[at-l] AT Journeys

[Sloetoe]

--- Walt Daniels <wdlists at optonline.net> wrote:

> Then read the mission and tell me what part of it
> ATC is not maintaining.
### The Appalachian Trail. Not the experts'-derived
corridor and all possible attendant issues.

> For all practical purposes the trail itself is fully
> protected, ...
### Bingo.

> What is not protected enough is the corridor.
### Which is a mission that will never end, eh? Never
be good enough? And never have sufficient funding? And
always require more staffing? (As per below...)

> "Our money" does not just happen. It
> takes more dues paying
> members and lots more donors. They don't just
> volunteer - you have to ask them.

> This is something we all know from working on
> the trail. The tooth
> fairy did not build it. We, the volunteers, did.

> If volunteers fail to step up to
> the plate then ATC must hire more staff to do what
> the missing volunteers can't or won't do.
>...I would like to see an ATC/Club volunteer
> on the planning board of
> every town that adjoins the trail.

### Walt, you and other "doers" have always had my
respect for your time and efforts on behalf of the
Trail and its broad hiking constituency -- most of
whom, as we should *all* know, remain glibly ignorant
of the efforts undertaken (with pick/mattock and with
pen/keyboard) on their behalf. But there are two ways
to go about getting any of these things done, and the
ATC has entirely gone away from a bottom-up, "good
enough" approach.

http://friends.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2008-April/008983.html

### Now, just for argument's sake, rather than just a
biennial conference to gather and make common the
efforts at maintaining a good "trail", (for an annual
cost of an itty-bitty fraction of today's ATC
membership), let's throw in a figure for monitoring AT
Trailway development.
14 states
4 counties per state average
4 townships/lesser jurisdictions per county.
14x4x4= 224 monthly meetings/minutes to monitor.
Some will take 1 minute, some will take 15; let's take
10 minutes as the average: 2240 minutes per month.
2240 minutes = 37.333 hours - let's call it 40FT
hours.
To hire a "specialist" law firm, with 75% of the work
done with a paralegal, and 25% done with a lawyer,
we're talking .25*$50 + .75*$200 = $87.5/hr, or
rounding up, $100*40= $4,000/month, or $48,000/year.

As long as we're rounding up, let's double the $48,000
figure because after monitoring, there may be need for
a brief, amicus brief, application for standing,
verified petition, requests for administrative notice,
etc, etc, etc, on behalf of AT interests. We're up to
$96,000 per year. 

Some things may go to formal hearing/trial. Let's
double the $96,000 for travel/meals/lodging, copy
fees, and let's even pay some witnesses (who may range
from $1 to $100,000, but let's just TRY and watch the
bank here...). Let's round the figure to $200,000 per
year.

Let's add back on an amount for the original mission
of coordinating the volunteer groups. Let's say that's
a wild $800,000. We're right at $1,000,000 per annum.

So two questions:
1) What's the figure from the ATC/etc! annual
endowments/trusts/etc income EXCLUSIVE OF membership?

2) What's the ATC/etc. annual budgeted expenditures?

I'll be honest, if I had millions of dollars a year to
do a quarter of a million dollar task, I could
probably find a way to spend that money. Yes I could.
And I'll bet you that every person working from an
ATC-related dollar is motivated, hard-working and
provides meaningful trail protection. (And I SALUTE
them.) But as I implied before, I don't wish to assist
"solutions looking for a problem." I don't wish to
facilitate the exhaustive search for perfect solutions
when good ones (and cheaper ones) are passed by. This
is where the ATC has gone.

With respect,
'toe

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.