[at-l] THE ATC & Membership therein - a bit longish

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 10:22 PM 6/2/2005 -0400, Carol Donaldson wrote:
>I surmised from that discussion and others with not just "minorities" in 
>ethnicity but also the working poor (whose everyday life resembles 
>camping), the handicapped (who like knowing they can use the wheelchair 
>ramp up Clingman's Dome)

First you must understand that ADK is a more diverse club in terms of the 
activities it embraces. We are focused on preserving wild areas for 
recreation, including canoeing, fishing, bird watching, pretty much any 
outdoor activity that doesn't involve motors. ATC probably has a greater 
problem in this regard since their focus is a hiking trail and its corridor.

Around here the working poor often use camping as an affordable family 
vacation but I recognize that many are reluctant to lay out dollars for 
membership in a club especially with the ready availability of state land 
in the Park where they can camp for little or no charge without belonging 
to the club. The handicapped (a contingent of them at least) unfortunately 
have launched an assault on the restrictions against ATVs. The more 
militant of them assert they should be allowed to ride their ATVs on any 
trail that hikers walk. Clearly they haven't seen some of the trails as 
they would know that to be impossible but courts are equally blind to the 
unreality of what they ask.

We also have a large contingent of Canadians who use the Park, especially 
on holiday weekends. I have observed that as much as 75% of the hikers in 
the High Peaks are Canadians on shared holiday weekends such as Memorial 
Day, July 4th (July 1st is a holiday in Canada so the two often coincide) 
and Labor Day. They do so because the Canadian parks have stiff 
restrictions similar to our Western National Parks or Baxter Park. They 
require advance reservations, charge fees and strictly control movement 
within the parks. You have to file a trip plan and adhere to it. Failure to 
be where you said you would be when you said you would be can result in 
fines. So they come here where they are free to go where they want, when 
they want. Some join ADK and volunteer. Most do not.

In many senses it is the same problem Public Broadcasting faces. Only a 
fraction of those who use the service contribute.