The national trails system objectives preserve, protect, and develop the components of the national trails system, with a strong emphasis on volunteer involvement through financial assistance…

This $460,000 Cooperative Agreement awarded on September 5, 2023 by the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service under the National Trails System Projects program (CFDA 15.935) supports the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in protecting, preserving, and developing the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The funded activities include volunteer-based surveys, assessments, and preservation treatments for sensitive species and rare plant communities, inventory and control of invasive species, and restoration of native plant populations and trail scenery documentation. Expected outcomes include completing volunteer-assisted visual resource inventories, executing annual rare plant monitoring, restoring butterfly habitat, reestablishing red spruce forest, and implementing invasive species early detection and response protocols. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy will also manage sub-awards to support youth corps trail work as part of this project.

The national trails system objectives preserve, protect, and develop the components of the national trails system, with a strong emphasis on volunteer involvement through financial assistance agreements to operate, develop, and maintain any portion of such a trail either within or outside a federally administered area. This project supports implementation of natural resource management programs for the appalachian national scenic trail. Funded activities include surveys, assessments, and preservation treatments for sensitive species volunteer-based monitoring and protection of rare plant communities inventory and control of invasive species restoration of native plant populations and documentation of trail scenery. Expected project outcomes include completion of volunteer-assisted visual resource inventories in two or more states executing annual rare plant monitoring work plans restoring critical metalmark butterfly habitat reestablishing red spruce forest and implementing invasive species early detection-rapid response protocols. Beneficiaries include the general public, states and or their political subdivisions, landowners, private organizations, or individuals.