Rockfish to Reeds: Corridor Boundary Monitoring

AT corridor boundary monument 35

Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club (ODATC) is one of only 31 AT maintaining clubs. These clubs are responsible for the entire 2,000+ miles of AT from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Maine. Most of the club members are probably aware of the 'regular' maintaining of the AT that goes on by the club maintainers/sawyers/volunteers such as removing blowdowns, installing waterbars and keeping them operable, building rock steps or other rock projects, weed whipping, and generally keeping the AT clear and in good shape for all the hikers that use it.

Another maintaining activity, one that is probably not as well known, is monitoring the AT Corridor Boundary lines. This is an off-trail activity and requires bushwhacking and navigating through some rough terrain. You must be physically fit to do this, have an adventurous spirit, and love being in the mountains/woods where you will see all sorts of beautiful, often interesting and sometimes strange sights as you locate/check out the monuments that mark the corridor and look for boundary line encroachments or other issues.

So what is Corridor Boundary Monitoring specifically? The following information is from the AT Corridor Stewardship Field Book (A Guide to Corridor Monitoring and Boundary Maintenance for Volunteers):

Corridor monitoring is the systematic gathering and reporting of information about the corridor and its boundaries through periodic on-the-ground inspections. (Monitoring Task Force 1983)

Despite being a lesser known side of trail work, it is important for all of those involved with trail management to recognize that a successfully run corridor monitoring program at the club level provides the primary line of defense in protecting the corridor. Monitoring is the first step in identifying problem areas and planning remedial actions to protect the investment in both the land base and the surveyed boundary line.

With the signing of the "Delegation Agreement" between ATC and NPS in 1984, corridor monitoring became a responsibility of all local Trail clubs having NPS acquired corridor lands within their respective Trail Sections .

Local Trail Club Roles

Monitor Coordinator

The monitor coordinator (note: for ODATC this is the "Land Management" board position) is responsible for designing and implementing the club's corridor monitoring program. These responsibilities include:

Ensuring to ATC and NPS that the club fulfills its corridor monitoring duties.
Recruiting and training volunteers to serve as corridor monitors.
Dividing the club's corridor into reasonably sized monitoring sections.
Determining the frequency for each section to be monitored.
Coordinating follow-up of any encroachments or other corridor related problems.
Preparing and submitting to ATC by February 15 the required annual summary report of corridor monitoring activity for the previous calendar year.

Corridor Monitors

Corridor Monitors gather and report information about their assigned sections of the corridor and its boundaries through periodic on-the-the ground inspections. Their responsibilities include:

Regularly walking the boundary of their corridor section to ensure a consistent watchful presence in the eyes of both adjacent landowners and the general public.
Locating monuments, reference trees, and line trees.
Documenting & reporting to the monitor coordinator the existing boundary conditions, such as faded survey blazes, excessive overgrowth along the boundary, lack of U.S. Boundary signs, missing reference trees, and conditions of monuments.
Documenting and reporting to the monitor coordinator and ATC signs of inappropriate use, external threats, or other types of corridor misuse.
Providing an accessible point of contact to adjacent landowners who may have questions or concerns about the corridor.
Working with the local trail club, ATC, and/or NPS (in more serious trespass situations) to mitigate discovered problems.

From ODATC's website(under the 'Stewardship' tab) and the link Land Management, this information applies specifically to the club's boundary monitoring responsibility:

The ODATC monitors and maintains 162 survey monuments and the approximately 15 miles of NPS boundary they define as part of the protective buffer on both the east and west sides of the AT corridor for those portions of the AT in our region of responsibility (Reed's Gap to Rockfish gap) that run east of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

For a map of all the monuments monitored by ODATC (you can zoom in to see the actual monument numbers):

What We Monitor

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Now that you have a good idea of what "Corridor Boundary Monitoring" is, why the club is responsible for it, and what the specific obligations are, here are pictures of one segment of 'boundary line' monuments. As you can see, monuments are found in many different locations ... finding them is a bit like treasure hunting, although GPS has made it somewhat easier to 'get on the line'! Back in "the good old days", getting on line was accomplished with a compass, a survey map, and the previous year's flagging, if the deer hadn't nibbled it off the trees (they seem to especially like the pink colored flagging). The AT Corridor Stewardship Field Book (1st link) is a great way to see the actual detail of how the corridor monitors do their very important jobs so be sure and check it out.

Note: Published April 6 on R2R: A Day Out On The Line by David Wilcox. This is the actual account of Dave (a Corridor Monitor) & his crew, out monitoring a boundary line segment on March 21, 2013.

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