponsored both work trips and hikes to the trail for its pupils. Assistant Principal Marlene Jefferson accepted the framed certificate, and Principal Roberta Griffith and teachers Bess Stuart and Roberta Pomponio also attended the awards banquet in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress on the evening of April 21.
Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the USDA Forest Service, presented the award to Clare C. Long, an education-program official with the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.
And, Rep. Paul C. Broun (Ga.) helped recognize the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club for its innovative programs in taking West Atlanta youth on backpacking trips in the mountains near the southern terminus of the 2,179-mile trail. Former ATC Vice Chair Marianne Skeen of Decatur, who leads that program and is a former club president, accepted the award for the club.
ATC Chair Bob Almand of Suwanee, Ga., also a former club president, presided at the banquet, which was attended by about 180 people. “Those we have honored tonight encourage us in our belief that the 73-year-old Appalachian Trail will continue to ignite passions among youth, families, and communities,” said Almand.
The 36,000-member Appalachian Trail Conservancy was founded in 1925 by volunteers and federal officials who were working to build a continuous footpath on the Appalachian Mountains from Maine to Georgia. A private nonprofit, it is focused solely on the protection, management, and promotion of the Appalachian Trail. It supports more than 6,000 volunteers in 30 affiliated local organizations who typically donate more than 200,000 hours a year on trail-related work. An underlying goal of new efforts such as TTEC is to recruit the next generation of volunteer stewards of the trail and its protective buffer of 250,000 acres of public lands.
The trail’s national offices, with a visitors center open seven days a week, have been located in West Virginia near the trail since 1974. Further information on its programs, as well as hiking information, is available at www.appalachiantrail.org.
Sponsors of the banquet included United Parcel Service; The Home Depot; the American Trucking Association; DHL; Gro 360, LLC; Honeywell; International Association of Machinists; Mada Design, Inc.; Navigators Global, LLC; NewPage Corporation; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; BNSF Railroad; The Boeing Company; C2 Group; Caterpillar; Century Strategies; Chevron; Holland & Knight; Kelly, Dry, Warner, LLP; McLarty Associates; Motorola; Pat Rafaniello; Susan Gage Caterers; Union Pacific; and Walmart.
|
