By Marty (Martha) Lawthers, Kevin Peterson, Katharine Wroth, and Others First Edition June 2000

5. 
   Follow-up—The monitor coordinator is responsible for deciding what kind of follow-up is needed for problems discovered in the field. Minor problems—such as identifying the source of trash-dumping or minor trespassing, posting signs at points of entry to the corridor, and interacting with neighboring landowners—usually can be done by individual corridor monitors or other Trail-club volunteers. Larger, more complicated problems (such as a new road or a timber trespass) may require assistance from the club’s agency partner and/or ATC. Although most follow-up is done locally, ATC, NPS, and USFS stand ready to assist Trail clubs with addressing problems at any time.
   

6. Record-keeping—Each Trail club is responsible for maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of corridor-monitoring activities. Trail clubs should keep a file of monitoring reports and associated documentation (maps, sketches, photographs, letters, records of telephone conversations, etc.) for each tract or monitoring section. This will help establish a credible history and help current and future managers come up with new solutions or approaches to old or recurring problems.

ATC Corridor Monitoring Website

Exterior Corridor Boundary Survey Maintenance

Since the early 1980s, NPS has hired licensed contractors to survey the exterior corridor boundary of A.T. lands, now almost 1,400 miles, surveyed at an initial cost of more than $6 million. The surveys—known as Exterior Corridor Boundary Surveys, or simply ECBS—legally mark the location of those federally protected lands, providing a clear identification in the woods for adjacent landowners and the general public. ECBS involves establishing axed and painted blazes, placing in-ground monuments, posting “U.S. Boundary” signs, and developing a detailed map or “survey plat” depicting all relevant survey information.

NPS continues its program to complete initial surveys of Trail-corridor boundaries. Survey contracts are managed by the A.T. Land Acquisition Field Office (ATLAFO) in Martinsburg, West Virginia. ATC and Trail clubs provide NPS with input on survey priorities and needs. Although the responsibility for boundary maintenance was formally retained by NPS, the park office has supported ATC’s new role in maintaining existing boundaries. NPS provides “cyclic maintenance” funding for the program, guidance, and paint. ATLAFO staff surveyors are available to assist with particular survey issues or problems identified by ATC seasonal technicians (see below) or Trail-club volunteers.

Like NPS, the Forest Service officially retains responsibility for boundary maintenance. Each forest adds the boundaries of NPS-acquired A.T. corridor lands administratively assigned to it by NPS to its regular boundary-maintenance program. Unfortunately, that program has been underfunded. As with NPS-administered sections of the corridor, ATC and the clubs have begun to actively maintain USFS corridor boundaries (though not the boundaries of the larger national forest). Occasionally, a forest provides funding or field crews to assist with that effort.

Role of ATC

Although boundary maintenance is not a delegated responsibility, ATC has taken the lead in creating a new program to meet the ECBS maintenance need. In the late 1990s, ATC began a more formal program of boundary maintenance using small crews of seasonal “technicians” to repaint existing boundaries, replace signs, note missing monuments, and to organize boundary-maintenance workshops for interested clubs. Their work has been closely coordinated with Trail-club corridor-monitoring programs. The program initially focused on restoring deteriorating boundary lines in danger of being lost to view. Over time, the program will develop a regular cycle of maintenance, repainting boundary lines every eight to 10 years. ATC will continue to support Trail-club efforts to maintain boundaries within their sections by providing technicians to augment Trail-club efforts, training Trail-club volunteers, and assisting in other ways.

While ECBS maintenance was not delegated to ATC and the Trail clubs, several energetic Trail-club corridor-monitoring programs have incorporated boundary maintenance into their regular routines by repainting boundaries on a rotating basis with yellow paint provided by ATC using NPS funds. A number of corridor monitors have reasoned that ECBS maintenance is a logical extension of their own monitoring activities. ATC encourages Trail clubs, where able, to undertake maintenance of boundaries within their club sections, yet ECBS maintenance remains an optional activity for Trail clubs. To the extent the Trail clubs decide not to take on this task, ATC will continue to deploy seasonal technicians to do the remaining work.

Exterior Corridor Boundary Maintenance Report Form (available at website below)

Corridor Monitoring Website