Boundary Line Monitoring in Maine

[peakbagger]

Covid and a broken ankle prevented me from doing a lot of AT corridor monitoring for the last two years so I decided it would be good to go to a training session led by Dave Field of the MATC. Dave literally laid out the relocation of the trail in Maine back in the 1980s and he and his brother maintained Poplar Ridge Shelter for 50 years. He is great guy and wealth of knowledge of the trail in general but it appears as though the trail corridor is his favorite. The club runs a couple of training sessions a year and this year we were joined by the new ATC rep who runs a pro crew doing corridor maintenance. The AT corridor in Maine as well as the rest of the AT runs through a mix of private and public lands with varying degrees of protection from limited right of ways to outright ownership by the National Park Service and every inch of the AT corridor is documented .Generally, through state and federal lands the AT corridor may not be cut blazed or surveyed but anywhere its up against private land the corridor is marked, maintained and monitored. That may be easy in some areas but in rural Maine its challenge as the much of the trail is abutted by industrial woodlands with marginal access.

Corridor Monitors technically do not sign up to maintain the corridor, their only official job is the "walk the line" assigned to them yearly (with exceptions made for particularly difficult to access areas) and locate permanent markers placed at every bend in the line and about every 300 yards. Practically, they are allowed clear a path to make it more accessible, allowed to repaint existing blazes and install boundary signage at possible points of access. The main job is mostly to be the eyes in the field to observe any attempts whether planned or inadvertent of abutters to the trail or others to use or abuse NPS lands in the corridor. We do not act as a cop, we just report what we see to the higher ups and let them decide how and if there is a response.

The permanent markers were set in place by surveyors hired by the NPS who ran and a blazed the boundaries over a course of many years. The preference is to tie them into ledge, but if ledge is not available, they set them in aluminum posts. Everyone is marked with a specific reference number which is recorded and tracked in a fairly extensive database. The AT in Maine was mostly surveyed prior to use of GPS units in the field. They did in some cases set GPS located points at road and other access points but many of the actual monuments do not have field recorded GPS coordinates although coordinates are now assigned to them based on the original surveys. That is fine as long as the original survey data is correct and in rare cases it is not. Even standing at the correct coordinates, actually finding the monument can be a challenge. If tied to ledge they may be buried in in some cases a couple of feet down. Blowdowns and other natural events can hide them. The disks may be bright and shiny when new, but they tend to dull out and the ledge that was exposed to attach the disk will frequently re-acquire a layer of moss covering the disk. As GPS units have increased in accuracy and reduced in size, we were encouraged to take field GPS coordinates and also photograph the monument up close and also supply reference photos of the monument relative to its surroundings. What is relatively new is that a combination of more rugged cell phones and better coverage is that corridor monitors now have access to a GIS ap built and maintained by the NPS which allows field access to a very large database. It is even set up to run in areas without cell coverage by being able to preload areas of the trail into memory.

One may think that would take the fun out of it but like anything else its a tool. The boundaries in Maine are now getting in the 30 to 40 year old range and some of the owners had been actively cutting prior to purchase of the corridor, that means that the survey may have done in early stage thickets with few large trees to blaze and use for witness points. Every monument has a set of three trees or in some rare cases other reference points called witness points, the survey map comes with a sketch of each monument showing the three trees and relative locations of them from the monument. Part fo our job is to document the condition of these trees if they still exist. In many cases they do not but it all gets loaded in the database to assist in the future. In the case of ax blazed painted markers on trees, 30 or 40 years (or longer in some cases) means the paint may be completely or nearly gone depending on the tree type and even ax blazes may be healed up. These trees can be on either side of the line and in the case of the corridor being up against land being forested, the witness trees may turn into a stump. The ATC does fund crews that try to access the most difficult properties that have not been visited since the original survey but as Dave Field points out, the total length of the boundary line in Maine is longer than the boundary around Yellowstone National Park. My boundary section in Maine is quite a challenging section with steep slopes and cliffs so access can be very dicey and even getting to the trail was difficult as the adjoining landowner posted his land including the access, so getting to my westerly boundary required hiking up and over Moody Mountain in Maine and then hiking up Hall Mountain. It tended to eat up a lot of the day getting to and from that side. It had not been touched since the original survey in most cases so the ATC pro crew was assigned to repaint and re-clear the line during Covid. I did not visit it last year but expect the monitoring will be easier when I get back up there this summer. The cliffs and steep slopes will remain

ATC also runs volunteer weeks most years for folks from outside the area to participate, they have one coming up in July and anyone interested in spending four days in the woods of Maine should contact ATC for info. Its a chance to visit some very rarely visited territory. Much of the land in the corridor was difficult to access and is slowly requiring old growth characteristics.

[Deadeye]

To volunteer, go to https://volunteer.appalachiantrail.org/s/

The Green Mountain Club, and likely nearly all local trail clubs, also have volunteer opportunities.

[fudgefoot]

Peakbagger thank you for this detailed description of the corridor monitoring process (likely one of the lengthiest posts in WB history ) and for your volunteer efforts. I hope your recovery from the fall is progressing well and you will be able to fully resume all of your outdoor activities.

[TJ aka Teej]

Thank you, Peakbagger!

[TrailsEnd]

Great post Peakbagger and also great summary of the work needed to maintain and protect the corridor of the trial. It isn't something many people consider but is still very important nonetheless.
It was a pleasure meeting you last weekend, for full disclosure, I'm the seasonal ATC coordinator/rep at the event you attended last weekend. I gushed a bit at your description of us as a "pro" crew, that is something we might still be aspiring to be but I hope to get to that level as soon as we can. We work hard and are dedicated to what we've been tasked to do. That said, I might save the "pro" prefix for just a little longer. We'll get there.
I made a point to say it at the end of our day on Saturday but I'll say it again here, the NPS (who oversees the trail at the highest level) and the ATC (who shoulders much of the more detailed work to maintain the AT) immensely appreciates the dedicated and generous volunteers from the local clubs (like yourself) that put those plans into action. You are where the rubber meets the road and the iconic trail that has been such a significant part of our cultural and recreational landscape for so many decades would not be possible without your efforts.
It sounds as though we may cross paths again over this season's trail work and I look forward to getting out in the woods with you again (I'll bring my own Swedish safety axe this time!). For anyone passionate about the trail, consider working with your local club to take care of the boundaries. It's important work to protect this resource for the future and more rewarding than one might intuit. Every effort out there is a little bit like an Easter egg hunt. There's a lot of bushwhacking involved but that sort of type two fun scratches an itch for a lot of us.
Happy trails any anyone interested in boundary work in Maine is always welcome to help out. We're currently working in the 100 mile between the Chairbacks and Whitecap. I spend most of my time out in the field but am back at our new regional ATC office in Bangor Sunday nights and Thursday nights to take care of office stuff in between being out at the edges of the trail. Reach out or look for the volunteer opportunities that are taking place this summer. I'm currently aware of one in July and August for the Maine sections of trail that I'm tasked with looking after.

Happy trails.

[Mizman]

Howdy Peakbagger, great post and I am looking forward to 'walking the line' with you in Maine, safe travels and Keep Hiking!

[NY HIKER 50]

I've already done it in NY. Believe it or not a monument was placed in a rotting stump. I also came across an old dump. One of us found an area clear cut and eventually the owner had to pay to replace the trees and pay a fine.