Designing and Managing A.T. Overnight Sites Designing and Managing A.T. Overnight Sites for a Primitive Experiencefor a Primitive Experience

True or False: In the absence of uniform guidance incremental decisions over long periods of time can result in substantial and permanent changes in facilities and the clientele who use them.

Stratton Pond (old)

Shelters are getting larger, less rustic, and more amenity laden.

Stratton Pond (new)

Casinoinside

The A.T. Hilton Hotel

Shelter Creep: Defined and IllustratedShelter Creep: Defined and Illustrated

Definition: An inexorable increase in the sizes of A.T. shelters and inclusion of decidedly non-primitive materials and amenities.

Showerinside

Pizza Delivery

Shelters: These changes increasingly promote a more social

A.T. experience and insulate hikers from intimate contact

with nature.

Problems with Shelter CreepProblems with Shelter Creep

Core Meanings: A.T. hikes are not an extension of our

urban/suburban life. They are opportunities to:

Reconnect with the nature world

Be intimate with, rather than insulated from, nature

Experience nature’s sights, sounds, smells, and textures

Develop outdoor skills and practice self-reliance

Learn humility

Why is this a Problem?Why is this a Problem?

Large A.T. shelters

built with modern

materials and

amenities have a

powerful capacity to

separate and distract

hikers from

meaningful contact

with nature.

Why is this a Problem?Why is this a Problem?

Additional Issues: Visitor AmenitiesAdditional Issues: Visitor Amenities

Additional Issues: Visitor AmenitiesAdditional Issues: Visitor Amenities

Windows, deck, benches Window covering

Decks

Additional Issues: Design & MaterialsAdditional Issues: Design & Materials

Which of these are appropriate?

Additional Issues: Design & MaterialsAdditional Issues: Design & Materials

Which of these are appropriate?

Additional Issues: Design & MaterialsAdditional Issues: Design & Materials

Which of these are appropriate?

Bob Proudman & Son“The Full Goose Shelter story”

Additional Issues: Additional Issues: Facility-Intensive Management & Site Facility-Intensive Management & Site

CapacityCapacity

Located in the Mahoosuc Mtns, ME

Shelter Capacity: 14

4 tent platforms & campsites: 20

Large composting toilet, stainless steel

bins, and roofed drying racks

What Do Visitors Think?What Do Visitors Think?Results of an A.T. Visitor Survey Results of an A.T. Visitor Survey

Survey Authors: Bob Manning (Univ. of Vermont), Alan Graefe (Penn State), Rita Hennessy (NPS)

Survey Purpose: Document visitor characteristics, motivations, and attitudes.

Survey Methods: Representative sample of 1,879 visitors stratified by 22 trail segments (summer, 1999). Names and addresses collected on the trail with a mailed questionnaire, 66% response rate.

Motive Importance1 1 2 3 4 5 Mean

To be close to nature 1 1 8 26 63 4.5

To experience solitude 14 11 21 28 25 3.4

To meet new people 43 18 22 12 6 2.2

Not at all

Important Extremely

Important

1 - Non-thru hikers

Visitor Survey Visitor Survey ResultsResults

# of other groups camped w/in sight and sound1

Percent

0 - 4 76

5 - 9 13

10 - 14 5

> 14 2

1 – Non-thru hikers

Visitor Survey ResultsVisitor Survey Results

18% of non-thru hikers and 12% of thru-hikers considered the number of other groups camped near them to be unacceptable.

Should we comply with what current visitors want? What

if they want a cabin (4 sides) with solar lights?

Do we serve the popular tastes of current visitors or do we

make decisions based on a uniform definition of the types of

visitor experiences that we seek to provide?

Visitor Survey ResultsVisitor Survey Results

Management DirectionManagement Direction

The ATC Board of Managers defined the A.T. Trail

Experience as:

“The sum of opportunities that are available for those

walking the Appalachian Trail to interact with the wild,

scenic, pastoral, cultural, and natural elements of the

environment of the Appalachian Trail, unfettered and

unimpeded by competing sights or sounds and in as direct

and intimate a manner as possible.“

Management DirectionManagement Direction

Main ideals that the Board considered integral to the A.T. experience:

Opportunities for observation, contemplation, enjoyment, and exploration of the natural world.

A sense of remoteness and detachment from civilization.

Opportunities to experience solitude, freedom, personal accomplishment, self-reliance, and self-discovery.

A feeling of being part of the natural environment.

Management DirectionManagement Direction

Appalachian Trail Comprehensive Plan (1981) states:

“Shelters are a tradition on the A.T., but use of the Trail

should not depend upon them. No attempt is made to

provide such amenities for every potential user, so each

person must be prepared to do without them. Shelter

density and design should be consistent with the sense of the

natural.”

Management DirectionManagement Direction

In November 1984, the following policy was adopted by

ATC’s Board of Managers regarding overnight use (and

particularly shelters):

 

Shelter Review Procedure - ATC’s regional vice chair will

consult with the club proposing the shelter...to assess the basic

soundness based on ATC’s “Shelter Approval Checklist.”

(Appendix J. of the Local Management Planning Guide). The

vice chair approves proposals contingent on approvals by the

landowning agency and state/local permits.

Management DirectionManagement Direction

Other guidance:

ATC’s Overnight Use Principles (1977)Checklist for the Location, Design, and Maintenance of Campsites and Shelters on the A.T. (1981, updated 1989)

Local Management Planning Guide: Chapters 2(F) Overnight-Use Areas, 2(G) Drinking Water Supplies and Water Quality, 2(H) Sanitation, 2(I) Managing the Trail for a Primitive Experience, and Appendix J, the Shelter Approval Checklist

Management DirectionManagement Direction

The current guidance is dated and contained in many documents. It does not address the issues of shelter creep, visitor amenities, or increasing shelter capacity.

The Stewardship Council believes that a revision is needed. Do you agree?

Question: Should the guidance be uniform or vary by management area (i.e., larger shelters are OK for high use areas, smaller shelters for remote backcountry or wilderness)?

What Do You Think?What Do You Think?

Do you think that the construction of larger shelters could or already has led to the development of a more social and facility-dependent form of A.T. hiking?

If yes, should we be concerned about this or act to address this issue?

Do you think that more specific prescriptive management objectives should be developed to guide shelter design decisions?

To what extent should the views of A.T. hikers guide decision making?

Who should make these decisions?