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Appalachian Mountain Club
A Vision for the Year 2010 -
Building on Success in the 21^st Century

AMC's Defining Concepts

1. AMC gives priority to the Appalachian region from Maine to Virginia while working locally where our members live to influence conservation and recreation concerns.
2. AMC encourages and prides itself on volunteer initiative and energy as vital to our present and future.
3. AMC promotes ecologically sustainable use of natural resources.
4. AMC supports and develops our members' environmentally responsible non-motorized recreation and conservation interests.
5. AMC promotes education to support the conservation and stewardship of the Appalachian region throughout our membership and activities.
6. AMC bases advocacy positions on sound science and our core values.
7. AMC develops, leads, participates in and supports broad-based coalitions to further our mission.
8. AMC works toward developing diversity within its membership, staff, programs and activities.

Mission into Action

The AMC has translated Mission into Action through engaging its membership, staff, and partners in a host of projects in places we care about most. Our actions are most dramatic when they focus many Defining Concepts on multi-purpose, concrete results. Successful local engagement provides a critical platform from which AMC is able to tackle conservation and recreation issues of regional and national significance - promoting the long-term ecological health and economic well being of our region. The following examples illustrate the successful interweaving of people, places, and resources:

The Upper Androscoggin Project

We are working extensively on the community level in the Upper Androscoggin River region of Northern New Hampshire, from Errol, NH, to Bethel, ME adjacent to the White Mountain National Forest. In this region, we come in contact with nearly a million visitors each year. Working with community members AMC is finding ways to bring balance to the ecological and economic health of the region. Begun in 1995, this community-based conservation initiative has brought together a wealth of resources - local residents, businesses, AMC members and staff, government agencies and partners - in an attempt to develop new ways of working to achieve conservation goals as well as economic sustainability. By listening to and interacting with a broad spectrum of the community, we are finding new ways to achieve results. We are creating a wealth of diverse initiatives:

• economic development roundtables
• a new citizen-based Watershed Council
• an annual Source-to-the-Sea Canoe Trek
• a new community-based environmental education program for the schools
• riparian land protection
• cooperative forest management plans for local paper industry lands

In addition, we are learning how to protect and expand the recreational opportunities for our members in ways that are of interest and benefit to the communities of the Upper Androscoggin region. AMC is learning lessons that will serve us and the communities in which we have a presence as we take on the conservation and recreation challenges of the next decade and beyond.

The Mohican Outdoor Center

In 1993, leaders from several of our Chapters reclaimed an abandoned boys' camp located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and situated along the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey. Few endeavors in recent memory can rival the tenacity and vision of a handful of AMC members who saw the opportunity to provide for education, recreation, and hands-on stewardship for our growing membership in the southern region of the AMC. In a very short time, the Mohican Outdoor Center has become a nexus for trail work, volunteer interpretation, hiking, canoeing, workshops, environmental education, outdoor and conservation leadership training, and urban youth programming. Using our Model Environmental Education Facility guidelines as a template, the volunteers and staff are building a successful program that serves the needs of urban and rural constituencies. At the same time, we are engaging our membership and friends in appreciation of the natural world and are providing opportunities for hands-on stewardship and environmental advocacy.

Our Challenge

The AMC must help to create a world where healthy ecosystems, outdoor recreation, love of the natural world, and economic sustainability support each other. Everything we do supports this goal through providing first hand experiences in the outdoors, increasing people's awareness and understanding of their place in that natural world, and conserving critical places for long-term ecological, recreational, educational, and economic well-being.

To meet our challenge we must continue to reach out and build new relationships, strengthen our partnerships, find more opportunities to mobilize our energy and secure the resources for us to move forward. We must be creative and bold, engage people, and work collaboratively on issues of common concern.

AMC's Strategic Objectives for the Year 2010

These strategic objectives, created and developed by the AMC Board of Directors, volunteers and staff, will guide and challenge the Appalachian Mountain Club in the coming decade. We see the integration of these priorities as critical to our success. We will evaluate our work each year by reviewing these objectives, setting benchmarks and charting our progress.

1.     Engaging the Public: Model Environmental Education Facilities

We use our facilities to further the full range of our conservation and education goals while providing outdoor recreation opportunities to our members and the public. Each AMC facility is strategically located to serve our conservation, recreation and education purposes. Each demonstrates our high standards of stewardship, including our concern for the ecological health of the backcountry and, where appropriate, the economic health of local communities. By 2010 AMC facilities will:

• Offer high quality education, conservation and recreation programs that will encourage personal commitment to environmental understanding and protection.
• Engage volunteers and staff, working together, in implementing quality customer service and appropriate environmental education.
• Serve as models of energy efficiency, appropriate technology, and minimal environmental impact.
• Support the highest quality recreation and education experiences for day visitors and overnight guests alike, with a special emphasis on serving the different needs of young adults, families and seniors.
• Focus on outdoor and recreational safety and, where appropriate, be used to concentrate visitor impact in high use areas.
• Reach out to local communities and work to build common agendas for conservation and environmental education.

As examples of promoting model environmental education facilities:

1. We will fund the upgrading or construction of key facilities to meet the expanding needs of the AMC and the public we serve. We will also raise necessary endowment support to guarantee conservation and education programming, and to keep our facilities as economically accessible and affordable as possible.
2. All facilities will instill a stewardship ethic promoting sustainable recreation behaviors. At each facility, we will provide displays that focus on the local environment and its stewardship. We will provide quality programs of tours, walks and nature activities for all guests.
3. We will practice composting, recycling, and energy and water conservation uniquely suited to each specific facility. All facility waste treatment systems will be designed to the highest environmental standards. An active education program that encourages all visitors to use these ideas in their own homes and communities will support these stewardship activities.
4. All major facilities will become regional centers for educational programming and conservation leadership training, with an appropriate mix of programs for people of all ages and experience.

2.     Engaging Our Members: Conservation and Recreation

Mountains, rivers, trails and greenways are central to our mission. By protecting these places we ensure their ecological health and provide for recreational enjoyment. By 2010, the AMC will:

• Secure, by working with a broad range of alliances, coalitions and partners, significant additional protection of the most endangered and threatened landscapes and watersheds in the Northern and Central Appalachian region. We will employ a variety of protection strategies such as scientifically based policy analysis, public education, advocacy, coalition-building and creative partnerships with private landowners, public officials and agencies, corporations and small businesses, and other constituencies to safeguard these resources.
• Further encourage the recreational ventures of our Chapters, our Camps and our members at large with increased recognition for well trained leaders and a "Leave no Trace" ethic.
• Significantly increase the number of AMC members contributing to advancing critical conservation and recreation issues throughout our region, through education programs and advocacy efforts, and strong volunteer-staff collaboration.
• Achieve permanent non-development easements or other protections for the most sensitive highest elevation areas and mountain headwaters in our region. Work to successfully clean up the severe air pollution in the White Mountains, Acadia, Shenandoah and other mountain regions.
• Provide regional and national leadership in trail construction and maintenance, trail corridor and trailhead protection. Further develop our special expertise and effectiveness in riparian land protection and riparian trails, hydro-dam relicensing mitigation, headwater protection, instream flows, and river access for others to model.
• Increase our endowment funds to guarantee stability in our conservation, education and trail programs, and have adequate annual funding for increased efforts to achieve our mission successfully.

As examples of moving toward our goal of promoting and balancing recreation and conservation, we will pursue the following:

1.   Promote conservation and recreation initiatives for our home communities, e.g., the Androscoggin River Watershed Council and the Bronx River restoration project; and promote sustainable economic development through close alliance with such associations as the Businesses for the Northern Forest.

2.   Create and expand volunteer programs and membership participation in advocacy and leadership training. Examples to date include the Mountain and River Leadership Schools, the various Outdoor Leadership Training programs, Leave No Trace, the AMC website www.outdoors.org, and the Volunteer Trail Crew programs.

3.   Continue to implement a regional approach to protecting land and water resources with the highest ecological and recreational value. We will continue to advocate for increased funding to protect land at the Federal, state and local levels and conduct science-based analysis of the most endangered areas. Specifically, this would include efforts to obtain permanent funding for the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to conserve, for example, the "10 Wildlands of the Northern Forest."

4.   Lead and support efforts to reduce and mitigate pressures on the backcountry. We will use educational outreach and advocacy for stronger public policies to promote low-impact backcountry recreation, and to limit wind-turbine and telecommunications towers, motorized off-road vehicles, and other facilities or uses which have adverse impacts on public conservation and recreation lands.

5.   Greatly increase our impact on youth, especially from underserved areas, e.g., urban communities and areas surrounding public lands. Our current programs: A Mountain Classroom, Mountain Mentors and the Youth Opportunities Programs in Boston, New York and Philadelphia must be expanded in breadth and depth.

3.       Building Our Resources: People and Support

The skill and commitment of AMC members, volunteers and staff have promoted the AMC's success in integrating conservation, recreation and education. This success is within the context of a financially sound and well-managed organization. AMC's combined resources must now be mobilized toward protecting our most important asset, the Appalachian region, which is home to our members and our recreation and conservation activities.

People

The continued commitment and hard work of the Club's members, volunteer leaders, and staff - its most important resources - enhance the AMC's strong reputation. AMC supports and encourages individual efforts by creating more opportunities to build technical expertise in recreation and conservation, hone leadership capabilities, recognize achievement, and develop communication skills. A vibrant and diverse membership and a strong professional staff will allow AMC to achieve the most effective and efficient use of other valuable resources, including our physical plant and our management systems.

More specifically, AMC will:

• Strengthen the shared vision and sense of purpose among all members of the AMC community through on-going communication about Club issues, and by encouraging mutual respect, coordination and cooperation among all volunteers and staff.
• Launch new efforts to attract and retain younger members.
• Improve training and recognition throughout the organization to increase volunteer and staff effectiveness, skills, leadership capacity, satisfaction, and participation.
• Further develop and expand high quality outdoor leadership training for volunteers and staff. and provide programs that will meet, then exceed national standards for conservation, education, leadership practices and safety.
• Increase our endowment to guarantee stable financing for these efforts.

Support

The AMC will fully support the efforts of its members and staff to achieve its mission through strengthening and expanding its revenue and invested asset base. We will continue to build our operations that generate revenues while furthering our programmatic objectives; and we will seek to identify new sources of revenue appropriate to our mission and culture. We always will strive for sustainability and stability in all our operations.

More specifically, the Club will:

• Develop plans to build revenues from facilities, programs, member dues, books, retail and other areas of operations, always keeping paramount our values and our mission.
• Plan for, and successfully complete, yearly annual fund campaigns and a capital campaign to meet the demands of the Vision 2010 and to sustain future club operations.

Looking Ahead

The Appalachian Mountain Club has come a long way since its founding in 1876 and has maintained many of the traditions of its founders. The last ten years have been a period of enormous growth and change. The AMC has become a regional as well as national leader in conservation issues important to our membership. We have brought education to nearly all our activities. We have created a stable, well-managed and financially sound organization that serves our members and a growing share of the public. As we head into the next century, we are poised to make a real difference in the future of the region --- contributing our leadership and expertise in outdoor recreation and conservation. We cannot rest on our success. To enact our vision, we must commit our energy and skills, our staff, our unique facilities and educational resources, and our extensive network of conservation partners, all dedicated to protecting and enjoying the ecological heritage of the Appalachian Region.