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New: State Supreme Court rules leasing public land for fracking betrayed government's constitutional duties ... more
Latest on PennEast project on main AMC web site ... link
AT Hall of Fame 2017 inductees are Harlean James of Washington, DC; Charles Parry of Blacksburg, VA; Mildred Norman "Peace Pilgrim" Ryder, of Egg Harbor, NJ; and Matilda "Tillie" Wood, of Roswell, GA. ... more
AT Museum to honor Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau at 7th annual banquet On June 2 ... link
2017 AMC Women's Conservation Leadership Program, June 10 ... link
At AMC's Noble View Outdoor Center in the Berkshires
Chapter contributes $2,000 for Lake Nockamixon disabled accessible dock
This is the type of accessibly dock to be built at Lake Nockamixon for canoe and kayak launching.
Our chapter is contributing $2,000 toward the $42,000 safe dock project of the Friends of Nockamixon State Park.
The goal is to make launching a kayak or canoe at Nockamixon a whole lot easier and safer for people with disabilities.
This project connects people to the outdoors and increases diversity, equity and inclusion through providing access to Lake Nockamixon paddling for handicapped individuals.
Nockamixon State Park has provided their environmental education center for our two-day leader training at no cost for approximately 15 years. We also lead an average of two events monthly in the park, both hiking and paddling.
The DV Chapter has a capital reserve fund that is used for public service projects, such as trail development and preservation, and projects like this dock.
Our chapter receives $8 annually from each member’s dues, and uses this for operating expenses. The reserve fund comes from a surplus we developed when we stopped print publication of this newsletter seven years ago, which was consuming almost two thirds of our budget. As a non-profit organization, we must use this money for charitable or public service purposes.
Rich Einstein, leader, conservation activist, named volunteer of the month
Rich Einstein, an active hike and bike leader who is always welcoming to new members with his pun-ishing sense of humor, has been named Volunteer of the Month.
Rich recently retired from serving the Chapter as Treasurer, and has a commitment to conservation activities that give back to areas our Chapter uses for activities. In addition to leading groups during clean-ups in the Pennsylvania's Delaware Canal State Park, Rich has taken on a role as the chapter liaison to the D & R Greenway Land Trust. A group he led recently did a great spring clean-up in the native plant garden near the D & R canal in Trenton. When you see Rich please thank him for his service.
The Chapter’s Volunteer of the Month program was initiated to recognize volunteers nominated by their peers. Chapter members can nominate volunteers by e-mail to recognition@amcdv.org.
The nomination should contain the nominee’s name, reason for the recognition, and name of the nominator. Each nominee name is entered into a random drawing for the Volunteer of the Month recognition. The monthly winners are entered into an annual drawing at the Annual Dinner for a grand prize of a weekend stay at an AMC facility. Nominees must be an AMC member, not a member of the current Executive Committee, and may serve in any volunteer capacity that benefits the Chapter mission in the Delaware Valley area. See the past Volunteers of the Month.
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2017 Ridge Runner Nick Espinosa is already busy at work on AT
The Ridge Runner this year is Nick Espinosa, from Clearwater, Florida. Nick finished the Trail in 2016 reaching Katahdin in December in snow after a later than usual start. That experience meant so much that he felt that he wanted to give back, and he thought that this would be a great way to do it.
Just before coming here, he began as a ridge runner in the Smokies. He was surprised this past week on his first day on the job here to meet the same two thru hikers who he met on his first day back in March .In his first three days, Nick has been hard at work helping to keep dispersing fire rings, removing trees across the trail and meeting trail users. On Memorial Day weekend a lot of local hikers were out on the trail, joining the many section and thru-hikers already making their way through this area.
The Ridge Runner program on the Appalachian Trail enters its 25th year in 2017. Our Ridge Runner is an AMC seasonal employee hired to work on a section of the AT five days a week including weekends and holidays between Memorial and Labor Day. His or her job is to meet and greet trail users, educate about Leave No Trace, and generally help preserve the trail experience for future generations.
Our chapter and the larger AMC have been directly involved in supporting this program in PA for all of those years. The program has been coordinated by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the National Park Service, with a continuing grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The section of trail covered stretches 42 miles from Delaware Water Gap to Lehigh Furnace Gap and includes Wind Gap, Little Gap and Lehigh Gap in northeastern PA (Ir covers the 16 miles of the trail maintained by the our chapter. There are two other ridge runner programs on the AT in Pennsylvania, one in the Cumberland Valley, and the other in southern PA near Michaux State Forest.
If you'd like to keep updated on the Ridge Runner program and Kevin's experiences on the trail, "like" the program on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NEPARidgerunner/
AMC’s Youth Opportunities Program (YOP) offers a variety of trainings, specifically geared toward urban youth workers and teachers who would like to increase their skill set so they can effectively manage risk while creating great outdoor programming for their constituents. More information on YOP can be found here. Training options, here.
If you are interested in more information, they should contact either Lindsay Watkins (YOP-New England) at lwatkins@outdoors.org or Sebastian Venuat (YOP-NY & NJ) at svenuat@outdoors.org.
Conservation policy manager Will Callaway joins AMC's Bethlehem, PA, office
Will Callaway has joined AMC as our Mid-Atlantic Policy Manager based in the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania office where he will be coordinating and advancing our conservation policy priorities in the region, such as open space funding, air and climate policies, and energy development threats to the outdoors.
Will has a long career in policy and natural resource conservation that includes five years as a staff member in the United States Senate, and14 years working with non-profit organizations focused on environmental protection and public health.
He grew up in southeast Tennessee and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his graduate degree in environmental sciences from the University of Michigan.
In addition, Will spent several years working on political campaigns and was the Democratic nominee for the US House of Representatives for Tennessee’s Third Congressional District in 2000.
A lifelong fly fisherman, he looks forward to spending time on and in Monocacy Creek just outside the doors of the AMC office in Bethlehem. You can reach Will at wcallaway@outdoors.org or 610-868-6903.
Ruby Horwood, first AMC Board President, DV Chapter Chair, celebrates 100 birthday
Ruby Horwood, who was the first woman chair of the Delaware Valley Chapter (1969-1970) recently celebrated her 100 birthday with all the women who have held that position at her home near North Wales.
She also was the first female to serve as president of AMC's Board of Directors, holding that office in 1974 and 1975. During her tenure, she led the way for the expansion of AMC's Joy Street headquarters, and led two major environmental battles, protecting Franconia Notch from I-93, and saving the Delaware River from the proposed Tocks Island Dam.
Ruby was presented with a certificate of recognition signed by AMC President John Judge. along with balloons and flowers. Those visiting were past and present female chairs, left to right, Joan Aichele, current chair Lois Rothenberger, Lennie Steinmetz and Jane Shepard, They chatted, sipped lemonade & reminisced. Not able to attend were Priscilla Estes and Andrea Deaton.
Read more about Ruby's amazing career of hiking and outdoor activities by clicking here.
More than three-quarters of all trip reports now submitted electronically
In 2016, our chapter ran 767 trips, and 583 of these were submitted electronically, reports hiking chair Malcolm Preece. This innovative system was designed and implemented by two chapter volunteers. John Rowen wrote the program code, and serves as the primary support person for passwords and help. Eric Pavlak created the instruction pages (amcdv.org/tripreport.html) and e-mail system, and serves as the help backup.
Your report and sign in sheet is automatically sent to the trip logger, to the appropriate activity chair, and to AMC headquarters in Boston. A backup copy of your scanned sign-in sheet is automatically made. And you can get a copy of your submitted report sent back to you. All without paper or postage.
Click here for the Appalachian Mountain Club main website.
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