The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) (formerly Appalachian Trail Conference) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Maine to Georgia. The Conference works to protect the trail's 2,179 miles (3,507 km), 250,000 acre (1,000 km²) greenway, and coordinates the work of some thirty hiking clubs performing trail maintenance.
The trail was originally conceived by forester Benton MacKaye who envisioned a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. In 1922, at the suggestion of Major William A. Welch, director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, MacKaye's plan was publicized by Raymond H. Torrey with a story in the New York Evening Post under a full page banner headline reading "A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia!"; the idea was quickly adopted by the new Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference as their main project, and on January 4, 1924, the first twenty mile (32 km) stretch from the Hudson to the Ramapo Rivers was complete. The entire trail was completed in 1937.
The ATC was formed in Washington, DC on March 2 and 3, 1925, with Major Welch as chairman and Torrey as treasurer. In 1927, Welch was replaced by Judge Arthur Perkins and in 1928, J.A. Allis became Treasurer.
In 1929, Perkins recruited Ned Anderson to blaze the Connecticut leg of the trail. This section is a 50-mile stretch through the northwest corner of the state from Dog Tail Corners in Webatuck, NY to Bear Mountain at the Massachusetts border. Anderson worked dually as a section manager for both Connecticut Forest & Park Association and the ATC. With his volunteers, he continued to maintain the trail until his retirement in 1948. Today, the trail is maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club.[1]
The ATC is headquartered in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It is committed not only to trail maintenance and protection, but to education, science and awareness as well. The trail’s size, uniqueness and the environmental effects of it and on it can provide valuable insights and advances for science and ecology. The ATC currently has a MEGA-Transect scientific study underway, which will use data collected (species of flora, fauna, wildlife, weather/climate effects and more) to provide critical information toward preservation on a global scale. The Conservancy strives to heighten awareness via the “ATC’s Community Recognition Program” or “Trail Towns” program that recognizes and highlights the communities through which the trail’s 2,000 miles run. As well, the ATC’s “A Trail To Every Classroom” is a school program that utilized the trail to teach students about conservation, preservation, earth science and ecology.[2]
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