Appalachian National Scenic Trail Foundation Document

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The National Park Service is starting the process of preparing a Foundation Document for planning and management for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The trail would like to invite the public to join in this effort.

A Foundation Document involves revisiting a national scenic trail's core purpose and significance, most important resources and values, and the interpretive themes that tell the trail's important stories. Although the Foundation Document is not a decision-making document and does not include actions or management strategies, it describes a shared understanding of what is most important about the trail. In this capacity, the Foundation Document will reestablish the underlying guidance for future management and planning decisions for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Because many of the trail's original planning documents are out of date, preparing the Foundation Document is the first step for considering the trail's future planning and study needs.

The National Park Service invites you to play a role in charting the trail's future by sharing your thoughts on what is most important about the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and to help identify its most pressing threats and its greatest opportunities. Trail staff will take your thoughts and feedback into consideration as they prepare the Foundation Document.

You may submit your feedback here from December 9, 2013 to January 9, 2014 by responding to five questions about the trail's significance, threats, and opportunities.

The Appalachian Trail is a 2,184 mile long public footpath that traverses the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains. Conceived in 1921, built by private citizens, and completed in 1937, today the trail is managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, numerous state agencies and thousands of volunteers.

Contact Information

Appalachian National Scenic Trail
P.O. Box 50
Harpers Ferry, WV 24425