AMC Buys Camp in 100-Mile Wilderness

[Shutterbug]

It appears they lost $1.2 million on them in 2004 as well.

From the history of the AMC on its web site -
1999 AMC granted new 30-year special use permit for operating its White Mountain hut system and Pinkham Notch Visitor Center
2003 AMC opens Highland Center at Crawford Notch, an outdoor program and education center based on an award-winning “green” architectural design
2003 AMC launches Maine Woods Initiative with purchase of 37,000 acres in 100-Mile Wilderness region from International Paper and purchase of Little Lyford Pond Camps

I have not taken the time to study the AMC's financial statements, but I can share some of my perspectives. Understanding financial statements for Nonprofits takes some experience.

Since making a profit is not the goal of a nonprofit, the "bottom line" is not the profit or loss. The important issue is cash flow. A nonprofit can have a large loss and still have a positive cash flow. (If anyone doesn't understand, I can give examples.)

A nonprofit that owns lots of land with improvements will always show losses because they show depreciation of the assets (a noncash expense) as an expense, but do not usually include the appreciation of the value of assets until they are sold. So, a nonprofit, like AMC, can show year after year of "losses" and still operate with a positive cash flow.

So, when looking at the financial statements of a nonprofit, don't think profit or loss, think cash flow.

[weary]

If this is indeed true, F.D. then it begs this question:

What are they doing in the hotel/resort business anyway?

This issue was brought up when the AMC was building the multi-million dollar luxury facility at Crawford Notch several years ago.

Among the questions raised at the time, were WHY was the club spending so much on this one place; HOW MUCH would it ultimately cost; and did the club really think this was a wise thing to be doing anyway?

All of these questions were either dodged or never answered.

AMC went from neaR bankruptcy 25-30 years ago to doubling its membership to 90,000 and being comfortably in the black.

That suggests to me that AMC is doing the things that its membership wants it to do -- including building luxury lodges, and buying land and sporting camps in Maine.

But in addition to pleasing its members, AMC does important environmental work. It is the principal intervenor in dam relicensing projects, joined other environmentalist organization in opposing the massive wind power project on Redington, and agitates continuously against air pollution.

Being a human institution, AMC is not perfect, but I think it does a very good job overall, though from time to time, I sense that AMC thinks of me as an enemy and wishes it had never given me an honorary membership 35 years ago during the long public lots controversy.

I return the favor by editing the Maine Chapter newsletter and serve as the chapter's institutional memory, since no one has been more active over the decades than me.

Weary

[Jack Tarlin]

I agree with much of what Weary just said, with one caveat....while I have no doubt that the club is "doing the things that its membership wants it to do", I'm not sure that keeping its members happy is the Club's principal mission----and nor should it be.

Actually, the AMC's principal mission is pretty plain. In their own words, it is "to promote the protection, enjoyment, and wise use of the mountains, rivers, and trails of the Appalacian region."

How this mission turned into building multi-million dollar resort hotels for its members, or building yet more high-end backcountry lodging is a fair question to ask.

In my first post in this thread, I clearly said that in the long run, it's better that this land be purchased by a private, non-profit, environmental organization than by an independent developer.

But that still doesn't alter the fact that the AMC's primary purpose is to protect land and natural resources---they acknowledge this themselves.

Providing new playgrounds that by their very nature exclude most of the general public is NOT supposed to be their main priority.

Weary's right. They're no doubt doing what most of their members want.

And that's the problem. What most of their members want isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Well said, Jack.

[weary]

The first priority for a nonprofit with environmental goals is to remain alive. That requires compromise. So far the ratio is pretty good. !.7 million for the highland center (which incidentally isn't all luxury. IN addition to lodging, it hosts many educational activities and high level environmental and land protection meetings throughout the year) and 15 million to buy the 37,000 acre Maine Woods Initiative property.

So far there has not been significant new construction on the 37,000 acres, just environmental improvements and renovations of run down facilities.

WEary

[Jack Tarlin]

I wish them well in their hope to stay alive, Weary, I really do.

And since you seem well versed in these matters, please tell us about the compensation of their Executive Director. I've been curious about this for years, and have never gotten the details on this. When AMC officials, including their senior PR flack, were publicly asked about this on the "Mountains and Molehills" section of their allegedly interactive website, their response was to liquidate that section of the website.

If their first priority is "staying alive", Weary, maybe they'd have better luck if they paid their management more modestly, didn't operate out of a multi-milion dollar townhouse in the most expensive part of Boston, and didn't put so much time and effort into expensive construction projects that do indeed primarily exist to serve a tiny fraction of the folks who visit the lands that the AMC claims to wisely steward.

[mingo]

tell it, jack. oh yeah, oh yeah Can I get a witness ...

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...rgid/3304.htm:
Andrew J. Falender, Executive Director
Using information reported on an organization's most recent Form 990, we include as compensation an individual's salary, cash bonuses, and unusually large expense accounts and other allowances.
Compensation: $241,973
% of Expenses: Compensation for the CEO of this charity is equal to 1.15% of this organization's total functional expenses

[Jack Tarlin]

Geez, only $241,973?

Then again, that figure is probably not current.

Nor does it include benefits and perks.

To put things in perspective, the Vice-President of the United States of America makes around $40,000 less.

Of course, there are many of you who no doubt feels he deserves less!

But the head of the Sierra Club makes around a hundred thousand dollars less.

Does he do less work, or is his job less important than the head of the AMC?

And the Executive Director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, in the last figures I saw, which I think were for 2004, made something like $104,000.

Does he only work half as hard as his counterpart on Beacon Hill? Is is job and office only half as important?

Nope. Of course it isn't. If, as Weary says, the organization is fighting to stay alive, seems to be there are some belts that could come in a notch or two.

[generoll]

forgive the partial thread creep here, but wouldn't windpowered generators fall within the concept of enviornmentally sound practice? I understand the NIMBY view, but someones gotta do it and it's gotta go somewhere or it won't happen. I'm quite content to live 20 or so miles from a nuclear power plant. When I had my sailboat I had a solar panel to keep the batteries charged. If I'd had the money and the time to spend sailing I would have mounted a windcharger to the stern rail and considered myself fortunate. If the AMC is trying to stop the construction of a windpower farm, then bad cess to them.

[RockyTrail]

Log drives are inherently inefficient. About 10 per cent of the logs get lost on the way to the mills. Logs that sit in the water for close to a year produce lower quality paper. For these reasons most mills world wide had stopped river drives decades earlier.

An interesting sidelight:
Hardwood logs that sank many years ago from log floats in the Great Lakes are now being retrieved for their valuable lumber. Often these trees are original old-growth dense lumber, some hundreds of years old and are now being used to make musical instruments (guitars,etc) with supposedly fantastic tonal qualities...

[TJ aka Teej]

The AMCs "failure" to make these recent puchases profitable will no doubt be one of the reasons they'll continue the push to develop them into resorts. The Mercedes SUV crowd doesn't want to drive on dirt roads to sleep in bunk beds. Highland Centers 2 & 3 are coming soon to a "wilderness" near you.

[rickb]

And the Executive Director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, in the last figures I saw, which I think were for 2004, made something like $104,000.

Does he only work half as hard as his counterpart on Beacon Hill? Is is job and office only half as important?

Nope. Of course it isn't. If, as Weary says, the organization is fighting to stay alive, seems to be there are some belts that could come in a notch or two.

QUestion for Jack: Do you know why the Executive Director of the ATC got a $20,000 raise in one year? In 2003 he made 85,000.

Question for Jack: when you get your first heart attack, do you want to have your bypass done by the person who will do the best job, or the person who does it for the lowest price?

[Darwin again]

I find facts limit what conclusions I reach, and are not conducive to pre-determining outcomes prior to starting a discussion.

Wow. Frosty must work in the state department or white house!

AMC: They'll find a way to create special playgrounds for a special few. Just like the Whites. it's what they do.

[weary]

I wish them well in their hope to stay alive, Weary, I really do.

And since you seem well versed in these matters, please tell us about the compensation of their Executive Director. I've been curious about this for years, and have never gotten the details on this. When AMC officials, including their senior PR flack, were publicly asked about this on the "Mountains and Molehills" section of their allegedly interactive website, their response was to liquidate that section of the website.

If their first priority is "staying alive", Weary, maybe they'd have better luck if they paid their management more modestly, didn't operate out of a multi-milion dollar townhouse in the most expensive part of Boston, and didn't put so much time and effort into expensive construction projects that do indeed primarily exist to serve a tiny fraction of the folks who visit the lands that the AMC claims to wisely steward.

You know as much as I do about the compensation. It's available publicly on public IRS forms. I forget the figure or the form number, but when I last looked I thought he was well compensated -- perhaps too well compensated.

But he's obviously both talented and underpaid compared with for profit corporations. He did rescue AMC from bankruptcy and membership has doubled in recent years.

WEary

[weary]

The AMCs "failure" to make these recent puchases profitable will no doubt be one of the reasons they'll continue the push to develop them into resorts. The Mercedes SUV crowd doesn't want to drive on dirt roads to sleep in bunk beds. Highland Centers 2 & 3 are coming soon to a "wilderness" near you.

Teej. You are moderating. You originally told us these developments were already planned. Now you think the failure to make Little Lyford operations pay for themselves will push AMC to further development.

I've visited Little Lyford several times. Other than the installation of four showers and a flush toilet, I see no evidence of massive change.

Since AMC the last time I looked still hadn't paved the driveway to the Highland Center, I kind of doubt if they will pave the logging road to Little Lyford Pond which is 15 or 20 miles long, and would cost several million dollars or more -- especially, since they only own the middle section. Plum Creek owns most of the northern section. A Canadian LOgging company the southern portion.

I suspect no one at AMC expects to pay for the land by renting cabins. These are capital costs for which donors will be sought. They do hope to break even on the day to day operations.

Weary

[Jack Tarlin]

Rick:

Being familiar either the head of the ATC and his unstinting efforts over the years, I think he's worth every penny. Have YOU turned down a raise lately?

Being familiar with the AMC, and having spent a lot of time in their headquarters in Boston over the years, I've see a lot of waste. You haven't answered my question......do you think the head of the Sierra Club or the ATC does less vital work than the head of the AMC? Or the ATC? If you think so, please feel free to tell us. I think the the AMC spends too much money on staff, administration,and facilities, and I think this problem is decades old. You are welcome to feel differently.

And as far as my first coronary infarction (which you seem to be looking forward to more than me), I hope the attending physician is the best I can find or afford, but if he's making twice as much money as one of his contemporaries, I'd sure in hell like to know why. In the case of the AMC versus similar non-profit organizations and staff compensation of same, the discrepancies are striking. If you can explain this, feel free to do so.

[boarstone]

At least it was kept out of Old Roxxy's paws!......

[rickb]

It should probably be pointed out that that the SIerra Club has not one, but two, individuals making over $220K.

Facts matter.

But thats ok, just as some people like to observe that their brother-in-law spent way to much (how irresponsible) on his new car, Jack is more than welcome to complain about how OTHERS are paying the head of thier club too much.

And thats OK. Most people who enjoy the hundreds of miles of AMC maintained trails and subsidized caretaker campsites and other benefits of the club also don't contribute.

BTW, the Hostel at Crawford Notch is still a pretty good deal, and the photo exibit in the barn next door are really not to be missed.

[weary]

It should probably be pointed out that that the SIerra Club has not one, but two, individuals making over $220K.

Facts matter.

But thats ok, just as some people like to observe that their brother-in-law spent way to much (how irresponsible) on his new car, Jack is more than welcome to complain about how OTHERS are paying the head of thier club too much.

And thats OK. Most people who enjoy the hundreds of miles of AMC maintained trails and subsidized caretaker campsites and other benefits of the club also don't contribute.

BTW, the Hostel at Crawford Notch is still a pretty good deal, and the photo exibit in the barn next door are really not to be missed.

All very true. And though I've never slept there, I suspect even the beds in the Highland are are within the range of what one can easily find on a busy summer weekend in the
whites.

Weary