GB pilots A.T. Community Partner program
APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY JOINS GREAT BARRINGTON TRAILS & GREENWAYS
Great Barrington, Mass. (January 2, 2009) – The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), a national nonprofit organization responsible for managing the Appalachian Trail and its surrounding lands, and the National Park Service (NPS) have selected Great Barrington, Massachusetts, as the third pilot project in their developing community-relations program.
ATC recently joined Great Barrington Trails and Greenways, an alliance supporting the development and use of a community-wide trail system. The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) descends from Jug End southwest of Great Barrington and then swings to the south and east of it before heading northeast toward Lee and Becket.
The trail and town actually have a long history. A New York Times article 80 years ago on Boy Scout work on national-park trails noted that boys from Great Barrington were helping with “the construction of one of the links in the new Great Appalachian Trail,” completed nine years later. And, next spring, ATC will be moving its New England regional office from Lyme, N.H., to the Kellogg Conservation Center in nearby South Egremont at April Hill farm, which was donated to ATC several years ago.
Pilot A.T. community programs have been initiated in Boiling Springs, Pa., and Hot Springs, N.C. These two communities are among the 105 towns that lie on or within five miles of the A.T. as it makes its way from Maine to Georgia.
The vision of the community program is to develop inclusive means to recognize and celebrate trail communities’ scenic beauty, quality of life, and accessibility as gateways to our nation’s natural places. As the program evolves and becomes fully funded, ATC hopes it will serve as a catalyst in each area for enhancing economic development, engaging community citizens as trail visitors and stewards, aiding local municipalities and regional areas with “green infrastructure” planning, and helping to elevate the visibility of the Appalachian Trail as a local asset.
ATC’s activities in Great Barrington—including several events next spring—are funded through the National Park Foundation with generous support from the Coca-Cola Foundation.
A.T. managers hope the communities program eventually will embrace other new ATC/NPS programs—including workshops that help teachers integrate the trail into classroom work (Trail to Every Classroom) and an array of environmental-monitoring projects that depend on “citizen science” (A.T. MEGA-Transect)—to form cohesive local alliances.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is the longest, narrowest unit of our national park system and is administered through a unique cooperative management system that engages volunteer and public land management agency leadership. ATC is the lead organization in a vibrant network that takes care of the 2,178-mile-long world-renowned footpath and the 250,000 acres of public lands it passes through across 14 states. Founded in 1925 to direct the building of the original trail (completed in 1937), and headquartered in Harpers Ferry, WV, ATC remains a volunteer-based, non-profit organization responsible for the preservation and management of the trail, working with federal and state agencies and 30 affiliated local organizations, included the Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club.
Further information can be found the ATC web site:
or by contacting
Adam Brown – abrown@appalachiantrail.org