Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership

Nature is changing, and we can’t hold it steady, so we have to find a way to protect it while it shifts.
Mark Anderson, The Nature Conservancy

The Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership

In December 2015, the ATC and Appalachian National Scenic Trail unit of the National Park Service (APPA) convened the Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership to enable an expanded network of partners to better protect and connect the mosaic of forests, fields, farms, parks, and trails that make up the A.T. Landscape. Together with dozens of other organizations, agencies, and regional conservation networks, the ATLP seeks to support ever more effective, inclusive, and collaborative partnerships to address trends that cause major impacts on the A.T. and surrounding landscape’s natural beauty, biodiversity, ecological systems, cultural resources, and equitable public access to outdoor recreation.

The ATLP serves as a platform for partnership building in the A.T. Landscape by initiating a process to identify high-priority conservation areas, implement communication strategies that serve to build diversity and engagement among all partners, and coordinate strategies to access multiple public and private conservation funding sources. Our work is further advanced by individual partner organizations of our Partnership who carry our mission forward and implement land conservation in the field. By leveraging our combined resources and expertise, we can achieve our conservation goals at a faster pace and larger scale than could be accomplished by the efforts of any one organization working independently.

The Appalachian Trail Landscape 

For more than 100 years, the Appalachian Trail, lovingly known as the A.T., has existed as the backbone of conservation on the East Coast of the United States. The A.T. is one of the most iconic long trails globally and attracts more than three million visitors annually.

Recognized as a globally significant region, the Appalachian Trail Landscape contains a wide variety of species and critical natural resources, including a vast canopy of resilient forests and a network of streams and rivers. This natural network provides more than 119 million people with critical resources like clean water. More than 38 million people make up the diverse communities and cultures across this urbanized and populous Landscape. No natural region in the U.S. is as integrated into the economies and livelihoods of communities as this region.

The Appalachian Trail Landscape has long served as an important wilderness recreation resource, a refuge from development that preserves ecological diversity, and a primary north-south migration corridor for native wildlife in the region. With elevations ranging from 124 feet to over 6,500 feet above sea level, the trail sits upon one of the world’s most topographically and biologically diverse landscapes. This Landscape also provides critical climate change refugia for the future adaptation needs of plants and animals. Experts agree that the Appalachian Trail Landscape must be conserved and connected to maintain its resilience and biodiversity while protecting species’ current and future opportunities to move across eastern North America.

A large-landscape vision is needed to increase the pace and scale of conservation to preserve the unique characteristics of this region that enhance the A.T. user’s experience in nature and support countless human and wildlife communities. There is perhaps no greater opportunity to advance large landscape protection in the United States than by continuing in the incredible effort of land protection and community engagement that began in 1921 with the establishment of the A.T. An intact and enduring Appalachian Trail Landscape will secure the resources, benefits, and services this Landscape protects for future generations.

ATLP Steering Committee Membership