by Natrieifia Miller
Club Roundup: Advocacy in Action
This week our Club Round-up focuses on a very recent advocacy stance taken by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and another advocacy project by the New York New Jersey Trail Conference undertaken last year.
Note that the following are opinions by independent A.T. Clubs and do not represent the position of Appalachian Trail Conservancy. You can read more about A.T. advocacy projects and policies at www.appalachiantrail.org.
Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club Opposes Mountain Valley Pipeline to Protect Hikers and Natural Beauty
Presenting concerns to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as early as June 2015, related to the proposed pipeline, RATC officially opposed the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline on May 16, 2016. The two main reasons RATC has chosen to oppose the natural gas pipeline are that they believe no consideration has been given to maintain safety of A.T. hikers passing through the proposed pipeline area, and that the pipeline will negatively impact the land through erosion and destruction of the surrounding viewshed. For a more detailed look into the matter check out RATC President, Diana Christopulos’ post on the RATC blog.
Arrow shows proposed pipeline crossing on Peters Mountain from Angel’s Rest
NY-NJ Trail Conference Advocacy Project
Back in fall of 2014 the New York New Jersey Trail Conference rallied together in order to prevent the building of a casino resort in Sterling Forest State Park and Woodburry. They opposed the building of the casino resort because of the negative impacts that the development and increased traffic could be expected to have on the park and the watershed for drinking water for millions of people. By January of 2015 they and a number had other opponents had won. Read more about how they rallied against the proposed casinos below.
Sterling Forest Resort Casino Would Devastate Parkland
New York Casinos’ Impact on Our State Parks and Trails
Article about the Win!