minutes mid-atlantic regional partnership committee october 25, 2014 … documents/ma… ·...

Spring 2015 MA-RPC Meeting Attach #1

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Minutes Mid-Atlantic Regional Partnership Committee

October 25, 2014 Giant Community Center

2300 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17110 Attendees: MARPC— AHC: Barbara Wiemann, Anne Griffin; AMC-DV: Dan Schwartz; BHC: Susan Charkes; BMECC: David Reitz; CVATC: Kevin Shannon, Christine Lauriello; MCM: Mike O’Connor, Bill Saunders; NYNJTC: Walt Daniels, Ron Rosen, Jim Haggett, Martin Hunley, Gail Neffinger; PATC: Peter Brown, Rush Williamson; SATC: Phil Day, Cindy Radich; WTC: Jan King, Tom Wheatley; YHC: Tom Morley, Gwen Loose. SC—Beth Critton NPS -APPA – Matt Robinson, Keith Stegall (acting Facility Manager) ATC –Bob Proudman ATC-MARO – Karen Lutz, Alicia Riegel-Kanth, Kelly McGinley, Michele Miller, Bob Sickley, Ryan Seltzer, Marian Orlousky Guests (A.T. Trail Community applicant Berryville)-- Christy Dunkle, Alison Teetor, Lee Shaefer) Call to order Chair Ron Rosen called the meeting to order at 9 AM. Introductions All introduced themselves. Rosen – thank you to Kelly McGinley for all her work preparing the agenda and making arrangements for the meeting. Rosen -- there will be changes in the agenda. For new attendees to the meeting, generally we operate on a loose version of Roberts Rules of order, meaning we sometimes take official motions and generally use voice votes; generally we are an advisory group and informational group where we exchange information. Lutz—for new attendees, please ask us to explain any acronyms you don’t understand. Approval of minutes of March 2014 meeting Rosen – change to minutes? Note spelling of Harlem not Haarlem Charkes -- bracketed reference to [Ron], Tipton or Rosen? – Rosen -- will review off-line and change will be made if necessary.


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No further corrections; Rosen asked for vote. By voice vote the minutes were APPROVED unanimously. Stewardship Council report, Attachment #2. Gail Neffinger presented. Highlighted the issues of up and down communications; reports submitted by Ron Tipton to the SC, the SC has decided to pass these on to the RPC Chairs. Anybody else who is interested in the MARPC can ask Gail for it. He has a copy for anyone who is interested of the latest report. Neffinger --We will be looking further at these issues. Will make a master list of publications like the Register, make a list of who is getting what and who should get it and make sure they are getting it. Another thing is the FMSS (Facility Management Software System)(Trail Assessment process), collecting the Trail data, we will have a presentation later today on it. Our last attempt on looking at the Group Use issue, and the Drone issue which will be covered by Karen later. Just a reminder, I and other RPC reps are direct connection to SC, so anything important to you, make sure it is communicated to me and I am the conduit to get it “upstairs.” Neffinger described the 3 other committees (in addition to Regional Partnership and Volunteerism Committee (RPC)). Critton explained other committees and reiterated that she depends on the RPC reps to get issues to the agenda of the SC, many of the best ideas are raised in the field and if the SC does not know about them, we can’t get them to the other clubs. The quickest way to get anything to the ATC Board of Directors is to get it to the SC. Williamson asked about the web based training module. Neffinger -- we have done a good bit of work on it. The issue is to get the material in a catalog. Williamson – so you are working on implementation. Neffinger – yes, there are a lot of resources out there that we are pulling together. Also there are resources we are creating on very basic issues like how to be a maintainer, which will all be on the website. Williamson –will it be ready by the Biennial? Neffinger– it is a worthy deadline. SC is meeting next weekend and will discuss. TTEC, attachment #3 Barb Wiemann presented. She did not get to the summer training session. She asked Karen to report on the session. Lutz – this year due to funding cuts, a limited-audience summer training session was held at the Smithsonian’s education center in Shenandoah NP. It was well-attended, very effective. We are hoping to get sufficient funding to go back this year to the normal cohort so if you have connections in your Trail section let us know because we are recruiting beginning in January. Talk to me before we leave today. Wiemann – in past I have distributed lists of teachers who have been trained in your section of Trail. Use those lists, contact the teachers, offer to be a resource to them and when they make visits to the Trail. If anyone does this let me know so we can compile a roster of activities and what has been successful in working with teachers. Neffinger – has it been funded?


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Lutz – we are well on our way to full funding, getting close. Wiemann – date for training session in 2015? Lutz – week after the Biennial (week of Hike week). At NCTC. Application is not out yet but will be ready by beginning if Jan. I want to target schools you may have a connection with or have heard are interested We want to increase diversity of people involved with ATC so there is some interest in targeting urban schools. Day – great to see note on graffiti; it is more and more prevalent, and important to get the message out, we are seeing it more and more than past years, on our shelters, destroying natural resources. Good to get the message out. Wiemann – it was amazing to accompany a group of students to Bake Oven Knob and hear their ideas. If you remember that there used be trash all along the Trail, it is better now, this is part of LNT and we need to get another generation to be aware of it. Club Reports: AHC, AMCDV, BHC. Lutz – Dave Mitchell said PGC did not get funding for golden winged warbler project (on AMCDV section). Strategic Plan attachment #4 Lutz presented. Lutz -- This latest effort is intended to give ATC staff additional focus and direction for next 5-10 years. She put posters up around the room on the 5 goals. We are going to break up in small groups, go to posters and give us some ideas for how our region can help us move these goals forward. Be as specific as you can. Projects you know need to be done, or programs that can be improved. She goes through all the goals. Williamson – question, what is the “call to action?” Robinson – NPS director challenged parks to work with partners and public to carry out a list of topics to promote parks and public enjoyment, there are 38 different topic areas. It is more of an engagement strategy to raise awareness of parks and get people more engaged. Proudman – 2016 is 100th anniversary of founding of NPS. Robinson – right, they started this 5 years ago with a 5 year timeline for 2016 to get more partners. Stegall – idea is to set goals. Robinson – it is on NPS website. Riegel-Kanth -- Question under E . What are revenue streams. Lutz – several revenue streams, including membership dues, donors, sale of products. PA license plates are just on the road this week! As a thru-hiker needs food, ATC can’t do what we do without money. [Breakout – small groups went to each of the posters, each with an ATC staff member who records the suggestions. ATC Staff members for each poster then summarized the suggestions for the entire group. ] Lutz – we will transcribe and send to Charkes for minutes.


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NPS Trail Assessment & Project Planning Update – Robinson Presentation. Handouts he will give out at end of presentation. We want your feedback. Highlights: we have now completed 10 years of Trail assessments with our new process. (20% of Trail every year is goal, so do entire Trail every 5 years).We will take a year off to analyze the data for patterns and trends and improve the process. Data patterns & Trends. Over 90% are treadway related problems. Over 50% are serious or critical. ME & NH have the most. WV, MD, NJ have the least. (In overall number). Over 70% of proposed solutions involve building something new (not a relo). Over 75% of these new items are steps, checkdams or waterbars. Over 50% of items need a trail crew to fix. In NE alone, 75% of problems need a trail crew to fix. Problems per mile for each club. ME, NH and TN/NC have most; PA has the least. Proudman -- these are where the biggest mountains are. Robinson [shows a map]. Robinson -- there are a number of reasons for all these items. We are just strictly looking at the data. Cost per mile by club; again ME, NH and WTC have highest cost per mile; MA, CT, NY, RATC and South have next highest. Williamson – clarify this is going forward. Matt – this is total resources to fix problems identified in the assessments. Lutz – so in a square park, like Yellowstone with a paid professional crew, the cost estimate is based on what the commercial value of the labor would be? Robinson – it has been modified to fit the A.T., and is still an underestimate. Lutz – over 90% of deficiencies are treadway related but isn’t the assessment treadway only? Robinson – it includes everything. Including corridor problems though we may not be capturing all the corridor issues. Wiemann – what about PTC? Sickley -- it was not assessed because the Trail will be relo’d;; same with Bear Mountain. Robinson -- a lot more can be analyzed but the real thing is we are seeing some trends, how do we make use of this data, focus on areas with the greatest needs: we need to save the section before it is too bad to fix. We need to address the critical and serious problems before we address minor ones. We need to consider alternative solutions for areas that have a high number of deficiencies (possible relos or realignments) and implement more sustainable designs with projects where Trail is in its optimal location. We are constantly building new stuff, need to put in stuff that is going ot last longer so we are not constantly replacing them. Day -- does Smokies NP provide funding for the Trail section in that park, do other NPS parks fund; Robinson – APPA funds if it is on the Trail. Stegall – but if off the Trail the other Park will kick in funds (eg a blue trail). We will be exploring revenues from alternative sources of fees; since A.T. does not get user fees, NPS has a program where A.T. can compete for these revenues. Robinson – why is this important? For NPS funding for trail work to continue it is only possible for continuing funding (or even increased funding) if we can show the sections are improving, and that we are prioritizing the sections with highest needs. Biggest change was that the reporting change, instead of directly reporting to Washington District Office now we report to Regional Office, now we have to compete with all the other parks in that region. NPS provides $1MM per year toward trail work. Another analysis – APPA has the 2d lowest CRV (current replacement value) of all Class III Trails in the NPS. We need to increase the CRV to the amount for comparable parks like Delaware Water Gap. Sickley – how is that number arrived at? Assets we took note of during trail assessment? Robinson -- APPA has low API scores for individual assets meaning our projects rank low for funding. To improve these values we need additional


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info: additional photos and documentation of facilities; detailed inventory of all treadway assets (boardwalk, puncheon, turnpike etc). Day – we only collected data on deficiencies not on assets. Robinson – correct, we did not collect enough detailed data and this hurt us competitively. We also need better reporting from clubs so we can count all the work on all projects not just NPS projects. We have just been tracking where our NPS funded projects, but we need to track projects, materials, photos. The more we can get the more we can count and get a better picture of what we need. Draft Reporting Form for this new data need. Comments requested. We need to standardize things so we can look at whole Trail Trailwide. The funding is Trailwide. We will probably have online form, PDF, other versions. Schwartz – does reporting include side trails? Robinson – good question. Schwartz – if on NPS land, it should be. Stegall – it all should be. Miller – related to that is reporting for the corridor. Stegall – I envision multiple reporting forms, because there are different things you are accomplishing. Robinson – we also want to provide better information to trail maintainers and managers. Proposed plan for 2015, looking for feedback. 1, begin prioritizing projects and realign to areas of highest need; 2 begin collecting data on trail assets; 3, standardize reporting process; 4, provide more useful information to clubs. Williamson -- can I get this to redistribute? Robinson – we will work with Karen and email it around. Lutz -- we are sensitive to variety of size and capacity. But at same time there is one A.T. so we need common ground on reporting. Daniels – counting waterbars, checkbars, what do you need? Robinson – we don’t know yet. We would like to utilize the maintainers, volunteers, as much as possible, we are working on it. We will not complete all this in 2015 but we want to start it. We are forming a work group so if anyone wants to join it or provide ideas we want it. Day – are you only focusing on treadway assets? We are putting roof on a shelter, which adds value. Is this to be on the form? Robinson – yes, the goal would be to capture everything. Stegall – if this is a problem and it is fixed with other money and we don’t know about it, it is weighing down the value of the A.T. Orlousky – the A.T. has more Rare Threatened and Endangered species than any other unit, is restoration of habitat to protect these assets being captured? Stegall – no. Robinson – where trail construction is involved yes. Orlousky but it adds value to the Trail. Stegall – it adds value but not to the manmade physical value of Trail, which is what this system is geared for. Lutz –it is a separate funding source, natural resources not Facility. Miller - but volunteers are still doing work on that stuff, how is that being captured? Robinson – that is another initiative and we want to capture all those volunteer hours. It is a parallel conversation. Morley – do you want us to go back in history and capture projects we did before? Robinson – yes, go back 5 years. We need to work out these details. Maybe meet with each club. Alicia – if same quality of material could be obtained at lower price would that increase the CRV? Stegall no, it would decrease it. It is related to the work per asset. Totaling all the work per asset is a snapshot. Critton- where does CRV come from? This is a National Scenic Trail. I have a problem fitting this definition to a National Scenic Trail not trails in a park. It seems like we are punished for using volunteer work. Stegall -- no that is a good thing. The CRV is what is the cost of your Trail if it were being done by a professional crew. The value of volunteer time should be captured. Rosen – every waterbar has a dollar value. Williamson – you want to capture the logistics, not just the physical stuff.


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Stegall – we are working on that process but it can be as simple as you telling us we replaced 10 steps and we can come up with a way to value it. We want to simplify it. Griffin – the club should provide what they did and the NPS determine the value of it. Lutz – it is not about expense it is about value. Robinson – we are undervaluing all the work of the volunteers and if we accurately evaluate it, show the bang for a buck NPS gets when it funds a project then we are able to justify the work we do, hold on to the money and increase it. We’re putting a round peg in a square hole but ultimately the reasons for this are good, just want to do it without adding more red tape. Day – if the hours are reported here they will also be reported in VIP? Lutz- YES. Town of Berryville A.T. Communities application, Attachment #5. Brown introduced the community application. Christy Dunkle, Les Shaefer and Allison Teetor present their application. Shaefer– what is not in your packet is that the local PATC maintaining club also signed a letter of support about 2 weeks ago. Questions. Rosen – what do you anticipate for youth involvement? Shaefer -- We are looking at TTEC though it is hard to get into. Bears Den has a lot of youth activities, once every quarter at least. Daniels – is Mt Weather in the area? Shaefer – yes. It is on border with Loudon County. Does Berryville have any town festivals? Dunkle – lots of festivals in county. Rosen -- is there a plan for a specific A.T. annual event? Dunkle – not yet. Rosen – talk about the steering committee; Teetor describes. Rosen -- do you have a specific A.T. planning committee. Shaefer -- yes there is a Recreational planning committee which will do that. Lutz – what about business support? Dunkle – [describes, noting the letters of support in the application.] We plan to get a marketing plan to apply for a state marketing grant. Williamson notes that Bears Den has an outfitter bring gear to hikers several times a week. Rosen -- any other questions? [none] Motion? Brown MOVED to approve the application. Griffin SECOND. Discussion? [none] Rosen called for a raised-hand vote. MOTION APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY. ATC Biennial Update (moved from Agenda). Williamson presented. Williamson -- Lee Shaefer is the co-chair of the committee. We are looking for sponsors. So if anyone has sponsor contacts please let Rush know. Shaefer - We have free exhibit space for maintaining clubs. Also, we need volunteers. Hike leaders, to start. But also many other things. [He handed out his business card and on that is Tom Johnson’s info; he is the volunteer coordinator. ] 12:10 Lunch Break. 1:00 re-convene Petroleum Product Pipeline Presentation (Webinar) - Mary Krueger (NPS) on phone.


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Presentation on how petroleum products are transported and why are there so many new projects being proposed to cross the A.T. with pipelines. Krueger -- PennEast pipeline has the worst crossing that we have seen. Crossing it for ¾ mile at Little Gap. We will be having conversations with them. It is the AMC-DV section. There are 10 new crossings currently being proposed (not counting additions to existing crossings). If you hear about new pipelines email or call me because these are often before official proposals. The companies will have a public meeting or survey landowners. “If you see something say something” is the concept. [email protected] 617-223-5066. Lutz – or let me know or Michele and we will pass on. Qs? Morley -- everyone wants cheap natural gas, what is the alternative to putting the pipelines across the country. Krueger – yes there will end up being xgs ; looking for existing Right of Ways is one avenue to look at. The NPS does not have authority to grant RoW for petroleum products pipelines. So the company has to get specific legislation for NPS to give authority. Lutz – but in our area other agencies typically control that land. For ATC, working with companies to identify crossings with less impact is what we want to do. Kreuger also, gas will not remain cheap if it gets exported. Daniels – a pig launcher is not risk free. Krueger – pig launcher is a cleaning station. Daniels -- what comes out of the pipe is not nice stuff. Schwartz -- what is the lifetime of a pipeline. Krueger – technically the contract is 20-25 years for LNG export; if properly maintained they can last 30-40 years; some have been around a lot longer and have not had good maintenance, have had problems with explosions. Schwartz -- how long do they continue to expect to continue taking gas out of the ground? Krueger – industry says 50 yrs. Marcellus and Utica shales have a steep decline curve. The wells gush at beginning then decrease up to 75% within a year so they have to keep drilling more and more wells. Miller – as NPS is working on these what is the plan for looping in the trail clubs and ATC. Also, even though A.T. is a unit of NPS, not all of land is owned by NPS but all crossings affect the Trail; what are NPS thoughts on these crossings? Krueger – we are still in the process of figuring this process out. We don’t want to push all pipelines off onto non-NPS land because that could be worse for the A.T. This is part of the process of increasing communication. Miller – what is process that FERC uses to determine certificate of necessity. Krueger – FERC has approved 100% of pipelines. FERC has to go through NEPA. Comments may be made at various stages of the process. Miller – when APPA had a person who was involved in this we had opportunities to comment on pipelines; now, it seems like we are missing comment opportunities. Krueger – we are trying to get way out in front of these so we can comment before the pipeline compnaies have started approaching landowners so we can get involved when there is still a chance to change the route. Miller – the 1-2-3 punch of NPS, ATC and volunteers could have an impact. Finally, the A.T. is going to bear a huge brunt of these crossings; is there any value to NPS raising a conversation with FERC to discuss. Krueger – there are some things we could hope to gain from a meeting, one thing to note


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is the cumulative impact of all these pipeline proposals on the A.T. Lutz – the earlier we can get in and make comments the better. And the progressive diminution of Trail values is a real concern, it diminishes the Trail experience to the point where, what is left. The pipelines if approved must be in the best location that has the minimum impact. Rosen – will there be public backlash if word gets out that so much is exported? Krueger – probably as price rises there will be public backlash. This will drive prices of plastic feedstock way up so plastic industry is concerned. Rosen – I was involved in the 1990s with the Iroquois pipeline crossing the A.T., we got major concessions, we got a parking lot and other benefits for the A.T. It is good to get in early in these processes. Day – the Roseland crossing had mitigation, will there be some here? Lutz -- will get to that. Miller – I went to meeting re Atlantic Sunrise project which crosses around Swatara State Park. Williams is in the pre-filing process. They decided they wanted to start a stewardship program and identify important natural resources. They will create a fund to help steward the environment. Supposedly separate from the NEPA process of applying to FERC for the pipeline which has a fund that compensates for impact on the A.T. Lutz – NEPA requires that with respect to impact to natural resource: avoid, minimize, mitigate, compensate. Miller – this is separate from the NEPA review. Daniels asks about meeting NY requirements as well as NEPA. Proudman -- they must meet both. Loose – put some info into the Biennial packet about “see something say something”. O’Connor – when they cross the A.T. what does it look like? Rosen – the Iroquois crossing is a 5 foot cut across it but that is not always the case. Lutz – there is one on Cope Mountain north of 850. Rosen -- in Iroquois, their legal RoW is 50 ft but they narrowed it to 5. Miller – some of them are looking for 400 ft RoW. If we can direct them to places that already have a RoW we may be able to avoid impact. But PennEast wants to follow the A.T. along the ridge. Proudman – we don’t want looping lines to parallel the footpath. Lutz – but sometimes it may benefit us if there is already a line. Miller – we need to keep in mind there is a bunch of land not owned by NPS, it seems that our protection is not as good. Lutz –we are talking to our agency partners about our interest in protecting the A.T., note that it may be in their financial interest to allow the pipelines so it is important we communicate our interest. Regional Recognition – attachment #6 Rosen – contact me offline if you have any nominations. “Walk in the Woods” movie. Sickley -- ATC convened a committee to discuss anticipated impacts from the movie. There was a bump in thru-hikers when the book came out, a 50% increase. But we expect an increase starting in South. Lutz – we are anticipating a big increase and not just thru hikers. ATC staff were involved with providing information and consulting with the production staff. Morley – are we saying there are going to be too many people on the Trail? Lutz -- the question is, are we all ready for the impact. Griffin – add to the Ridge Runner program to help neophytes. Lutz – it is an opportunity to educate many people.


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Sickley – we have been discussing ideas, for example, some kind of registration system to spread people out. Lutz – we anticipate impact beginning late spring or early summer 2015. Williamson -- is on committee. Day – “Wild” is going to be released in December, will see bump. Williamson – and there is another movie about the blind hiker. Loose – continue to emphasize flip-flopping and alternative routes. Morley -- where was biggest impact from earlier bumps? Williamson -- there is a lower attrition rate now, we are now seeing a 28% completion rate or even 1/3 if you look at Katahdin terminus. What will make this work? Money. Sickley – and time. Williamson – there is only a certain capacity of the Trail. Lutz – that will vary by section. Williamson – more oversight will be needed of malfeasance such as graffiti. Orlousky – it is opportunity toan emphasize LNT, natural resource protection. Also it is an opportunity to recruit young people when they contact ATC. Williamson – committee view is that is too much, maybe another committee needs to be formed to handle these issues. Day – clubs may need to improve relationships with emergency responders. Organized Group use policy Attachment 7 . Proudman presented. Proudman -- We are presenting this policy to the group for approval. Some may ask how we can propose polices as we are just a nonprofit with no legislative authority. We use the “bully pulpit.” This policy has been through many drafts. We are prepared to allow appropriate commercial uses within land agency requirements. The group-use registration system proposed is all voluntary which can be successful. We have used this for the New England region. It is successful because groups want to have reserved spaces. ATC staff would be building this registration system. The recommended limit of 6 of 10 is 60% of the recommended limit. Rosen – anyone have a motion? Day - I have a question first. Do nonprofits include hiking clubs? Proudman – yes, we need to comply with our own policies. But it comes down to what the locality requires. I don’t think that people in the midstates will want to implement this, at least not yet. Williamson – there is nothing that says anywhere what the limits are. It should be posted on the Trail as a policy, at Trailhead kiosks. It needs to be put out there. Lutz – let’s make sure the kiosks have current accurate info especially with this anticipated use. Make sure someone is looking at this. If you need new signage or custom stuff let us know. We can help you. Williamson – we need this in postable form. King – so we can put on shelters. Hill – I never knew there was a policy like this. Rosen – we need to increase educational campaign. Daniels – what about families? Proudman – the attempt is to get at organized groups. Lauriello – do EMT training groups need permission? Proudman – they should call Todd Remaley. Lutz – we can work with you. Rosen - Motion to approve? – Daniels moves. Griffin second. Schwartz – PGC has annual permits. Williamson – when will this be implemented? Proudman – I hope we get a voluntary thru hiker system set up by 2015. Critton – it is on the agenda for SC to approve this weekend and forward to Board. Board needs time to review but hope is to have it in place by spring 2015. Schwartz -- will ATC host the registration site? Proudman -- probably. Lutz – that is a huge issue. Day – for clubs, establish an annual registration similar to the PGC annual permit. Rosen – for hiking clubs? Or maintaining clubs? Lutz – the objective is not to have concentrated use, to spread it out. Vote – raised hands. APPROVED Unanimously with ONE abstention.


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Club reports. BMECC, CVATC, MCM Lutz asked O’Connor about their use of Elephant Snot for graffiti removal. He says they used ½ gallon. 3:10 break. 3:15 reconvene. A.T. Community Renewal, attachment #8 McGinley introduced the discussion. McGinley -- This is a 3-5 year partnership assessment. Based on prior meeting discussion there was no need for a formal approval for renewal. This is a tool to be used by the steering committee, the club representatives and anyone else who is a representative in the community to look back. What has worked well and what needs to have more time taken with it and improve it. Not so much a critique as a general look. Rosen – questions? Griffin – I would like to see the club assess how the partnership has worked over the years. This is just the community viewpoint. McGinley -- there should be a club represented in the steering committee so there would be a club viewpoint. But are you saying the club view should be looked at independently as with the letter of support? Griffin – yes. Williamson – in my experience nothing has happened with the club relationship. Since this is what one of the goals was, I am looking for help on what to do. Day – if the committee does this you could award them something to go in their signs like the PennDOT signs, give them an incentive to go through this. Rosen – is the paperwork the same as the initial application? It is different because it looks at similar areas, following up on their promises and seeing what has been done. Haggett -- q #13 should be done every year so you can get a sense of whether the community is still moving ahead. Rosen – was there an agreement that this would be voluntary? Day – I thought it was required in this region. Rosen – do we want to go on the record as having it be nonvoluntary? Day – I’d suggest we strongly suggest it be a requirement for ongoing support of clubs and staff. There needs to be commitment on their side if there is commitment on ours. Weimann – and they have signs, do we want the ATC logo on the signs if they are no longer fulfilling the commitment? Daniels – Tree City requires annual renewal. Williamson – I MOVE it be mandatory. Day – SECOND. Discussion of time period. Rosen – I suggest they require it be 3 when they start and 5 when they renew. The Club report would be in advance of the MARPC meeting and decide any of them need to be on probation or revoked. McGinley – how long would probation be before they can regain good standing? Rosen – maybe 5 years out if we have not gotten anything we put them on probation. Daniels – 5 years is too long. Griffin – 3 year, with 2 years of probation. Rosen – the motion is just to turn it into a mandatory program for MA region. Critton – I don’t know why the choice was made to make it optional. I think that hearing from you, I don’t know if the SC committee would do anything, but will hear what you are saying . Vote – raised hands – UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. O’Connor -- how do we assess the application? Rosen – we’ll work on it. McGinley – your concerns are shared in other regions. These concerns will be discussed


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in the expected meeting of all Trail Communities next fall. [Discussion of how old the program is and who the first community was.] Club MOU and structure – attachment #9 Rosen – the MOUs do not have renewal or sunset terms. In the time since they were signed, new aspects of Trail management have come up. We are initiating discussion and do not expect to reach a conclusion at this time. Also one of our clubs is not represented today. PTC is not here. Wiemann – they have not been at the last 3 meetings and were not at the Leadership meeting. Lutz – there have been some issues of engagement with cooperative management system. The message from the delegate is that PTC is looking to partner with another Trail club because there are members who want to continue with the maintenance. There is a policy and a formal procedure to reassign Trail sections. There is a meeting next Tuesday to discuss. We may be looking at a reassignment. I am interested in hearing from clubs who might want to take on additional mileage or ideas for partners. There is a lot going on in that Trail section with a long term, 10 year project for remediation and re-location, and Palmerton has expressed interest in being a Trail community. This is not a decision that will be taken lightly. It might involve generating a brand new club local to the area. It is very complicated because of the superfund site and the remediation. King – do you have urgent needs in the area. Sickley – the remediation is generating new vegetation that they have not had to deal with. King – we can help on an interim basis. Rosen – I wanted to get this on the radar, not just the single club but generally what are the expectations of being a maintaining club in the region. Can clubs choose to opt out of some of these responsibilities? Think about it and we will discuss at our next meeting. Lutz – is it time to look at another paradigm? Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – attachment #10. Lutz – UAVs, a/k/a drones, have become an issue in the last months. NPS service-wide has a new regulation prohibiting the use of these vehicles on NPS land. I have not heard of any state agencies adopting any policies. There is a lot of buzz. Griffin – a plane flies to look at the pipeline twice a day. I would rather see a drone than an aircraft. Miller – unless they do it at less than 30000 ft. Lutz – one Youtube video, for example, has a drone flying around a hiker on McAfee Knob. It is the impact on the user, impact on the Trail experience. Robinson – the NPS policy came out of some people harassing bison; there was also a crash; and an incident with a firefighting aircraft. There are benefits from drones, search and rescue is one; you have to get a Special Use Permit. We don’t want people harassing hikers, wildlife; you also need a SUP for filming; also an issue of invasion of privacy. Proudman – we want action. Critton – we expect to discuss at SC meeting, want to hear from clubs but we need to move forward. Unlikely SC will vote on it in final form. Lutz – this is our guidance to our agency partners through the whole Trail. Reitz – why would anyone enforce a 1000 foot corridor? Williamson -- it gives you standing for legal purposes. Schwartz – why list exceptions if you expect to issue permits? Rosen – change the wording to be permitted uses. Haggett – commercial use requires FAA permit, does this supersede NPS permit? Lutz – good question. Critton – there is some legal wrangling. Charkes mentions the use of UAVs for conservation monitoring. Williamson MOVEs, Radich SECONDs. With the change in the wording for


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permitting rather than exceptions. Williamson – the motion is to endorse the concept but we want to see more fleshing out. Robinson – SoRPC offered comment that it should be all aerial vehicles not just unmanned aerial vehicles. Rosen -- should we amend the motion? Williamson -- let’s not bite off more than we can chew. Voice vote -- UNANIMOUS APPROVAL of the Motion. Club Reports. NYNJTC, PTC, PATC Sickley reports on behalf of PTC as to the Palmerton relo. Peter Jensen did give us a recommendation on the realignment which adds a number of views to the Trail along the ridgetop; the Trail will stay in the rockfall which is iconic in PA; he is suggesting an accessible piece below the rockfall; he is also suggesting a new climb up Lehigh Gap west. His final design is due end of November. Corridor stewardship –Seltzer presented. Seltzer -- Started in June. Fall field season underway. Two seasonal techs. Goal is to get on the ground for all 12 clubs and meet with all coordinators. Common concerns – changing landscapes along the corridor; dealing with a lot of invasives; witness trees succumbing to age. Looking to fund solutions to these problems that will enable the program to sustain itself into the future. Also hunting season is an outside pressure. We see constant signs of hunting trails, ATVs, hunting stands. In spring, I will compile data from clubs and give a report on the status of the corridor at that time. LNT training–Orlousky (addition to agenda) ATC has been selected as a LNT course provider and will begin in 2015 offering both master educator courses (5 days) and training courses (2 days). Would like to see each club have a master educator. You can go to LNT.org and take their online awareness course. Neffinger – in re my SC committee working on training material, please get that to me. State MOU Updates. Rosen - New York MOU was approved. What is underway? Proudman – MD should be on deck. NJ too, as they have lapsed. Our experience is that states honor the MOUs after lapse. We met with Wendy Janssen. She said she wants to renew all the MOUs including those in the South which we have not updated because they are in the National Forests. Lutz – the document is very helpful but what is equally important is the relationships with the agency partners. Rosen – we in NYNJTC did talk about NJ to locate some of the names to talk to. Proudman – it is helpful to have 1 or 2 key people in the state to help move us fwd. Membership Drive update – Lutz. We had 400-500 people in Carlisle to see the film Relive the A.T. With purchase of ticket you get a membership. Other locations have had it and more are coming. McGinley – in DC they sold out the theater.


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Additional business Rosen – note the APPA report and ATC Conservation report which are attached to the document. Club Reports – SATC, WTC, YHC Announcements – Rosen American Hiking Society has LL Bean grants that maintaining clubs can be eligible for. Deadline is December. Also be prepared for our round of LL Bean grants. There is no formal evaluation form, so if you have any comments on today’s meeting email Kelly and me. Next meeting is attachment 13: plans for March 2015 meeting, in Palmerton. Friday afternoon will be hikes on superfund site. Lehigh Gap Nature Center will have activities. Overnight space in Bowmans camp is ~20. Lutz – it is a remarkable story. If you can take the time to get up there early it is worthwhile. Robinson – Distributing laminated “wanted” flyers from Todd Remaley, asking hikers to watch out for Eric Grein fugitive. Lutz – we are just trying to get the word out. McGinley – the laminated copy is for the shelter register. Lutz – remove it when he is apprehended. The paper copy should be posted at the trailhead kiosk. Robinson – the next steps from the presentation today are on the last couple of pages. We want your feedback and involvement. Don’t start filling forms out yet! We will give an update at the spring MARPC meeting. Lutz – clarifying: there is an expense of doing a project distinct from the value of doing the project. They do not necessarily correlate. Also the Trail will be listed on National Register. There will be a review draft in November. Also there are 2 states we will go through the process for: MA and PA. Rosen – In 2015 the intended date for the meeting is Oct 24th here in this building. Rosen – Any updates to the email list for this group, send to Kelly. Daniels -- I update the list server, just get those to me, and Kelly sends updates to Walt of the new members. Lutz. All, thank you for everything you do including contributing to this MARPC meeting. I personally appreciate it. There being no further business, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 5:05 PM. Respectfully submitted, Susan Charkes


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Secretary

minutes mid-atlantic regional partnership committee october 25, 2014 … documents/ma… ·...

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