[at-l] In defense......

[Marsha Lee]

Bravo.....and applaud ! 

Back to lurkin.

Marsha 

From: rosalind.suit at verizon.net
To: sloetoe at yahoo.com; at-l at backcountry.net
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:24:43 -0500
Subject: [at-l] In defense......










Toey,  (If I may be so bold as to be this 
intimate....)
 
You said:  And it's not "dissing" if it's true.  

Ah.....you are 
looking for the Truth?   Well, now......

You said:  But the ATC is about the ATC, not about the Trail 
(nor, for that matter, about the volunteers). 
I disagree:  I am the ATC....and I am a 
volunteer.  And I am about the Trail.  I pays my dues and I gets 
to speak. 
 
You said:  
"Make-work" projects -- missions like "a uniform, graded trail from terminus 
to terminus" -- bridging every stinking little stream or wetness from Georgia to 
Maine -- no "when full, pls send this to Joe_Hiker, Main St. OH.".... blah blah 
blahblah blah. That's the sort of thing -- and just one 
dimension
 
If you are quoting from an ATC publication or 
meeting regarding a mission or project,  please cite it.  The idea 
(joke) of paving the trail was bandied about a few years back by mischief 
makers and some took it seriously....and have remnants of that anger still 
lingering.  Get over it.  Anyone with more than a few miles on the AT 
under their belt should know that 
that is perfectly ludicrous.  There may be small portions of the AT 
that are currently paved....or may yet be paved....and there are places that may 
yet be made "accessible."  Nit-picking.  Irrelevant. The Trail is much 
bigger than that....and local control will NOT protect it (read 
CANNOT),  nor preserve it as a 
whole..... (that is what the Conservancy 
name change is about....and many have lingering 
anger over that change, too). 
 
Tell me how local control can accomplish things 
like Bear Mountain, the PA underpass on Wertzville Road, or protect the portions 
of the AT  now under threat of major dislocation or intrusion from plans 
for the future electricity grid.....or the repairs needed in the areas of major 
rock slides in the South?  You think "local" can protect the Trail?  
Local has a part....but can't carry the whole load.  
 
I don't understand your ...."when full, pls send 
to...."  It seems to me that (dimensionally), your argument is rather 
flat. It's another "in the good ole days we...." argument that holds no 
water.  There is plenty of local as 
well as regional and national involvement.  If the local work is 
thin....perhaps it needs more members, and more volunteering.  The last time I was on the Trail there were plenty of 
streams to cross. There were also bog walks to 
protect sensitive areas. (local work).  There is a large study going on 
called the Mega-Transect ....local but not local.  There is an ATC program 
of reaching into the future through the classrooms ....local, but more than 
local. Who else is actively involved in teaching the young about the 
Trail....and all that is there?  I don't see a lot of it on this forum, or 
White Blaze, or any of the backpacking forums, either.  
 
You think the ATC is about the ATC and not the 
Trail...??  Take another look, my friend.  And if I seem aggressive or 
offensive, I plead snow-madness,  but I am on the offense.....(and offended) because tonight we are supposed to get more !!  <G>
 
Rosie/mdhiker 		 	   		  
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