Appalachian TrailCommittees Coordination
Meeting of March262008
Notes from Larry Wheelock
These notes are not definitive. Much of the meetingdiscussion was not recorded.
Ron and Walt started with some update information from a recentMARPC meeting.
VIP issueswere discussed at that meeting and they included
WorkTrip Leader issues such as the extra liability exposure they are subject to
Insuranceissue in regards to Workman's Comp. Workman's comp does not take effect
unlessspecifically requested and that must be done within 24 hours of accident.
AT Trail Inventory assessment process was discussed atlength. The Trail Inventory assessment process runs on a 5 year round ofassessments - 1/5th being done each year.
Issues raised:
o Therating system for the project needs clarification. How the ratings are reachedis not clear
o JimH. commented that we never hear how much money is available.
o Itspointed out that the inventory is a tool and that items should be rated byurgency.
o GailN. asked why we have to battle for our dollars.
o Ismaintaining an inventory more than committee chairs can handle?
Need: A unified (all three AT committees) assessment andpriority process. This would involve all three committees submitting theirprioritized project list. Then these would be evaluated and prioritized for theTC by the committee's leaders collectively. (There seemed to be a consensus forputting this effort into operation)
Walt spoke about the ATC's Stewardship Council and that atthe last meeting they concentrated on group and commercial use issues on theTrail and Geo-caching. A policystatement was being developed.
The ATC's new Volunteer Coordinator was another topic andthere planned interactive volunteer reporting system being worked on. Someconcerns were raised. Their committee to implement will be mostly staff sincethere are virtually no volunteers available to help with this level ofmanagement. Ed indicated that he was aware the Maloney is setting up anadvisory committee and that he thinks we should participate in that.
Regarding the issue of a point person for addressing ATissues which are not regionally specific, a number of people (not clear onwho), felt that Ron Rosen should be appointed if he agreed to do it. Ronindicated that he would be willing. It was also felt be some that Ed would bethe appropriate contact for the NPS/ATC in some matter though. Ron agreed tocomplete a proposal for the Trail Conference's AT Management CommitteeCoordination. Ed suggested working with the draft he's provided for thismeeting.
There was some discussion about the need to renew the MOU forboth states. I don't clearly recall if there were any tasks assigned with this.This discussion moved into the need for creating or updating the three Local Management Plans. It was suggested that the two NY committees shouldbe combined under one management plan. Another suggestion was to create a LMPcombining both states but a number felt that this would not be to practicalsince the management issues are so diverse. Both the DP and OR Committee Chairsseemed open to the combined NY State LMP, though.
Walt agreed to review both NY LMPs as well as the NJ oneto see how practical different combinations would be. Ron may have indicatedthat he would review them as well.
A time line for upcoming meetings was reviewed:
September17, 2008 would be the follow up TC meeting to this one
September 20 and 21, 2008 is the MARPC meeting at the Mohican Outdoor Center.All three Regional Representatives are expected to attend along with other TCmanagers and our RPC reps.
The following MARPC meetings will be on March 7 and October24,25, 2009
It was agreed that a list-serve would be set up for thoseinvolved with AT management for the TC.
LW's tasks:
Send "e" versions of available LMPs to Walt and Ron
Get a timeline for ATC Grants.