[MA-RPC] January updates

[Hal Wright]

In my experience with hosting web sites, people much prefer email  
lists. Who has time to make a special trip to all the web sites one  
is involved with without a specific task to perform? I understand the  
organizational advantages of the forum, but in practice, it's just  
easier to get the email and respond to it, as I am doing now.

For personal organization of emails, I use folders and subfolders.


On Jan 9, 2006, at 7:54 PM, Walt Daniels wrote:

> I have posted Don Owen's EA file on the web.
>
> The forums I set up have not been used, but there has been  
> significant discussion of a few issues on this email list. Would  
> people rather continue in the email list mode rather than using the  
> forum where you get less repetition of stuff? Forums also tend to  
> be better organized in terms of threads of subjects if people set  
> up some reasonable topics as threads. You don't get the random  
> subject lines.
>
> There is no place on the forum for these Chair letters of general  
> updates but it could be started easily.
>
> Have we picked a date for the spring meeting? I have not seen  
> anything definite.
>
> Great news on the resumption of the Register.
>
> From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org [mailto:ma-rpc- 
> bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of Kerry Snow
> Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 7:58 PM
> To: MA-RPC at commerce-02.cilia.org
> Subject: [MA-RPC] January updates
>
> There's been some great discussion, over the past month or two,  
> within our sub-committees about the role of the MARPC, the work of  
> the sub-committees, and the relationships between the MARPC and its  
> various "clients" (ATC, maintaining clubs, hiking public, AT  
> neighbors, etc.).  I think we're making progress toward  
> establishing clear goals for our group and for setting up  
> procedures for getting our work done.   As we get closer to our  
> Spring meeting, I think that work will pick up steam.  Some of the  
> basic questions that should be discussed within the sub-committees  
> are, in my opinion:
> 1. what are the maintaining clubs currently doing, with respect to  
> the particular issues of the sub-committee?
> 2. what are our partner organizations doing (and how can we  
> strengthen our relationships with those partners)? and
> 3. what are the priorities for each sub-committee?
> Answering these questions, I think, will help educate all of the  
> MAPRC members about the activities in our region, will help  
> eliminate redundancy of efforts, and will more clearly define the  
> relationships that exist between AT managers, our partners and the  
> community.
>
> Many of you responded, regarding my last request for preferences  
> concerning our meeting schedule and options for 2-day meetings,  
> "floating" locations, etc.  The consensus seemed to be that there  
> was no clear objection to a 2-day meeting, if workload demanded.   
> We also seemed to agree with our original plan to hold our annual  
> one-day (MARPC-ATC-ATPO) meeting in Boiling Springs and to "float"  
> the 2-day affair up and down the region to accommodate our members  
> and our partners.  Finally, we all agreed that cost should be a  
> serious consideration, when planning venues.
>
> I don't think there's any doubt that our workload will require a 2- 
> day meeting once a year (at least).  I'd suggest that we plan that  
> meeting in the Fall, in order to get a better idea about which  
> partners will attend (and how convenient it will need to be, to  
> attract attendance), and to continue our committee discussions  
> about acceptable costs, etc.  We still have plenty to do in  
> establishing our sub-committee structures and in encouraging the  
> participation of all MARPC members, so our Spring meeting agenda  
> will probably be busy enough, in any case.  Please let me know your  
> opinions on this suggestion.
>
> Don Owen recently (November, actually) sent a list of projects  
> currently undergoing environmental review by the ATPO.  I think  
> many of you received the list, but I'll ask Walt to post it on the  
> MARPC web page, in case you didn't get a chance to review the  
> projects.  Please remember that projects involving trail  
> relocations or construction of side trails, shelters or bridges  
> require legal environmental review by the Appalachian Trail Park  
> Office before any work is begun.  The list is long and the staff is  
> working hard, so please ask your maintaining clubs to plan early.
>
> Bob Proudman has announced the return of the Register.  This is  
> great news for AT maintainers, since the publication was a reliable  
> resource for techniques, tool suggestions, and training.  The hope  
> is that the Register will be reborn in March of this year, probably  
> as a web-based publication with e-mail notification to  
> subscribers.  Certainly, all trail maintainers should subscribe, as  
> well as volunteers who are involved in closely associated work  
> (corridor monitors, environmental monitors, etc.).  In his  
> announcement, Bob commented:
>
> "In resurrecting The Register, please keep in mind its MISSION  
> STATEMENT: " The Register is published by the Appalachian Trail  
> Conservancy for the volunteers who maintain the Appalachian Trail  
> and/or manage its corridor, their federal and state agency  
> partners, and others interested in the stewardship of the A.T."
> We recognized the high-importance of the broader needs of our  
> growing constituencies and scope, to include natural and cultural  
> resource workers and monitors, boundary managers and monitors,  
> longstanding interests among the A.T. Land Trust and partnering  
> land trusts, our development staff and donors, and Rita’s cadre of  
> educators in local outreach and community-driven programs. So our  
> scope needs to be broadly conceived yet internally coherent."
>
> The MARPC can help in assembling a list of regional subscribers, if  
> you'd like.  We can discuss this at our next meeting.
>
> Rita Hennessy has updated us concerning the education/outreach  
> initiatives she discussed at our October meeting.  The program has  
> received funding and the NPS/ATC are planning workshops to train  
> leaders in "Place-based and Service-learning Journeys Along the  
> Appalachian Trail."  This is very exciting work.  Our Education/ 
> Outreach Chair, Paul Schubert has been in touch with Rita, and will  
> keep us informed on the progress of this initiative.
>
> Best wishes to all for a happy and productive new year.
>
> Kerry
>
>
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> MA-RPC at commerce-02.cilia.org
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