AMC Outdoors, March/April 2011
AMC sets construction agenda for 2011
By Rob Burbank
LEARN MORE
Sign up for a spot on an AMC volunteer trail crew, become a trail adopter, or learn more about Teen Volunteer Trail Crew at
www.outdoors.org/volunteer. To support AMC's Spring Trails Fund, visit online.outdoors.org/trailsfund.
AMC officially fielded its first professional trail crew in 1919, but decades before that, members were carving trails out of the White Mountains wilderness and elsewhere, opening up new backcountry vistas and maintaining hiking routes.
The legendary efforts of such early AMC trail workers as J. Rayner Edmands, Warren Hart, William G. Nowell, and other volunteers still benefits hikers more than a century later, thanks to thoughtful trail design and, even more importantly, continued trail maintenance by organized trail crews in the intervening years.
With that history as a motivating backdrop, AMC trail crews in 2011 are set to lend their sweat and muscle to ensure popular trails are repaired, improved, and well-maintained.
Major projects for 2011 include reconstruction of the Lonesome Lake Trail and the Valley Way (approach routes for AMC's Lonesome Lake and Madison Spring huts, respectively) in the White Mountains; trail repairs at the Blue Hills Reservation outside Boston; and the continuation of the Third Mountain Trail down to Indian Pond on AMC's Katahdin Iron Works property in the Maine Woods.
"We have a full slate of trail work in front of us this year, and we're eager to get started," says Andrew Norkin, AMC's director of trails and recreation management. "We're also planning to create a new campsite on the Grafton Loop Trail as well as campsites on AMC's Maine Woods property at Second, Third, and Fourth Roach ponds and Trout Pond, so we're hoping for good weather to get all that work done."
Some projects are made possible by funding from a New Hampshire Recreational Trails Program grant as well as through cost-share funding from the White Mountain National Forest. Donations to AMC's Spring Trails Fund supports additional projects.
In addition, the efforts of scores of volunteers will be essential to tackle trail maintenance needs, according to Alex DeLucia, AMC's North Country trails volunteer supervisor.
Several trails are set to benefit from improvements by participants in AMC's Volunteer Vacations, Teen Volunteer Trail Crews, and the Adopt-a-Trail program. Volunteer work is anticipated on the Royce, Basin Rim, and Meader Ridge trails in the Royce-Baldface region and on the Imp Loop, Boott Spur, and Great Gulf trails in the White Mountain National Forest.
And in this, the 100th anniversary year of the Weeks Act, the historic legislation that provided for the establishment of the Eastern national forest system and led to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest, centennial-focused trail stewardship service days and week-long Teen Volunteer Trail Crew opportunities have been slated.
"We couldn't get anywhere near as much accomplished without our awesome volunteers," DeLucia says. "We are so fortunate for their dedication to the trails."
One-week and multi-week volunteer trail work opportunities are available for adults and teens, and 2011 programs also include several three-day work parties in various locations.
With the trail maintenance season just around the corner, AMC is set to mount its annual Spring Trails Appeal. "We encourage members to support this important appeal, which we rely on each year to provide much-needed funding for critical trail projects," Norkin says. "Our members' support is essential, and so appreciated."
