PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 12, 2021
Benton MacKaye, who in 1921 proposed creating the Appalachian Trail, North America’s most famous hiking route, saw it as a space where visitors could escape the stresses and rigors of modern industrial life. He also believed it could be a foundation for sound land-use patterns, with each section managed and cared for by local volunteers. Beginning with MacKaye, many people over the past century have aspired to frame the AT as a platform for conservation at a regional scale extending far beyond the narrow trail corridor, which averages about 1,000 feet wide. Conservation advocates have identified key spots along the AT where land around the trail could be protected from development to support wildlife by preserving it as open space. They include Maine’s North Woods. MacKaye’s grand hopes may have been idealistic, but fulfilling the AT’s potential for large landscape conservation is still a worthy goal.