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The Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) is a private, volunteer-based
nonprofit organization, dedicated since 1925 to building, protecting,
and managing the Appalachian Trail for the public.
As a caretaker of the Trail its founders originally built, ATC seeks
to:
1. Protect the footpath itself, the surrounding public land that
buffers it, and all the natural, scenic, and historical
resources on that land or otherwise with it.
2. Provide for the public's safe and enjoyable use of the Trail
and its facilities.
3. Strengthen itself as an organization, so that it can meet
those two goals.
Since the National Trails System Act was adopted in 1968, the
Appalachian Trail has been a part of the national park system. With
some exceptions (law enforcement being the most important), day-to-day
management of it has still been the responsibility of ATC, under an
unprecedented delegation of those responsibilities by the Department
of the Interior.
ATC is called a "conference" because that's the way the founding
meeting was billed and its main activity for most of the first decade
was just that ? a meeting of confederated volunteers to report
progress on fashioning the proposed Appalachian Trail and discuss
mutual plans to complete the work.
Contact Information:
Appalachian Trail Conference
P. O. Box 807
799 Washington Street
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807
Phone: (304) 535-6331 Fax: (304) 535-2667
E-Mail: general@appalachiantrail.org
For additional information,
link to ATC homepage at "http://www.appalachiantrail.org/"
[Summary provided by ATC]
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