The extensive observations and interviews amongst Alpine Stewardship programs in the Northeast led this a round up old and emerging trends, shifts in the practice and developments reported since 2011 with special emphasis on material collected during 2018-2019 interviews.
Stewarding as a Career Step
Monitoring the working conditions of the stewards has been a valued part of the study because through sharing of this data, managers have been able to make improvements based on what they observe at other sites. Yet, the system works under the assumption that stewarding is seasonal work pieced together with other work to form a living wage over a year. Wages were not meeting this target when I began looking at this system in 2010, but there have been some positive changes. First, stewards do not sleep in their cars anymore. When I first started data collection there were several instances where stewards on their off days had no housing. We should be glad this problem is resolved. Pay has increased across the system, although there are some low spots. Individuals may be penalized career-wise if the scheduling of the season does not match up with spring or fall opportunities and commitments, or if they cannot articulate the relevant transferable skills of stewarding for potential employers. A few programs are developing career pathways for stewards within their organizations. Perhaps that is a signal that it is time to adjust our assumptions about this job. It can be a positive step on a career path rather than a punishment or a summer off. Stewarding is a skilled job that requires a lot of training. If employment conditions are not attractive, stewards do not return. Training new people each season puts a drag on already taxed resources. Formerly neglected, strategies for retention and year-round employment are emerging. |
Leadership Changes, Whole System Initiatives
Consistent leadership in both land management and programming areas are important to this practice. In the past three years, every single site in the study has experienced leadership changes. New leadership can bring fresh perspectives, energy, and skill set, but there are unavoidable costs. In one case, Monadnock State Park has had six different park managers since 2007. This means the stewards of Antioch’s MERE program must broker access and support for their work in the park almost every other year. At several other sites, entire leadership teams have changed having various impacts on the stewarding at those sites. In the case of the Dartmouth Outing Club at Moosilauke, stewarding responsibilities were shifted to the trail crew, actually resulting in more stewarding days, and just recently new management staff were hired. Some of this is objectively good news, but there is a price. The enthusiasm and the talents of the new people does not mitigate the renegotiation of roles, the time loss, and tacit knowledge loss. As shared earlier in this report, alpine stewardship relies on the sharing of non-quantifiable knowledge and skills. In short, we engage in practices that cannot be taught over the phone or in a spreadsheet. Side-by-side learning takes time, expertise, and institutional memory. Another pattern we are seeing across the Northeast is whole system initiatives. This past year the University of Vermont administered the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) Survey. The SCORP’s goal is to “assess the provision and need for outdoor recreation in [Vermont].” It guides policy programs and funding. Held every five years, the survey ensures the State of Vermont will have access to federal funding and can guide those funds towards real use needs. The 2019 survey is now closed but you can view and comment on the draft until 12/12/19.[1] Just this year Acadia National Park released a transportation plan and environmental impact statement to address transportation, public safety, infrastructure impacts and quality of visitor experience. This process represents a major investment in the future of this well-loved park. I encourage you to take a look.[2] The Adirondacks are at the start of a comparable treatment. Community, organizational and institutional stakeholders are working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to address safety, economic, recreational quality, and conservation concerns along the Route 73/High Peaks Corridor. The Franconia Ridge Working Group has been addressing trail management, overuse, and strategic planning for the Franconia Ridge area in the White Mountains. The group is comprised of the USFS White Mountain National Forest, the Waterman Fund, New Hampshire State Parks, New Hampshire Fish and Game, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and other individuals very experienced with the area.[3] They organized their investigations using the Visitor Use Management Framework (VUM), developed by the National Park Service. The VUM “provides cohesive guidance for managing visitor use on federally managed lands and waters” and is designed to break this very complex job into distinct steps.[4] At this writing, some recommendations for hiker outreach and data collection are in the pilot phase. This leads me to mention a new network, the White Mountain Trail Collective that is comprised of several dozen volunteer trail clubs and allies that support and maintain all the handmade trails in New Hampshire. They are coming together to network, pool their resources, and advance their work. Matt Coughlin, a trail consultant for the WMTC in 2019, presented at the Gathering.[5] The fact that all of these are happening now says a lot about the past decade in terms of resource overuse. It will be interesting to see what sorts of conversations we will have 10 years from now. [1] https://fpr.vermont.gov/scorp [2] https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=203&projectID=58482&documentID=94071 [3] Dan Sperduto, Charlie Cogbill, Nat Scrimshaw, Scott and Barbara Monroe, and others; https://www.watermanfund.org/wp-content/uploads/WatermanFundNewsletter2017-WEB.pdf [4] https://visitorusemanagement.nps.gov/VUM/Framework [5] https://wmtrailcollective.org |
Cairns and Rock Stacking
Rock cairns are used in many of our trail systems to mark the trail above the treeline. While several sites allow signage and blazing, just as many do not. In the case of Acadia, there are also special Bates cairns all over the park that are extremely prone to tampering.[1] Cairns are essential above the treeline, especially in the winter months where snow, ice, and poor visibility may obscure the route. New hikers may assume that cairns are there for aesthetics, so it makes it easier to pull rocks off them to make their own rock stacks. Anecdotally, it seems that when people see rock stacks, they want to make their own rock stack. Rock stacking and cairn tampering violate Leave No Trace principles and some federal and state regulations, depending on the site. They also put people and their potential rescuers, at risk. Based on the data collected since 2011 and the 2018-2019 interviews, cairn tampering, and rock stacking is still on the rise in most places, but has leveled off at Baxter, and the RMC system. At Moosilauke the DOC has mixed feelings on how or if to enforce because the stacking takes place in and around the foundation of the old hotel – not really a natural area. Monadnock does not have cairns and there is little material on the summit to work with so not an issue. [1] Besides the stewards keeping after them – a volunteer group known as the Walden Warriors adopts trails for cairn repair. |
Human Waste
Human waste continues to be a problem. Anecdotally, human waste presence, etiquette, and disposal has been a part of the conversation since 2010, it was at NEASG 8, where the staff at Baxter State Park presented a poster on the poop problem. Since, human waste was mentioned in data collections for 2016 and 2018, and in the 2018-2019 interviews. Of the nine participating sites, all report that waste is still a problem, and four sites are reporting an increase. While always a part of the Leave No Trace messages shared in this network, and several sites and allies have created videos and educational materials, no site has reported an effective method for addressing this problem |
Technology
Technology has created great convenience and abundance of information, however this also leads to unpreparedness on trails, leading to dangerous situations. Behavior regarding this includes hikers not bringing maps or compasses, causing an inability to change route, especially if people are out of cell service. Other social media sites can also misconstrued the regulations and current trail regulations. In few cases, stewarding sites may reach out to the sites providing misinformation, although there are many sites and it is difficult to correct them all. |
Front Country Stewardship
Recent data collection revealed a steep increase in front country stewardship. Stewarding organizations such as Acadia’s Ridge Runners, now known as Alpine Stewards, and Monadnock’s MERE Summit Stewards and others have done tabling at the trailheads and events for a while. We are seeing more of that across the system at the trailheads but also in lodges, schools, and new visitor centers. External partners and sponsors are starting to get involved. For example, the 46er Trailhead Steward Program (TSP) is a joint effort between the 46ers, the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYC DEC a.k.a. DEC). TSP’s mission is to support sustainable use of the trails in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks by providing education about the DEC rules and regulations alongside Leave No Trace principles.[1] Recently ADK has added more learning spaces at the Adirondak Loj and Heart Lake Center, and in 2016, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) expanded the Appalachian Trail Visitor Center in Monson, Maine. [2] It is at the entry of the Hundred-Mile Wilderness on the Appalachian Trail (A-T). Here, a steward sponsored by the ATC and managed by the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) is devoted to educating through-hikers on preparedness in the Hundred-Mile Wilderness, Baxter and Katahdin etiquette and safety. Expect to see more efforts where volunteer groups, towns and retail stores (such as REI), partner with organizations to help educate hikers and promote trail care, as discussed in the next section [1] http://www.adk46er.org/trailhead-steward-program.html ; Leave No Trace Principles: https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/ [2] https://appalachiantrail.org/home/community/news/2016/06/20/newly-expanded-appalachian-trail-visitor-center-opens; Additional partners: additional partner groups: Baxter State Park staff, Friends of Baxter State Park, Appalachian Long-Distance Hikers Association. |
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All material is copyrighted. (c) 2021 J. Weiss
All material is copyrighted. (c) 2021 J. Weiss