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[at-l] Re: commercial use

Matt Perrenod wrote (in part):
<<should those entities, for-profit or non-profit, which earn fees by
utilizing the resource of the AT corridor, be required to put something back
into the protection & maintenance of that resource, either money or sweat? . .
.I think that the answer should generally be yes, but I suspect there is a lot
of nuance, and there are practical questions of application.>>

I'm on the Appalachian Trail Conference Board of Managers where this is a real
area of concern. The ATC's agency partner's (particularly the NPS and USFS)
are required to regulate commercial use on public lands. As they must regulate
it, they are looking to the ATC for guidance on how that should be carried
out. It is hard to pin down what constitutes commercial use (some of it is
black and white, but there are gray areas). What is likely is that at some
point within the next few years, the USFS and NPS will get more serious about
requiring special use permits (like the one's the AMC is renewing for the hut
system) for those profiting from the trail. It is likely that this will be
confined to those using the trail itself for profit.

In any case, I am involved in those discussions and I appreciate any and all
input from this list. I may be one who usually just lurks and rarely writes,
but I really appreciate the AT-L.

-Frank

FrankLogue@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/franklogue/AT.html
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