[MA-RPC] FW: [at-l] Motocross Track Plans Fuel Debate
Walt Daniels
wdhiker at optonline.net
Sun Dec 11 12:16:14 EST 2005
ATC has always had a fund raising component. Most of the big bucks went to
Maine. The new board has so far not been very comunicative as to their
intentions, or I am not on the right lists to find out. Admittedly
communications has always been a weak point for ATC with info sharing being
very delayed. The new board has a broad representation of interests while
the old board had whatever skills came with the primarily club people who
came up through the AT operations side. The nomination committee paid some
attention to get a few financial people so at least someone was qualified to
be treasurer, but the other distribution of skills was typically not broad
enough. The new board has people who know people (hopefuly with money or
influence) and some representation from the land trust community at large,
so that should cover more involvement in land purchases. But land purchases
really comes down to partnering with others as no one, other than perhaps
the feds, has the big bucks needed to buy large tracts by themselves. I am
on my local towns open space committee and we just passed a $5M bond issue
for open space but at local land prices that doesn't buy much, without
partnering. We are in the Highlands region as is some of the AT in PA (about
out to the Reading area). With that designation comes some federal money
$100M over 10 years split between 4 states. However there is a big
difference between authorized and allocated. The current year got $0. There
are state committees that prioritize parcels. I am on the NY committee that
works on priorities - but our town will never make the list as there are too
many higher priority parcels. In NY there are state funds for farmland
protection. They are way oversubscribed.
One RPC mission is to help ATC with these sorts of land trust issues. The
way that needs to be done is to get on your local committees that set
priorities. Being on the committees is thousands of times more effective
than writing letters.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org
> [mailto:ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of
> Teresa Fleming
> Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 10:30 AM
> To: James Hooper; ALLEN BRITTON
> Cc: MARPC list
> Subject: Re: [MA-RPC] FW: [at-l] Motocross Track Plans Fuel Debate
>
> I'm certainly the "new kid on the bloc" in our group, but I
> like the idea of banding together to try to buy land.
> Strength in numbers (and politicians!) I thought ATC, with
> its new Board, is trying to adopt a fund-raising focus; am I wrong?
>
> Tede
>
> At 08:34 AM 12/11/2005, James Hooper wrote:
> >Most of the groups buy the land. My model is the farm land trust.
> >They buy the development rights and put other restrictions
> on the use
> >of the land so that it stays as farm land. We have a lot of
> wood lots
> >next to the trail corridor in the mid Atlantic. Could we make deals
> >that keep them as wood lots.
> >
> >
> >On Dec 10, 2005, at 8:11 PM, ALLEN BRITTON wrote:
> >
> >>I completely disagree with Hal's assessment of our options.
> How about
> >>establishing collations with organizations like the Trails lands
> >>Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and other like minded groups.
> >>If we pool our resources get some influential politicians in our
> >>corner we have a chance to save the AT. Why should we have
> to except
> >>what we don't want. If money talks in our culture then lets
> pool the
> >>money!!!
> >>----- Original Message ----- From: "Hal Wright"
> >><halwright at comcast.net>
> >>To: "MARPC list" <ma-rpc at commerce-02.cilia.org>
> >>Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 3:52 PM
> >>Subject: Re: [MA-RPC] FW: [at-l] Motocross Track Plans Fuel Debate
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>>On Dec 10, 2005, at 12:47 PM, James Hooper wrote:
> >>>>The laws in Pa are loaded in the developers favor. Being
> a veteran
> >>>>of the development plans in my township I am convinced
> that the only
> >>>>way we can protect the trail corridor in Pa is to obtain the
> >>>>development rights of the land surrounding the trail
> corridor. We
> >>>>need to do this before a developer tries to develop the
> land. The
> >>>>state courts have been ruling in favor of the developers.
> >>>
> >>>...and therein lies the central tension of ATC leadership
> in the 21st
> >>>century. Peopled with hikers whose core value is to live
> naturally,
> >>>simply and cheaply, the ATC must nonetheless find and pick deep
> >>>pockets to preserve the Trail in its present form. Or, it
> must accept
> >>>that change is inevitable, rezone parts of the Trail as
> suburban, and
> >>>manage those parts in a way that is consistent with their new,
> >>>developed setting. Or, it must consider wholesale relocations that
> >>>would put the trail in less developed areas. None of these
> options is
> >>>palatable, but the clear message of the recent
> reorganization is that
> >>>leadership finds option 1 less nauseating that options 2 and 3.
> >>>
> >>>My prediction is that we will end up preserving some land,
> doing some
> >>>minor relocation, but mostly resigning ourselves to continued
> >>>development around major sections of the Trail. Here is where
> >>>partnership with law enforcement, first responders, and
> new residents
> >>>will prove invaluable. In PA, and elsewhere, the trail is already
> >>>very close to civilization, stuck in a no man's land where local
> >>>enforcement feels not-so-responsible in terms of being
> proactive, yet
> >>>easily accessed by abusers of the environment and homeless
> >>>non- hikers. In developed areas, I believe we will find ourselves
> >>>managing the Trail more like a suburban rail-trail in the years
> >>>ahead, to keep it safe and clean. We will be
> uncomfortable about the
> >>>compromises to wilderness ethics that will be required,
> but we will
> >>>still have a nice, woodsy place in which to walk and
> camp, and key
> >>>historical and cultural aspects of the Trail will remain intact.
> >>>
> >>>Just my 2 cents.
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>>On Dec 10, 2005, at 10:37 AM, Walt Daniels wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>-----Original Message-----
> >>>>>From: at-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:at-l-
> >>>>>bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Steve Landis
> >>>>>Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 10:28 AM
> >>>>>To: at-l at backcountry.net
> >>>>>Subject: [at-l] Motocross Track Plans Fuel Debate
> >>>>>
> >>>>>.http://tinyurl.com/bfnp3*
> >>>>>
> >>>>>*"The Appalachian Trail passes along Walker Mountain above the
> >>>>>track. On the other side of the mountain beginning at
> the summit,
> >>>>>and therefore in sight of the track, Crawfish Valley is proposed
> >>>>>for protection as a National Scenic Area. About 1,700
> feet downhill
> >>>>>from the track flows the North Fork of the Holston
> River, not far
> >>>>>at that point below its headwaters.
> >>>>>Two miles
> >>>>>upstream lies land awaiting federal designation as the largest
> >>>>>contiguous wilderness area east of the Mississippi River."
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Steve
> >>>>>_______________________________________________
> >>>>>AT-L Mailing List.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Go here to unsubscribe or change your options:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
> >>>>>
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