Volunteers with the Rocky Top Trail Crew work to replace a waterbar along the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy announces that for fiscal year 2015, a record-breaking 6,827 volunteers reported approximately 272,477 hours to maintaining and protecting the Appalachian Trail for hikers to use. Since the ATC began collecting reports in 1983, individuals have contributed more than 5 million hours to the A.T., resulting in a volunteer network that is recognized worldwide.
Officials said the record number of both volunteers and hours reported reveals a loyal commitment to the Trail.
Volunteers donated time equivalent to what is completed by 131 full-time workers and contributed to a wide variety of projects, including maintaining the A.T. corridor, monitoring and removing invasive species, supporting teachers in the Trail to Every Classroom program, assisting A.T. Communities near the Trail, and preparing for the ATC’s biennial conference, the organization’s official member gathering held every other year.
The ATC’s volunteers represent 31 A.T. Maintaining Clubs and Trail Crews; Visitor Center and regional office volunteers; and participants in additional ATC programs, such as TTEC and the Appalachian Trail Community program. Though Trail maintainers are perhaps the most visible, volunteers also participate in many other activities, from community outreach to local, regional and Trail-wide management efforts.
“The Appalachian Trail Conservancy exists because of the generosity, talents and support of our volunteers – they are the very soul of the Appalachian Trail,” said Ron Tipton, executive director of the ATC. “The record number of volunteers and volunteer hours reported for fiscal year 2015 illustrates a continued dedication to the preservation and management of the Trail.”
For more information about volunteer opportunities, visit
www.appalachiantrail.org/volunteer.