The AMC in Maine

Life's annoying little details...

While browsing around a Google map of the Moosehead Lake region, I was surprised to see the following call-out displayed on the Google map:

"Appalachian Mountain Club
100 Mile Wilderness"

Clicking on the hot spot opens an ad box for their facilities in the area, complete with reviews, etc. I assume they bought the map display capability from Google.

Is it just me, or is anybody else uncomfortable with them usurping the phrase/area "100 Mile Wilderness?"

It's interesting that no such bold claim is made regarding any of their White Mountain locales.

Gonzo marketing gone wild!

cb

Shame on AMC!
Shame on Google!
According to wikipedia:
An increasing amount of the adjoining lands are being protected by groups like the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Nature Conservancy.
There's nothing about all of the adjoining lands.
Without uncommon knowledge and a healthy skepticism, one would look at the map and think, "Gee, AMC owns all that light green land. Cool."
It would be much better to show nothing until you zoom in enough to see the actual AMC facilities with lodging symbols.

This is not just happening at the 100 MW. http://www.suiter.com/yosemite-park-trademark-controversy/

I would be curious if anyone has filed a trademark designation for the 100 Mile Wilderness name?

RichS said:

Without uncommon knowledge and a healthy skepticism, one would look at the map and think, "Gee, AMC owns all that light green land. Cool."

Click to expand...

Um, in this case, I think that healthy skepticism may be running amok. I'm not knowledgeable enough to attest to the exact boundary accuracy of "the light green area" on the Google map, but its size looks about right: in its Maine Woods Initiative, the AMC acquired and permanently conserved about 70,000 acres (~100 sq miles) of land in this area.

I that it is indeed pretty cool.

Alex

I believe that AMC conserved the majority of the land in that block. The AT corridor already existed but it mostly just green corridor surrounded by industrial forestland. Plum Creek sold them the land as part of the greenwashing required to get the megadevelopment approved (which has of late been dormant since the weyerhauser purchase). Folks have to be careful about what they think a conservation consists of every easement is specific to the property. The easement may be limited to just agreeing not to subdivide the land and can be silent about logging. Others can require sustainable logging. Others can be forever wild approaches.

AMC kept key interior parcels and corridors excluded from the easement to allow for current and future AMC facilities. By selling the easement that got cash back to pay for the land and assured that the land surrounding their facilities would remain outside of development which is the drawing card for the facilities.

Reportedly the one thing they haven't figured out is how to get members to use the facilities although their PR machine has been cranked up with numerous national publications having articles about it. Its just too long of a drive on secondary roads from Boston especially when Maine Huts and Trails is closer to Boston and lower cost.

Given that Google currently labels the Avalon trail as "Appalachian Trail", I suggest applying Hanlon's Razor before getting too ticked off at the AMC.

alexmtn said:

Um, in this case, I think that healthy skepticism may be running amok.

I think it is indeed pretty cool.

Alex

Click to expand...

Yes, I ran amok. Further research shows a middle ground. The "AMC 100 Mile Wilderness" appears to encompass the middle 40% of the AT 100 Mile Wilderness (Monson to Abol Bridge). Yes, that's very cool. No, that's not THE 100 Mile Wilderness.


Note: other AT maps differ.
Zooming in with https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dENk5uJgMwM08WinuVOUNsUs7vQ&hl=en is different from the above image.
Full disclosure: I've never hiked there.

-Rich

RichS said:

Yes, I ran amok. Further research shows a middle ground. The "AMC 100 Mile Wilderness" appears to encompass the middle 40% of the AT 100 Mile Wilderness (Monson to Abol Bridge). Yes, that's very cool. No, that's not THE 100 Mile Wilderness.

-Rich

Click to expand...

I get the distinction you're making, but don't see a better solution. The best way IMO would be for Google to mark off and label the entire 100MW area, and then label the AMC land as "AMC Conservation Lands". However, I think Google can only delineate jurisdictional areas, which THE 100 Mile wilderness is not.

If that is indeed what the problem is, then I can see how something like "AMC Conservation Lands Within the 100 Mile Wilderness" would be a clearer option, but seems unwieldy as a map label. The current "AMC 100 Mile Wilderness" feels to me like the best practical option, especially since Googling it takes you straight to the full explanation on the AMC site. If someone comes up with something that is clearer and at the same time still concise, perhaps the appropriate authorities will pick up on it.

Alex

If anybody has suggestions for a better name I'll put it on there. It's actually "Appalachian Mountain Club 100 Mile Wilderness Conservation Area" but gets truncated (with an ellipsis).

jniehof said:

If anybody has suggestions for a better name I'll put it on there.

Click to expand...

Hi,

The related Facebook page refers to the area as: "AMC Maine Wilderness Lodges." Might that work?

Better yet, the Maine Woods page on the club website uses the following text:

"The Maine Woods Initiative is the Appalachian Mountain Club’s strategy for land conservation in the 100-Mile Wilderness region.

So "AMC Maine Woods Conservation Initiative" or "AMC Maine Woods Conservation Area" might also be appropriate.

I guess my quest is to separate "AMC" and "100 Mile Wilderness" with the thought that in this online age, if a fallacy gets repeated frequently enough it eventually becomes fact.

Tilting at windmills at usual!!

Best, cb