August 17, 2010 - An additional listening session has been announced for America's Great Outdoors. September 2 (Bangor, Maine). Details listed below.
August 4, 2010 - Three additional listening session sites have been announced for America's Great Outdoors. August 5 (Hyde Park, NY - for youth), August 6 (Poughkeepsie, NY), August 9 (Concord, NH). Details listed below.
June 29, 2010 - In April, President Obama established the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to develop a conservation and recreation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. Recognizing that any such effort  must be community driven and supported, the President directed the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality to lead this effort and to listen and learn from people all over the country.
Public listening sessions are being planned for various venues around the country. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy encourages its members and all who support, hike, and love the Appalachian Trail to participate in this process either by attending one of these events if scheduled nearby, or by going on-line to submit comments. ATC offers the following as highlights worth mentioning:
- Trails offer excellent means for the public of all ages to access public lands. As demonstrated through the Trail to Every Classroom program, trails are an exciting destination for youth to get outside, to learn, to grow, and to enjoy the beauty of life. More specifically, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail provides access to over 250,000 acres of public lands with hundreds of entry points for people to spend a day, a week, or longer enjoying time outdoors. With data showing that day hiking is on the rise and the fact that the A.T. is within a days drive for nearly all who live in the eastern third of the United States, the A.T. is particularly relevant to any initiative that seeks to get Americans outdoors.
- Long term stewardship of public lands is critically important and worthy of consistent funding. Acquisition, heavily dependent upon full support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, begins a critical process to conserve and protect lands; stewardship carries that process forward in perpetuity. Matters such as forest health, open space management, invasive species control, and vigilant monitoring of natural, cultural, and physical resources requires dedicated and consistent support. Landscape level conservation projects such as the Appalachian Trail have demonstrated that a volunteer corps can prove invaluable in accomplishing this, but even within a volunteer model, financial support is required to provide necessary support for projects.
- A long distance trail such as the Appalachian Trail aligned as it is in a north-south orientation and spanning elevations from sea level to the peaks of nearly all the highest points on the east coast offers a rich and diverse laboratory for observing and measuring the effects of climate changes on a global scale.
- The Appalachian Trail connects numerous communities in rural America. Many of these communities could benefit from additional support for community-based land use planning within a green infrastructure context.
- A national strategy for passive energy generation and transmission is needed in order to manage landscape level conservation assets that begin to approach the magnitude, scale, and national significance of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
Upcoming listening sessions near the Appalachian Trail:
Bangor, Maine
Thursday, September 2, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Bangor Civic Center, 100 Dutton Street, Bangor, ME 04401
Concord, NH
Monday, August 9
Poughkeepsie, NY
Friday, August 6
Hyde Park, NY
Thursday, August 5
Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, July 27
Asheville, NC
Thursday, July 15
Additional sessions may be scheduled. We will try to announce them here. Please continue to check www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors for
latest information.
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