The AMC 4-Week Teen Camp Dodge Leadership & Conservation Crew have been working non-stop on conservation and education throughout their crew experience. The first week the crew was up on Twinway working on installing bog bridges between Zeacliff Pond and Zealand Mountain. Their second week the crew was working up at Lonesome Lake. Over the past two weekends the crew has taken a Leave No Trace Trainer course and a SOLO Wilderness First Aid course.
As the crew started their third week we began with a morning “classroom” session on land management and recreation management in northern NH. We then talked about the Appalachian Trail and specific management of this National Scenic Trail and the role AMC plays in a portion of the overall management structure of the trail. We finished up looking at maps and learning the basics of AT Corridor Boundary Maintenance.
We headed out into the field for a day trip on the AT corridor to clear the corridor boundary of small trees and brush, repaint the survey paint and locate the AT survey monuments along the corridor. We had a great day “treasure hunting” of sorts as we searched for each monument.
Where the AT travels though private lands, as it does in the southern Mahoosucs in NH there is a corridor roughly 1000 feet wide to serve as a buffer of protected lands in which the trail is then laid. Working along the east or west boundaries to clearly define the line between private lands and National Park lands is very important work. Far more adventurous, off-trail work was an appealing project for this crew.
The 4-week crew has one week left after this and they all have been doing a great job. We are happy to have these volunteers with us for 4-weeks and we hope to see them again, possibly as AMC staff, in the future.
Photos: Alex DeLucia