YOU NEED TO BE POLITICAL about THE AT!

[restless]

FYI I wont have the edit button till next week.

Here is what I am trying to say. IMO that urban encrochment can seriously change the trail in spite of the best efforts of the organizations that exsist today. I see what happened to the Horseshoe trail as a prelude to what can happen to the AT. Large sections can become compromised by development, homeowners can become less forgiving about people treking across their land and force the trail onto roads and other areas. In short screwing up the whole idea of a national trail. Brown feilds, telecommunication towers, Gas Communication Towers, Windmills, etc. Where do we draw the line and how do we prevent it? ------Thoughts?

I'll not argue that encroachment is a problem along the AT. However, most of that will be invisible directly from the trail. As of this writing , the AT is over 99% protected, either by the fact that it crosses public lands or by the corridor itself which is owned and administered by the National Park Service. The trail traverses far fewer roads than ever, and that was a fact that Earl Shaffer drew attention to during and following his '98 hike. He felt that the AT being routed off of the roads a)made the trail more difficult than it was in '48; and b.) some of the community interaction was lost. As a result, the trail as it exists today is protected, albeit by a narrow corridor in some spots. If we don't want to see the cell towers, than we need to quit trying to bring them into the trail experience. According to another thread on this site, technology seems to be a desired addition to a thru hikers gear. people want to be connected, but we don't want to see the evidence. Sorry folks, you can't have it both ways. All of us make the choice as to what kind of trail the AT will become.

[Rocket Jones]

Very True, PA did strip the land beyond recognition. What little old growth that was left was hiddin in small unmanagable areas that could not be had due to poor roads or the ability to move the logs to water.

Mother nature does a pretty good job of cleaning the slate on her own once in a while. Check out photos of the aftermath of Mount St. Helens for a reminder of that.

A new disease or parasite comes along and nearly wipes out a species of tree, and another type comes along to fill the niche.

Nature is never static.

[Wise Old Owl]

Parts of Pa are a long way from recovering from the Gypsy Moth devistation and now its Wooly Alged

[aaronthebugbuffet]

[Wise Old Owl]

How about "save the planet - its the only one with chocolate" Aaron?

[Wise Old Owl]

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site..._the_Trail.htm

Other current threats to the trail

[chief]

There is a tool to measure the distance of an object in GE. The 250 feet in the picture is the distance from the trail line to the tree line.

Yes, I know how to measure distance in GE. You indicated the 250ft, not me. The space between the 2 "deforested" areas in your map is probably the trail corridor. The "deforested" areas look to be outside that probable corridor, therefore the property owners have a right to cut down all the trees if they like. I don't know how I could be more clear!

If you have evidence the trail corridor has been encroached at your indicated locations, no need to get political. Just call the ATC and they'll have their ranger or corridor monitor to check it out. Better yet, lobby the ATC to buy the property and restore it to your liking.

[mweinstone]

i hope the trail dies and withers and dissapears and is cursed and outlawed and forbiddon. i hope hiking is a word forgotton and litter replaces the trail 4 feet deep and i hope anthrax spoiles everything and god gcomes and we go hiking in heaven.

[the goat]

there are 25% more trees in the developed world today, than there were in 1900.

[bronconite]

Wow, you sure leave out a lot of facts about the land in these maps. These maps are about 4 miles north of Shartlesville, PA. I know this area very well, as I live only 4 miles from it. The land on the north side of the road that enters from the west side is Pennsylvania's Weiser State Forest. The land south of the road is Pennsylvania State Game Land. The "deforested" areas you see are food plots and other habitat, not what I would call "encroachment". You may disagree with the PGC's management practices but the fact is that the AT is protected thru quite a few miles of PA because it runs thru State Game Lands. Much of what you see that is not solid trees on the second map will become forest again. Here is some further reading about SGL 110.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=217111

YOU NEED TO BE POLITICAL about THE AT! unless you are deeply familiar with the tools the AT is slowly being deforested, encroched and your organizations are not in a posistion to police the AT. Hiking the Horseshoe Trail (Philadelphia>>to AT) The left over trail is dismal compared to what it was in the 1930's. So look at this:



Here is the same location and the trail in RED.

2005




ON GOOGLE EARTH Click on VIEW > HISTORICAL IMAGE and run the slide bar that appears back and forth.....

AND WONDER WHY.........

[Wise Old Owl]

Actually I called the land manager yesterday Carla Emanual at the ATC, she has not returned the call.

Bronconite, that was what I was looking for in terms of a explanation. I had found the tools and was "playing" around with them... there are large areas that do not have before and afters. Clear cutting is an old process of harvest, As for the pine tree centers after foresting I suspect they set those afire and that bursts the pine cones to reseed the area after they take the trees.

[FatMan]

As a property owner about 200 yards from the trail, I can assure you there are plenty of restrictions put on mountain property landowners in Georgia. Any property above a certain elevation (I think 2500') is governed by the Mountain Protection Act which includes dozens of restrictions, most notably grading restrictions, the building height, and percent of allowable tree removal. Add to that the local county codes protecting water sources, lot size for building, etc. And since my pond sits half on my property and half on USFS property I am burdened with the Feds restrictions on what I can do with the pond, I certainly am under no delusion that as a property owner I can do as I choose.

[emerald]

When I saw the image in the opening post, I thought it looked familiar but didn't bother to confirm its location.

People who don't know what they are talking about have gotten bent out of shape here before about PGC's management of SGL 110, one of my favorite places and a great location to view wildlife. In fact, I have recommended here before to skip the A.T. and walk right through the area depicted.

Baird Ornithological Club has a bird walk there every Mother's Day and I reward myself with a walk there shortly before my birthday when the mountain laurel is in bloom. Furthermore, it's the A.T. Earl Shaffer hiked his first two times through.

Setting back succession and encouraging the development of early-successional vegetation is something altogether different from deforestation. The rest of the story has been told here before by those who know the facts best. I'll dig up the link and repost it.

[emerald]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1008084&postcount=32

[emerald]

People who lament the loss of wilderness often have no idea what real wilderness looks like or that what man has created by supressing wildfires is quite artificial.

[Wise Old Owl]

Emerald - in short yea I am bent out of shape about it when I saw it on GE, I can understand the need for Helicoptor pads and other things on the AT. And as a guy that is also into birding, I have never heard of clear cutting increasing bird populations, this is a first. Honest do they have to cut down the trees right up against the trail? What is up with that... And by the way other countries have learned a new meathod of harvesting without clear cutting.

[emerald]

Owl, did you even read the Reading Eagle article? What we're looking at according to Bronconite's post is Northkill Gap to which Kerry Grim refers.

The dark spot at the 90 degree turn in PGC's service road is a large Norway spruce by the food plot where PGC's turkey pens once stood several hundred yards from Ney's Shelter, removed and replaced more than 20 years ago by BMECC when they relocated the A.T. onto Weiser State Forest.

What you find to be such an insult to your sensibilities isn't visible from the A.T. although maybe it should be. It might serve as an even more valuable educational experience to hikers than Lehigh Gap.

Don't expect anything more from me today. It's not an encroachment or a hot issue. If it's an issue at all, it's because people with good intentions don't understand that forestry is about more than harvesting trees for people who demand wood products.

Today's my day off and I have better things to do. I thought I might go to Hawk Mountain later for the presentation on Rosalie Edge among other things. Maybe when I return, I will send you a copy of Kerry's report which demonstrates how PGC's work is helping to retain biodiversity through active management of our State Game Lands.

[TrailSquirrel]

YOU NEED TO BE POLITICAL about THE AT! unless you are deeply familiar with the tools the AT is slowly being deforested, encroched and your organizations are not in a posistion to police the AT. Hiking the Horseshoe Trail (Philadelphia>>to AT) The left over trail is dismal compared to what it was in the 1930's. So look at this:



Here is the same location and the trail in RED.

2005




ON GOOGLE EARTH Click on VIEW > HISTORICAL IMAGE and run the slide bar that appears back and forth.....

AND WONDER WHY.........

great topic

[emerald]

great topic

Emerald wishes he could be 3 people. He also knows we have more Whiteblazers from Pennsylvania who could contribute, maybe more than any other A.T. State.

These individuals show up intermittently and provide information of the finest kind available. Emerald would relish standing down altogether or a more minor role, but cares about people who want to get the most out of their experiences on the A.T. in Pennsylvania.

He appreciates the posts by Bronconite and wishes he would post more, but emerald knows everyone only has so time with which to work.

Emerald doesn't want to monopolize WhiteBlaze. What he desires is more participation from local Pennsylvania hikers who really know the A.T. He's not sure how to go about getting what he wants or why TrailSquirrel thinks Wise Old Owl has hit upon an excellent topic and emerald, with a small e, has asked me to inquire what TrailSquirrel wants to know, but wishes for someone else to answer.

[emerald]

Emerald wonders why it's deemed necessary to continue reposting the images from Wise Old Owl's original post. He also regrets he missed the presentation on Rosalie Edge and the reinactment of Conrad Weiser's funeral this afternoon at Conrad Weiser Homestead. He wants everyone to know he worked a double shift yesterday and is still tired, but expects to recover and may continue to post as time allows.