[MA-RPC] January updates

Mon Jan 9 20:33:11 EST 2006

I think it depends on the group.  Some forums get a lot of use.  I think
ours would permit more give-and-take than e-mail, but they don't seem very
popular, so we might be fighting a losing battle.

The meeting is scheduled for March 11th.

  _____  

From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org
[mailto:ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of Hal Wright
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 8:05 PM
To: MARPC list
Subject: Re: [MA-RPC] January updates

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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