AMC: Pay us to build our private spur for our paying guests.

With all due respect - "None profit or Not for profit" status is something organizations apply for and are granted by IRS. Most large multi-billion dollar hospital systems and some health-care Blue-Cross Blue-shield are "non-profit" under eyes of the IRS. Hospital chains charge for medical care, rent rooms, and pay hospital executives multi-million dollar salaries. They sit on large piles of cash. Comments about a non-profit charging campers for staying at high cabin don't mean squat. Problem is a tax code is screwed up beyond repair. That is topic for another forum altogether.

These comments include much information that is new in the last month.
An article in today's Valley News (vnews.com) shows that this project is much larger than it seemed when the only information we had was the DRED press release. You can review the background on your way down the page to the bigger picture.

The State of NH, Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) will accept comments from the public through 23 January on the Appalachian Mountain Club's request to close Hurricane Gap Trail (HGTr) on Mt. Cardigan State Forest and replace it with their own private spur from Clark Trail for the exclusive use of their paying guests at High Cabin. Please see the press release (nhstateparks.org/what's happening). Public comments can be emailed to [email protected].
The AMC makes two claims here: 1) Most users of HGTr are their paying guests; 2) Erosion at the east end of HGTr is too much to be worth fixing.
In my comments to DRED I rebutted these claims: 1) AMC's claim is unsubstantiated, but on newenglandtrailconditions.com there are 35 recorded hikes over HGTr since 1/9/2010. HGTr is more sheltered from storms, less icy than Clark Trail, and the easiest approach to High Cabin in emergencies.
2) I visited the site, looked at three other fixes and the AMC's, and concluded that a NE connector from Clark Trail to HGTr just above the erosion will stabilize the trail best. Well-led volunteers can build it.
Replacing a public trail with this private spur is unnecessary, unsafe, unprecedented, and outrageous.
The AMC has applied for a Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant so we taxpayers can fund their private spur. Their 2013 report: endowment $60,505,000, operating surplus $152,000, net asset increase $5,750,000. They have 6 weeks of staff-led volunteer-paid trail crews on the east side of Cardigan in 2015: 2160 hours and $18,950 gross income from those volunteers (outdoors.org). The AMC needs no public money for this job.
RTP Guidelines (nhstateparks.org/partner and community resources/recreational trails program) read "For profit trail systems... are also ineligible." What is a private spur for guests renting a cabin ($159/night + tax, now booked weekends til late May; ~$16,000/year)?
But first, DRED has to approve the AMC's request for it to even reach the RTP grants administrator. So please, fellow hikers, keep them emails coming.

Now, the bigger picture: the AMC is applying for the biggest possible RTP grant of $50,000 to fund most of what they claim is $66,000 of work over 6-7 weeks. Besides replacing Hurricane Gap Trail with their private spur, they plan to add new waterbars, stone steps, and staircases to 0.4 miles of Clark Trail downhill of the east end of Hurricane Gap Trail by PJ Ledge. Well, here's a reminder for the AMC, who are conveniently forgetting decades of work reports:
That section of Clark Trail already has 30 waterbars, over 24 steps, mainly of rock, a log ladder of PT wood only 4 years old, and many other fixtures for drainage and erosion control. They were built by AMC volunteers from Narragansett Chapter Volunteer Trail Crew, New Hampshire Chapter Volunteer Trail Crew, and Cardigan Volunteer Trail Crew between about 1980 and 2014. Those volunteers needed and got no help from AMC Trails Department staff beyond $300/ year for tools and materials. They each paid $40/weekend room and board in the Lodge. They cleaned the drains of leaves and debris on their three work weekends each May 1st, after Labor Day, and Hallowe'en. Hurricane Irene caused minimal damage on their trails because they were diligent about cleaning their drains, which is unfortunately more than many others can say. They built and rebuilt fixtures on the trails they tended in a rotation based on mitigating impacts from hikers and water, and Clark Trail was up for minor repairs in 2014. The list included replacing a few old wood waterbars, adding a step or two in gullies, and adding some rocks beside flights of steps to encourage the hikers to use the steps. There was also a short relocation around an icy ledge.
The AMC wants $50,000 from the taxpayer to fix what ain't broke, and they already have six weeks of volunteer-paid staff-led crews planned for 2015. The bigger picture also includes AMC Cardigan Lodge on their land at the main trailhead on the east side of the mountain: 8000+ bednights a year, expanded campground recently, all for paying guests.

what is this thing you call DRED ?

Brambor said:

what is this thing you call DRED ?

Click to expand...

Department of Resources and Economic Development "DRED"

Tim

Many thanks to the 14 people who sent comments to [email protected]. Word this morning is that the AMC's request will be considered at a meeting of the DRED land management team on February 10. I will post their decision on this thread.

The state's land management team denied the AMC's request on February 3. The AMC does not get their private spur trail off Clark Trail for the exclusive use of their paying guests, and Hurricane Gap Trail remains open to the public.

In the Spring, DRED will visit Hurricane Gap Trail to decide whether to fix it where it is OR build the NE connector. By the way, three of us visited the site on Robert Burns' birthday (Sunday 25 January). I paced off the distance between Hurricane Gap and Clark Trail at their closest point: 30 paces = 90' or less. That means that two dozen of the AMC's usual 3x8x8' tamarack planks plus 6x6 PT or native fir from nearby will make enough bog bridging to cover the route, which is blessed with a sidehill slope much gentler than what is uphill and downhill of it. The NE connector looks even easier now.

The land management team sent the 15 comments from 14 people on to the grants administrator for the RTP grant money in the Bureau of Trails. The AMC still wants $50,000 from the taxpayer to fix 0.4 miles of Clark Trail just downhill of Hurricane Gap Trail. Please see mine of 1/22 above: 30 waterbars and 24+ steps already there, plus the 2160 hours of pre-paid volunteer trail crew already planned for this year. The AMC needs no public money for this job.

There is no guarantee the RTP grant administrator will read the 15 public comments. The Bureau of Trails phone # is 603 271-3254.

Email to me today from grants administrator in Bureau of Trails:

"No final decisions have been made regarding RTPs. The process of securing funding and making final selections will take approximately a month. The Bureau of Trails will be contacting all applicants regarding the decision."

Creag,

I am applaud your advocacy of the Hurricane Gap Trail.

However characterizing the proposed spur as a "private spur from Clark Trail for the exclusive use of their paying guests" seems disingenius to me. Are you suggesting the general public will be banned from using the spur trail?

Is a possible compromise to extend the proposed spur trail to connect to the existing trail system so that it becomes another trail in addtion to the Hurricane Gap Trail?

Thanks.

Tom, thank you for your interest in this topic.

Please read post #28. Hurricane Gap Trail will stay open. How the erosion gets fixed, and whether the AMC gets to build their spur trail, will be decided by DRED after their officials visit the site this Spring after the snow is all melted. That could be any time from late April till sometime in June given the altitude and northerly exposure of that slope plus the fact that it is shaded by coniferous trees.

As for your direct question: the public may not be legally forbidden to use the spur (if that were to replace Hurricane Gap Trail, which we now know it won't), but the fact that it led nowhere save to the High Cabin would discourage people from going there, and they would miss out on a walk through a gap full of fir trees and deep green mosses. Traveling through that gap is also more sheltered from storms and much less steep and icy than the ledges on Clark Trail. We hiked a loop of the two trails on Sunday January 25, and they met those expectations.

The RTP committee at the Bureau of Trails is expected to announce its grant decisions fairly soon, although no time frame was mentioned.

This just in:

The RTP committee was unable to approve the AMC's request for $50,000. There was $650,000 in the till to cover requests for $2,000,000, so they had to practice triage, I guess. The criteria include "... organization overview, project description, previous grant projects, project need, environmental analysis, procurement requirements, and supplementary attachments."

The next scene in this act will be as described in post #28 of this thread. Stay tuned.

This just in:

The AMC sought a trails grant of $10,000 from the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership for their Pro Crew to work on Clark Trail. Their application lacked the required written landowner permission. It also lacked the required 25% cash match. The guidelines are at q2cpartnershio.org. They are called "Request for Proposals, Q2C Trail Grants Program, Spring 2015 Grant Round." See the bottom of page 1 in bold type. It would appear that the AMC will have to pay for their crew themselves.

People read this thread on a rather steady basis: it now has over 5800 views. Since the hiking community finds this wee saga at least somewhat interesting, it may be an idea for them to contribute to it. That is easily done by simply reporting trail conditions for the AMC trails at Cardigan here on vftt or at newenglandtrailconditions.com (I favor the latter because you only have to fill out a form).

The AMC tends trails to the east of the Cardigan ridge. By the blaze color scheme adopted in 1987 all the AMC trails are blazed in the color yellow. Ridgetop trails are blazed white, and western trails are in orange. Please be aware that the Elwell Trail east of Oregon Mtn Trail is blazed in yellow, but the AMC has never tended it and deserves neither praise nor blame for its condition.