It all began with the Appalachian Trail

By Cindy Ross

05/20/2008

Back in the 1921, a Harvard-educated forester, philosopher and regional planner named Benton MacKaye shared a vision that changed the fabric of our country. In the Journal of the American Institute of Architects he described a continuous trail following the backbone of the Appalachian Mountain range, formed by tying together existing trails and creating hundreds of miles of new ones. He saw the trail as a place where people laboring away in cities could find true respite for body and spirit. MacKaye hoped the Appalachian Trail (AT) would offset what he saw as the "negative effect on mankind of rapid mechanization and urbanization."

His vision became a reality on August 14, 1937 when the Appalachian Trail was completed as a continuous footpath from Maine to Georgia, just a decade and a half after the first stretch was built in 1922. Many small trail clubs and volunteer groups had formed throughout the Appalachian region to work on the new trail in their area, and they came together under the Appalachian Trail Conference, recently renamed the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

But our amazing system of national trails really took off forty years ago, when in October Congress passed the National Trails System Act. Its creation was driven by threats to the AT from vacation homes, pipelines and highways. Congress felt that to provide for the ever-increasing outdoor recreation needs of an expanding population, and to "preserve open-air, outdoor areas, and historic resources", the AT needed protection and more trails needed to be established.

In 1968, the 2,174-mile long Appalachian Trail and the 2,600-mile Pacific Crest Trail were designated as National Scenic Trails. Now our amazing system of national trails includes twenty-five trails, totaling more than 48,000 miles, longer than the Interstate Highway System. The trail system includes National Scenic Trails, which are at least 100 miles long and link superb resources in a continuous corridor for non-motorized recreation; National Recreation Trails, which are more local trails and reflect the full diversity of trail types from touring motor routes to backcountry water trails; and National Historic Trails, which protect historic routes and their surrounding areas.

Our newest National Historic Trail is the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the system's first water trail, which follows Capt. Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay.

I would say Congress has kept its promise to develop a trail system for the public's recreation, but so much more needs to be done. We need to protect the trails and to cut many of them into the ground, and not leave them as lines on a map.

When the AT celebrated its 70th birthday last year, only a few miles of its entire length remained unsecured. Public and private organizations have shifted their focus over the past few decades to acquire lands to protect the AT's "viewshed" and preserve the trail experience. Yet, once again the AT, one of the most biologically diverse places in the world, is imperiled. Sprawl, pollution, invasive species, habitat loss and fragmentation, and global warming are threatening this green roller coaster riding over the rooftop of the congested eastern United States. Other long trails are not as threatened as the AT, which lies within 500 miles of most of America's population. Their greatest threat is that their remaining sections will not get built; or the already built trails could disappear if they are neither hiked nor maintained.

In order to combat the pressures of a changing society, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy has expanded its mission. Rather than just treating the AT as a recreational footpath, the vision has shifted to seeing it as a 2,174-mile long experimental laboratory -- a place to scientifically monitor streams and track invasive species. Thousands of new volunteer "citizen-scientists" are needed to do this monitoring work.

Now it's our turn to protect the AT and the nation's other national trails. The best way to do this is to contact the organizations that support trails near you or the partner groups of the larger national coalitions. If you're unfamiliar with the trails in your area, a good time to get your feet wet is June 7th, the first Saturday of June, National Trails Day. This day was designated in 1993, to encourage people to get out and enjoy our nations' 200,000 miles of trails. More than 3,000 trail organizations, agencies, and businesses across the country host a variety of events. They bring awareness to trails and for the support and hard work of many volunteers, land agencies, and outdoor minded businesses. You could become a member of a trail organization and contribute monetarily or give your time to plan, build, maintain, and monitor the trails. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the National Trails System, donating 500,000 annual hours (worth about $6 million) and contributing another $4.4 million in cash.