[at-l] Lookin'

[Bob C]

It's not fun begging for money, just as it is not always fun maintaining a trail. But the simple fact is that almost all the land bordering the narrow AT corridor in Maine that used to be  managed for growing trees has been sold to developers interested in building condos and resort communities. So my choice is simple. I can ignore the change, or try to raise the money needed to protect a few key sections. I've chosen the latter. At the moment we need $500,000 just to remain a player in the land trading that is going on. Most of the money won't come from hikers -- even those that like to tell us far more often than we ask for money how they love the trail and how important the trail is to them.

ATC changed because it was not getting the money needed to be a viable player in the problems facing the trail. Most long distance hikers spend many hundreds of dollars annually, buying gear and getting to and from the trails.  Only a tiny percentage of them ever kicked in $35 for the annual ATC dues, without which their trail wouldn't exist. 

The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is having the same experience. We've raised more than a million dollars during our brief existence and have bought one mountain that abuts the trail and slopes of another mountain. But our directors sometime question whether it is even worth it to send letters to hikers, since so few respond. 

Weary www.matlt.org 



------------Original Message------------
From: "JPL" <jplynch at crosslink.net>
To: "Felix J" <athiker at smithville.net>
Cc: at-l at backcountry.net
Date: Tue, Nov-20-2007 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Lookin'
One of my pet peeves is exactly this: send an organization some money, and they will spend that and double, sending you solicitations for the next couple of years, seems like once or twice a month.  Some are better than others.  Local trail groups seem to be pretty good.  Local Sierra Club groups are fine, by SC rules, they are very limited in what they can solicit.  Virginia for instance can only solicit its members once a year, and the local groups can't at all.  

J Lynch
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Felix J 
Cc: at-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Lookin'


Slyatpct at aol.com wrote: 
 I think it's OK to let memberships laspe from time to time, but if you continue to hike the trail it's probably best to set your personal aside differences and donate.

What if I 'donate' some other way? Or, 'give back' some other way?  
 


  maybe you can direct it towards a maintainer club.
I would love to, and may, keep giving to Weary's MATC. The downside of that is that I HATE the constant begging/pleading/asking for money that donating seems to initiate.   If some organization had an "I'll give you money if you won't ask me for money" form for donating....I'd be right there!  




_______________________________________________
at-l mailing list
at-l at backcountry.net
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l

_______________________________________________ 
at-l mailing list 
at-l at backcountry.net 
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/attachments/20071120/2704a123/attachment-0001.html