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Corridor Monitoring Program

 

 

Corridor Monitoring Workshops

  • Saturday, June 4 - Meet at the A.T.  crossing in Black Brook Notch on the South Arm road and work north up towards Old Blue Mt. 
  • Saturday, June 11 - We will work on the boundary line on the north side of White Cap Mt. east of Kokadjo.  

Anyone interested should contact me for details as the dates approach.

David B. Field
191 Emerson Mill Road
Hampden ME 04444

To join a workshop contact MATC Overseer of Lands Dave Field at 207-862-3674 or meeser3@roadrunner.com.

The Maine Appalachian Trail Club is extremely fortunate to have much of the AT in Maine surrounded by 34,000 acres of National Park Service land, but caring for and protecting that land is essential.

MATC Corridor Monitors walk the Trail and the corridor boundary lines looking for timber trespass, trash dumping, illegal motor vehicle crossings, and other encroachments that threaten the condition of corridor resources and reduce the quality of the AT experience. The surveyed boundary itself must be kept clearly visible so that neighboring landowners know where it is, and the regular inspection of boundary line monuments helps to protect against a need for very expensive re-surveys that could be required if monuments are lost.

Corridor monitoring offers an opportunity to get off the AT footpath and explore some incredibly beautiful areas that those who only walk the Trail never see. For those seeking something new in Trail stewardship, as well as a little excitement and a chance to satisfy an urge to explore, corridor monitoring may be just what you are looking for. At present, the sections listed below are available for monitoring.

2009 Corridor Monitoring Annual Report - PDF File - Posted 2-6-10

OPEN MATC CORRIDOR MONITORING ASSIGNMENTS

(Updated 1/4/12)

There are still some great opportunities for becoming involved in this relatively new, exciting aspect of caring for the Appalachian Trail in Maine.  For information about corridor monitoring and field training sessions, visit the MATC website at www.matc.org or contact me (Dave Field) at 862-3674, meeser3@roadrunner.com.  You must participate in a field training session before an assignment will be made permanent.  If you are unable to join a group session, I will make arrangements to train you on your own section.

Section 10. Mahar Landing Side Trail to Antlers Camps.  This is a gentle section accessible via the A.T. from the south end of Nahmakanta Lake.  It extends for about six miles along the A.T. and involves no boundary lines.

Section 11.  Antlers Camps to the Jo-Mary Road.  This is an easy section, accessible right at the Jo-Mary Road, that extends about four miles along the A.T.  Monitoring includes walking a blazed boundary line from the road to the township line just south of Lower Jo-Mary Lake.  The boundary was surveyed in 1995.

Section 12.  Jo-Mary Road to Cooper Brook Lean-to, including Church Pond.  This section is accessible right at the Jo-Mary Road and follows easy terrain on both the east and west sides along about four miles of the A.T.  The boundary was surveyed in 1995.

Section 13.  Cooper Brook Lean-to to Crawford Pond.  This section is accessible on the south end right at the B Pond Road.  It crosses easy terrain along a little over two miles of the A.T., but also includes the shoreline of Crawford Pond where new growth has obliterated much of the cleared boundary line. The boundary was surveyed in 1995.

Section 16. West Branch Ponds Road to Summit of White Cap Mt. This is a really exciting section that includes climbing up along Logan Brook, through some old growth spruce-fir and finishes in the krummholz and open ledges of the White Cap summit.  You can drive right to the start on the B Pond Road. Boundary surveyed in 1995.

Section 18. White Brook Trail to Gulf Hagas Mountain.  This roughly four-mile section was surveyed in 1994, but the lines are still in fairly good shape.  You can drive to within a 20-minute walk of the north side, east end of the section. The boundary was surveyed in 1994.

Section 19.  Gulf Hagas Mountain to Gulf Hagas Cutoff Trail.  This section is a little over four miles long and involves relatively gentle terrain to the base of Gulf Hagas Mt., then not a bad climb up to the top.  Easiest access is from the KI Road parking lot.  Surveyed in 1994.

Section 28.  Leeman Brook Lean-to to Highway 15.  This 3-mile section crosses gentle terrain and is accessible right at the Highway 15 trailhead. The boundary was surveyed in 1986.

Section 34.  Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to to Marble Brook.  This 3.4-mile sections has boundary lines along both sides of the West Branch of the Piscataquis River, but follows relatively gentle, lowland terrain through primarily hardwood forest.  It is accessible via logging roads at the southerly end. The boundary was surveyed in 1994.

Section 35. Marble Brook to the Outlet of Bald Mt. Pond.  This is an easily accessed, rather flat section about 3.4 miles long that was surveyed in 1994.

Section 36.  Outlet of Bald Mt. Pond to Moxie Pond at Joe’s Hole.  This is an exciting, long (9 miles) assignment that crosses spectacular terrain over Moxie Bald Mt.  Most of the land is in National Park Service ownership, but the section also crosses the Maine Bureau of Parks & Lands Bald Mt. Pond Unit.  The NPS land was surveyed in 1997.

Section 64. Bemis Stream Trail to the Old Clearwater Brook Trail.  This is a remote section, about four miles long, that requires access by foot along the Bemis Stream Trail from Maine Route 17. The boundary was surveyed in 1989.

Section 65. Old Clearwater Brook Trail to South Arm Road.  This is a rugged section up Old Blue Mt. and down into Black Brook Notch but the scenery is great.  Surveyed in 1990. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is a tract and what is the A.T. corridor?

A tract is a unit of land that includes the Appalachian Trail within its boundary. One tract is connected to the next tract, and the next, and so on. The connected tracts define the A.T. corridor through Maine, from Katahdin to the Mahoosucs. The A.T. runs north-south inside the corridor boundary. Don't assume the corridor is always 1,000 feet wide. Tracts vary in size and width. NPS, BSP, BPL and others own the A.T. corridor in Maine. The Maine Appalachian Trail Club looks after the corridor lands and the trail.

Are corridor monitoring sections and trail maintenance sections the same?

When the A.T. corridor was laid out across Maine, the tract and corridor sections did not coincide with trail maintenance sections. Some MATC designated corridor monitoring sections nearly coincide with trail maintenance sections, others don't. This is why there are 70 corridor monitoring sections and 90 trail maintenance sections on the A.T. in Maine.

Is maintaining a section of trail the same as monitoring a section of corridor?

The two are very different jobs. Maintaining the A.T. is about assessing, planning and responding to conditions right on and immediately along the trail. The scope of trail maintenance is trail focused, period.

Monitoring is tract and corridor focused. Corridor monitors assess and respond to conditions beyond the immediate trail, all the way out to the boundary line of the corridor tract. It includes assessing activities that may be occurring just outside the corridor, or activities that may be intruding across the boundary line into the interior of the corridor.

Some examples are timber trespass, offroad vehicles, dumping, and other alterations of the tract from human activity. Changes in the natural environment from insects, disease, or forest fires can also be a part of the scope of corridor monitoring.

Can I be a corridor monitor, but not maintain a section of trail?

Certainly. While some trail maintainers also monitor the immediate corridor, others don't. If corridor monitoring appeals to your interests, there are plenty of corridor monitoring sections along the A.T. in Maine that are available for your care and contribution.

Corridor Monitoring activity means contracting to:
  • Get off the trail with map and compass and go out across the tract.
  • Walk on out to the boundary lines of the corridor section.
  • Look for signs of intrusion into the corridor tract.
  • Walk the boundary lines more often when activity is occurring next door.
  • Report incidents and your annual activity in a timely fashion.
  • Revisit and check up when adjacent activities or corridor incidents occur.
  • Communicate with your A.T. District Overseer and Overseer of Lands

Dave Field's report on the 2009 workshop:

On 20 June 2009, Geoff Shadman, Martha Graff, Michelle Curtain, Tony Barrett and Dave Field met near Sugarloaf Mt. on Route 27. This was the second corridor monitoring workshop of the spring.  We drove into the AT trailhead on the Caribou Valley Road and located monuments along the road, then followed the boundary down to the South Branch of the Carrabassett River.  The previous day's heavy rain had brought the river up to a level that was not attractive to cross, so we drove back to Route 27 and worked the boundary of National Park land between Route 27 and the Bigelow Preserve boundary.

All monuments located were digitally photographed. This was a productive workshop, but the recent heavy rains made for very wet conditions in the brush and underfoot.  An unexpected event was our encounter with the construction of the new powerline connection that will bring energy from the Boundary Mountains (TransCanada) wind farm project to the substation next to Route 27.  Cianbro crews were digging a ditch for the underground line past the northerly entrance to the AT parking lot that will extend along the road right-of-way through the AT corridor and under the road to the substation.  The newly cleared powerline right-of-way along the AT corridor west of Route 27 comes right up to the boundary line but does not encroach on the corridor.

Who do I contact to become an MATC Corridor Monitor?

David Field
MATC Overseer of Lands
191 Emerson Mill Road
Hampden, Maine 04444
Email: meeser3@roadrunner.com

For more on corridor monitoring, Dave says to read this "great article on the work that ATC surveyor Sally Naser has been doing in northern New England with her tiny boundary maintenance crew." The 929kb pdf file is from the latest issue of AT Journeys. It can be downloaded from the MATC site by using this url: Boundary Monitors Mahoosucs ATJ JanFeb2008.

To view or print a PDF (Portable Document Format) file, you need the Adobe Reader, version 5 or later, on your computer. If you don't already have it, you can download a free copy of the Reader from the Adobe Web site at Adobe Acrobat. Installation instructions are available from the Adobe website.

 


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