Program:
ATConservation
- Budget:
-
$3,536,481
- Category:
-
Environment
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<div><strong>ATConservation </strong>continues ATC's land acquisition and easement work, backed by science-based evidence from environmental monitoring partnerships with universities, peer nonprofits, government agencies at all levels, and others. Examples from the ATConservation portfolio include:</div>
<ul>
<li>The A.T. MEGA-Transect, a long-term environmental monitoring program that pairs teams of volunteer citizen scientists with professional research institutions in measuring the environmental health of the Appalachian Range;
</li>
<li>Acquisition of lands that directly protect the Trail corridor, either through ATC's own land trust or through consortiums with other nonprofits and government agencies;
</li>
<li>Outreach that encourages neighboring communities to support conservation efforts that protect the Appalachian Trail's signature views and adjacent landscapes. </li>
</ul>
Program Long-Term Success:
<p>As a result of its conservation efforts, ATC has protected all but five miles of the trail itself and a 280,000-acre corridor along the Appalachian Highlands from Georgia to Maine. The long-term goal is to preserve the cultural heritage and signature views along the Trail corridor. <br /></p>
Program Short-Term Success:
ATC continues to protect corridor boundaries and easements with assistance from community volunteers. Purchase of key land acquisition projects progresses (see current projects at http://www.appalachiantrail.org/what-we-do/conservation/land-protection/current-projects). Companion programs such as A Trail to Every Classroom and Appalachian Trail Communities continue to raise awareness of conservation values and the importance of the Trail in neighboring communities. Plans for sustainable forestry and permaculture move forward at Kellogg Center, home of New England regional office in South Egremont, MA.
Program Success Monitored by:
Laura Belleville, Director of Conservation
Program Success Examples:
<strong>White Rocks, Pennsylvania</strong> (February 17, 2011) - ATC announced that the White Rocks project closed on February 17, 2011. Working in partnership with federal, state and local partners, ATC protected 840 acres of forested land on South Mountain in Cumberland County (known as the White Rocks). The parcels were acquired by the National Park Service for permanent protection of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The purchase will protect open space and wildlife habitat, enhance the Appalachian Trail experience and provide protection to critical groundwater recharge areas that feed residential use in the valley and the cold water fishery of the Yellow Breeches Creek. Total project cost exceeded $3.2 million. <p> </p> <p><strong>Success Tract, New Hampshire </strong>(November 1, 2010) - Partners at the Conservation Fund, working with ATC staff, assisted the National Park Service in conserving 4,777 acres of forestland in Success Township. The property was added to the Mahoosuc Mountain Range section of the Appalachian Trail, linking previously conserved properties and ensuring continued public access through historic side trails.</p>
Program:
ATCommunities
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Environment
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<div><strong>ATCommunities</strong> informs the general public and neighboring communities about the Trail, its resources, and the challenges they face…heightening support for Trail-related conservation while realizing local benefits: open space, sustainable development, tourism, outdoor recreation, and residential health and fitness. ATCommunities includes the Appalachian Trail Community program, launched 2010. Inspired by participation in several regional “green infrastructure” assessments and planning projects along the Trail, the Appalachian Trail Community program is intended to stimulate Trail-friendly business development and zoning in gateway communities, many of which are in need of economic stimulus to replace defunct extractive industries while controlling the effects of sprawl incited by ex-urban migration to their scenic locations. </div><div> </div><div>Communities qualify for the program by undertaking at least two of the following four activities: 1) Form an Appalachian Trail Community steering committee; 2) Sponsor a trail festival or public event; 3) Sponsor a service-learning or education project for students; 4) include Trail-friendly language in planning documents.<br /></div>
Program Long-Term Success:
Communities within view of the Appalachian Trail, including the nearly 300 jurisdictions traversed by the corridor are aware of the Trail, understand its importance as a natural and economic resources, and practice sustainable land use as a result.
Program Short-Term Success:
<div>ATC will certify 10-15 communities annually and fully train local/regional affiliate Trail Clubs to fulfill their role as recruiters and ambassadors for the program. In exchange for assistance with sustainable tourism development, marketing under the Appalachian Trail Communities brand, and training in "green infrastructure"land use planning, communities must meet two of four criteria: 1) form a steering committee; 2) host a public trail celebration, festival, or event; 3) include Trail-protective language in planning documents; 4) conduct a service-learning or education program along the Trail. Communities must re-certify every five years. In addition, an evaluation tool will be developed to measure economic impact of the program on participating communities. <br /></div><div> </div><div>In addition, progress will continue with Act 24 in Pennsylvania, where 58 boroughs, townships, and counties along the Trail are engaged in implementing state legislation requiring them to enact zoning to protect the Appalachian Trail and Trail values. </div>
Program Success Monitored by:
Julie Judkins, Program Coordinator
Program Success Examples:
<div> Launched in spring 2010, Appalachian Trail Communities has been enthusiastically received by communities along the Trail. New communities are being certified rapidly and include some individual counties and regional coalitions focusing planning documents on Trail protection and promotion. </div><div> </div><div>In Pennsylvania, 800 acres has been preserved in the South Mountain area, due in part to awareness of the importance of trail lands as a source of drinking water for more than one million nearby residents. Based on this success, ATC's Mid-Atlantic office is partnering with Audubon to hire a contractor project manager to effect similar community outreach and conservation work at the north end of the Trail in that state.<br /></div>
Program:
ATCitizens
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
-
Youth/Adolescents only (14 - 19 years)
Program Description:
<strong>ATCitizens </strong>extends ATC's ability to conserve and sustain the footpath, its system of shelters, and other facilities; engage volunteers and other organizations in our work; and promote healthful low-impact recreation along the Trail. Components of ATCitizens include coordination of our 31 affiliated Trail Clubs, each of which oversees maintenance and other activities along a designated stretch of trail; ATC Ridgerunners and Caretakers, seasonal staff who live and work along high-use sections of the Trail, greeting visitors and teaching low-impact and backcountry ethics; Volunteer Trail Crews, week-long volunteer "SWAT" teams that address major construction and maintenance projects. Volunteers may find volunteer opportunities online at http://www.appalachiantrail.org/get-involved/volunteer.
Program Long-Term Success:
<p>Long-term success includes enlarging the volunteer corps to include more episodic opportunities as well as youth and family involvement, replenishing the volunteer base for years to come.<br /></p>
Program Short-Term Success:
Having developed materials and curriculum for training affiliate Trail Clubs for their role in recruiting and managing youth-family volunteer opportunities, ATC will conduct training on a regional basis, offer introductory recruitment events such as AT Family Day on National Public Lands Day (September 24, 2011), and launch activities in partnership with youth organizations such as the Girl and Boy Scouts. ATC will continue to address youth-related insurance and liability updates and adjustments in concert with partner land management agencies along the Trail. ATC will also increase use of social media as a recruitment strategy.
Program Success Monitored by:
Jeanne Mahoney, Volunteer Resources Coordinator
Program Success Examples:
<div>ATC's complex yet highly effective cooperative management structure was profiled in <em>Faces and Places of Cooperative Conservation: Profiles in Citizen Stewardship</em>,
exemplary case studies presented at the 2005 White House Conference on
Cooperative Conservation. To date ATC has recognized 17 volunteers for
50 years of service and more than 200 for 25 years. Over 150 volunteers
have also received the 4,000-hour Presidential Award. In 2010, 6,128
volunteers contributed more than 210,000 hours of service.</div><div> </div><div>In partnership with youth volunteers from Groundwork USA, ATC hosted a successful Youth Summit in summer 2010 to introduce ATC staff and volunteers to working with youth and to invite suggestions for further work in this area. Since then, ATC has been developing materials, events, and volunteer leadership support in response to these recommendations. In addition, ATC has developed a workbook, workshops, and webinar to train the existing volunteer corps in working with families. </div>
Program:
ATClassroom
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Education
- Population Served:
-
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Program Description:
<strong>ATClassroom </strong>prepares today’s youth for tomorrow’s stewardship of the Trail by instilling a conservation ethic and comfort with natural spaces. ATClassroom's primary program at this time is A Trail to Every Classroom (TTEC). Formally endorsed by Richard Louv, author of <em>Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,</em> TTEC is a year-round professional development program that trains K-12 teachers to use the Appalachian Trail as a multidisciplinary educational resource. By inviting teams of teachers and community partners from Trail communities to participate, TTEC promotes healthy lifestyles, service-learning, and a strong conservation ethic among a Trail-wide community of educators and students. The program also connects educators from underserved rural and urban areas to a 14-state network of teachers, ATC-affiliated trail club volunteers, and agency partners, including several National Park units, for curriculum support. At present, this popular program has a considerable wait list.
<p>Each year fifty educators attend two three-day regional workshops and a week-long summer institute for the entire TTEC “class” at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Mini-grants for curriculum implementation, a designated website and blog, and alumni fellowships support this lively network. Testimonials abound from teachers who have imaginatively infused Trail-based natural history and science into every subject from special education to English. TTEC projects have been enormously varied, ranging from MEGA-Transect field studies or trail maintenance projects to students forming outdoor clubs, getting their families out on the Trail, or even developing bilingual “quests,” scavenger hunts to engage Spanish-speaking neighbors in Trail activities. Results of TTEC’s annual independent evaluation are posted at the Place-Based Education Evaluation Collaboration website (<em>www.peecworks. org)</em>. <br /></p>
Program Long-Term Success:
Young people engage their families and communities in service activities along the Appalachian Trail, resulting in conservation of the Trail, its adjacent views, and the rural traditions of its neighboring communities.
Program Short-Term Success:
In 2011, the program will reconnect with 275 teacher alumni, including a Master Naturalist-type certification easily adapted to all scholastic disciplines and age groups.
Program Success Monitored by:
<div> Rita Hennessy, Education Coordinator for the Appalachian Trail Park Office of the National Park Service.</div><div> </div><div>Independent Evaluators: PEER Associates <br /></div>
Program Success Examples:
<div> A Trail to Every Classroom has been so successful that a handful of schools have based their entire curriculum on the program, which promotes multi-disciplinary place-specific and experiential education along the Trail. Having engaged an estimated 15,000 students and 275 teachers in the 14 trail states, the program has also re-energized teachers around their work - one even postponed her retirement to participate. The program is also being replicated on several other national trails. Teacher comments include: <em>“I know that if I was to give a call to any one of the people that presented, they would come to my rescue. The message was, ‘We are available, give us a call anytime.’” </em></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><em>“(TTEC staff) gave us a plethora of resources, during and after the class.”</em></div> <p><em>“(TTEC is most beneficial for) the ones who are struggling in the classroom. It gets them outside moving in the air, and connects them with me as a teacher; it breaks down some of those walls. It gets them asking more questions, and realizing that there in a wealth of info out there.”</em></p><div> </div><div><em>“(The Trail) is one of the best things I’ve ever had in my life. It’s so empowering for my students. If they can spend one day matching the pace of the Appalachian Trail, they know they can handle anything thrown at them in life.” <br /></em></div><div> <div> <p><em>“Even our reluctant readers and writers are eager to know, 'Are we going outside today?’ And there are no groans about working in the computer lab when they’re researching answers to questions they have come up with from direct observation outdoors. As a result they are learning research and comprehension skills, how to skim for the answers.</em><em>..It’s put the fun back into teaching. The kids like it because it’s ‘real.’ It’s authentic. And for teachers, it’s too</em><em> easy to forget that we don’t know all the answers, that kids are already smart. Being outdoors gives them the opportunity to shine. Having grown up in the suburbs, I only hiked for the first time last year myself. This program has helped me stop being scared in the woods, and the kids know that I don’t know everything, which feeds their enthusiasm. I’m the facilitator, but they’re in charge of their learning and their direction.</em>” </p> </div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>
Program:
ATCauses
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Environment
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<strong>ATCauses </strong>protects the Trail by educating the public and government decision makers about its importance to the region’s human and environmental health. Advocacy along the Trail is a never-ending challenge, and the importance of our regional offices in identifying and mitigating local threats remains constant. At any given time, ATC is engaged in as many as 40 issues involving potential adverse affects on trail lands, ranging from highway expansions to second-home and commercial development, wireless-communications facilities, poorly placed wind-energy projects, electric- and gas-transmission corridors, etc. <br />
<p>ATC continues to participate in review and comment on a range of federal and state regulatory issues and legislation related to energy, off-road-vehicle use, air and water quality, land conservation, and other issues. Advocacy is conservation’s vital other half and without it, the trail and its associated lands and resources would be slowly nibbled to death. In establishing and enforcing policies to protect the Trail, advocacy is our most efficient means for educating the public and decision makers about those concerns. </p>
Program Long-Term Success:
All but five miles of the Appalachian Trail is now protected. Long-term success includes protection of 33 priority conservation landscapes visible from the Trail.
Program Short-Term Success:
<p>Progress on action items listed at http://www.appalachiantrail.org/what-we-do/conservation/advocacy. Current issues include the <strong><a href="http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors">America’s Great Outdoors
Initiative</a></strong>, a conservation and recreation agenda worthy of the 21<sup>st</sup>
century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors; <strong>Delaware Water
Gap</strong> in New Jersey; and a wind farm, the largest in Maine, proposed in view
of the <strong>Bigelow Preserve</strong>, where the
Trail follows the ridge above tree line.</p>
Program Success Monitored by:
Laura Belleville, Director of Conservation
Program Success Examples:
<p>One of ATC's greatest victories was passage of Act 24 in Pennsylvania, mentioned under ATConservation. Despite the constant barrage of threats, there have been victories. In 2009, ATC and its partners defeated a number of long-pending menaces: a poorly sited wind farm proposed in Maine; the notorious North Shore Road, which would have sliced through the Smoky Mountains National Park and across the Appalachian Trail; and permit renewal for the Putnam gravel mine in North Carolina, visible and audible from the highly visited, scenic Roan Highlands. <br /></p>
<p>ATC
attended <strong>Hike the Hill</strong>, trails
advocacy week in Washington, DC in February, requesting an FY 2011
appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the amount of
$1,505,000 for the National Park Service and $13,899,000 for the USDA Forest
Service for the acquisition of lands and interests in lands near the
Appalachian Trail in the states of Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Georgia. An additional $800,000 is being sought to develop
a pedestrian bridge in Virginia.</p>