Category Archives: Executive Committee

Request for Proposals for Training our Trail Crew in Trail Building for the Years 2024, 2025, 2026

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Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC)

Request for Proposals for Training our Trail Crew in Trail Building for the Years 2024, 2025, 2026

Background – During the 2024, 2025, 2026 field seasons, the MATC’s Maine Trail Crew will work on remote sections of the Appalachian Trail.

Projects will focus on rebuilding and restoring heavily impacted sections of the Appalachian Trail. The Trail Crew will utilize rigging equipment and hand tools to build stone steps, stone stairs, waterbars, and complete short relocations.

Scope of Work – To provide five days of training each of the three years to the Maine Trail Crew staff (5 people) consisting of:

  • Three days of training in advanced trail construction and safety practices focused on stone cutting, stone waterbars, stone stairs, step stones, retaining walls, and trail relocations.
  • Two days of training in rigging systems. Training will be based in Skowhegan, with possible nearby field trips to locations which provide better training opportunities.
  • The contractor is not required to provide equipment although demonstration of new state of the art tools and equipment would be welcome.

Time Frame for completion of project (start to finish)

–   Between May 20-31 2024

  • Between May 19-30, 2025
  • Between May 18-29, 2026

Due date for a lump sum project quote – 5:00 PM Eastern time, August 24, 2023. 

Contractors interested in submitting a proposal must send an email to coordinator@matc.org expressing their interest no later than 5:00 PM Eastern time August 11, 2023 in order to be eligible to submit. Proposal on August 24th and to receive any amendments to the Request for Proposals.

Proposals must Include

• Resume of the person who will be instructing the crew detailing their experience in training trail crews in the skills referenced in the scope of work. 

• Brief curriculum of the training

  • A lump sum price for completing the training for all three years

Prior to award of the contact, the selected Contractor will be required to provide the following:

  • Workers’ compensation coverage, unless exempt by law and ensure that its Subcontractors, if any, comply with these requirements.
  • General Liability Insurance:
  • Must name MATC as additional insured.  
  • Coverage limits: $1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate
  • Auto: Coverage limit of $1,000,000 

Questions should be submitted in writing by email to coordinator@matc.org by 5:00 PM Eastern time, August 11, 2023. A written response to any questions will be emailed to all parties who have expressed their interest in the project.

MATC will select the contractor based on qualifications and price by September 22, 2023 and reserves the right to reject any and all proposals.

2022 Annual Business Meeting

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Save the date! The Maine Appalachian Trail Club’s 2022 annual meeting will be held on Saturday April 9th from 9-11am on…. you guessed it- Zoom! Again, we will miss seeing familiar faces and the stories of blow-downs, privies, and flat tires. And we’ll especially miss the coffee and doughnuts! But, with the latest news of COVID-19 this is the best we can do. We are planning on a 2-hour meeting to prevent screen fatigue and stick to the tasks at hand. Based on last year’s meeting we should be able to make it within the 2 hour time-frame. We’ll send out more information, including a Zoom invite, as the date approaches. In addition, we’ll be reaching out to those without the internet to make accommodations. Below is a sneak-peek of the agenda. “See” you all on April 9th! For more information, please contact: Tom Gorrill tgorrill@matc.org

Agenda
Maine Appalachian Trail Club Spring Meeting Via Zoom
Saturday, April 9, 2022

9:00 AM Annual Business Meeting of the Club

  • Welcome – Lester Kenway
  • Approval of the 2021 Annual Meeting minutes – Janice Clain
  • Treasurer’s Report – Jonathan Ellis
  • Adoption of Budget for FY 2022-2023 – Jonathan Ellis
  • Corresponding Secretary Report – Doug Dolan
  • President’s Report – Lester Kenway
  • Recognition and awards – Peter Roderick, Lester Kenway, Tom Gorrill
  • Election of Officers – Janice Clain

10:45 AM News from Appalachian Trail Conservancy – Paige MacGregor
11:00 AM Q&A
11:10 AM End of Day

Tony Barrett in ATC’s “Volunteer Spotlight”

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Please help us congratulate our very own Tony Barrett who is ATC’s featured volunteer for November! Currently Tony is on the MATC Executive Committee as well as a trail maintainer and chair of our Landscape Protection Committee. Please read the volunteer spotlight to learn about all of Tony’s contributions to the AT!

Mike Blais

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Bigelow District Manager
New Gloucester, ME
EMAIL: bigelow@matc.org
Mike is a foundry man and business owner of the Auburn Stove Foundry Company, Inc., in New Gloucester. Mike served as the Maintainer for Frye Notch, in the Baldpate District, for ten years, one of the most difficult sections to access and maintain. Prior to becoming at maintainer for MATC he maintained trails for Appalachian Mountain Club, in NH.

 

Laura Flight

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Manager of Campsites
EMAIL: campsite@matc.org
Laura grew up in Winthrop, Maine and was privileged to be introduced to the outdoors at a young age. Her first big adventure on the A.T. was in 1986, at the age of 11, when she hiked White Cap Mountain via the old Fire Warden’s trail while staying at West Branch Pond Camps. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1997 with a BS in Environmental Science and has enjoyed a career with the U.S. Geological Survey since 1995. In 2005, she became a trail maintainer on the Grafton Loop Trail, and in 2015 shifted to maintain a section of the A.T. on Wyman Mountain which she still stewards today. Currently, Laura serves at the Campsite Manager on the Executive Committee as well as a member of the Communications Committee. 

 

Ryan Linn

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Director
EMAIL: rlinn@matc.org
Ryan hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2007. He later worked for several Appalachian Mountain Club camps and as Group Outreach Coordinator for the Green Mountain Club. Eventually, he created the Guthook Guides app for various trails, including the AT, and continues to work on that from his home in Portland. He’s been the volunteer maintainer of the Mt Abraham blue-blaze trail since 2015.

Ron Tebbetts

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Baldpate District Manager
EMAIL: baldpate@matc.org
Ron has been a maintainer on the Grafton Loop Trail since 2020. He was on the UMO faculty from 1979 to 1984 as an Instructor of Forest Resources, and holds a BS Forest Management degree from LSU. Ron has been a hiker for years, first stepping foot on the Appalachian Trail in 1973. Now that he is retired, he wants to spend more time on the trail while also “giving back” to the trail community. Ron will have two assistants, Emily Zimmerman and Dave Welbourn, who were appointed by the Executive Committee on January 9, 2021.

Jonathan Ellis

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Treasurer
Brentwood, NH
EMAIL: treasurer@matc.org
Jonathan has been the Treasurer since April 2018. He has been a Club member since 1993, a corridor monitor since 2009, and has helped construct the Horns Pond lean-tos and several recent accessible moldering privies. A native of Augusta, Maine, he graduated from Swarthmore College in 1969 with a BA in Economics. After serving in the Army, he enjoyed a 35-year career in commercial banking. Since retirement in 2007 he has served as the Treasurer of his hometown, Brentwood, NH.

Dave Dore

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Kennebec District Manager
EMAIL: kennebec@matc.org
Dave has been a maintainer with the club for 4 years. Along with his wife, they have maintained a 3.5-mile section of trail that runs from the South bank of the Kennebec River to Bowtown Road; this section includes two blue-blaze side trails and half of the Kennebec River crossing. Dave has been an active hiker and has section-hiked a large portion of the Maine AT and can be found out hiking somewhere in Maine almost every weekend. Volunteering is something he is passionate about as a way to give back to the trails that have given him so much enjoyment. Dave is currently employed at Maine General Medical Center in Augusta as a Radiology Equipment Specialist maintaining the x-ray and ultrasound equipment.

Brad Deane

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Whitecap District Manager
Guilford, ME
EMAIL: whitecap@matc.org
Brad is currently the Assistant Manager of the Whitecap District  and will replace Dick Welsh as the Manager in April of 2021.  Brad also has been a maintainer in the Whitecap District for the past 6 years.   Over the last few years he has spent many hours on various work outings in the Whitecap District. He lives in Guilford and recently retired from Hardwood Products Co after working there for 44 years.