FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2015

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is in discussion with the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) Division of Parks and Recreation about a potential lease with the Division to construct, operate, and maintain a new hut to provide public recreation and information services in Crawford Notch State Park.

The hut would be accessed via a new hiking trail to be constructed off of the Arethusa-Ripley Falls Trail and connecting to the Ethan Pond Trail. It would provide new recreational and stewardship opportunities while offering a connection between Zealand Falls and Mizpah Spring huts, and accommodate up to 50 guests.

Additional information is below.

What is being proposed?

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is in discussion with the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) Division of Parks and Recreation about a potential lease to construct, operate, and maintain a new hut to provide public recreation and information services in Crawford Notch State Park and help serve the missions of AMC and New Hampshire State Parks.

Why are you proposing a new hut?

AMC and N.H. State Parks have been exploring the potential for a new hut in Crawford Notch State Park as a way to further serve the missions of both organizations. AMC seeks to help people make a closer connection to the outdoors and to enjoy and care for exceptional outdoor places and natural resources. The New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation is focused on providing “outstanding recreational, educational, and inspirational experiences through the responsible management and cooperative stewardship of the state’s natural, recreational, and cultural resources.” AMC has been providing mountain hospitality at its huts since its first hut was built at Madison Spring in 1888. Today, we provide meals, lodging, and informational and educational programs at our system of eight huts, each spaced a day’s hike apart along the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The new Crawford Notch area hut would continue that longstanding tradition while providing the public with new opportunities for recreation and stewardship. AMC currently operates Lonesome Lake Hut in partnership with the state in Franconia Notch State Park.

Why is a new hut needed?

We have been seeing steadily growing use of our White Mountains huts, and we believe it’s a good time to offer a new hut to the public. We don’t do this often: Our last hut was built 50 years ago, and in that time, visitation to the huts has tripled. A new hut in Crawford Notch will help to meet public demand and, because of its accessible location, 1.7 miles from the roadside trailhead, it will allow us to introduce new users, and a new generation, to the outdoors. While there are a number of backcountry camping options nearby, the hut experience, by providing meals, lodging, and allowing hikers to travel light, appeals to many, including young families and older hikers, who would not camp out on their own. The huts play an important role of introducing new audiences to the outdoors, therefore building new advocates for the outdoors.



Where would the hut be located?

The hut would be located in Crawford Notch State Park and accessed via a new hiking trail to be built and maintained by AMC off of the Arethusa-Ripley Falls Trail and connecting to the Ethan Pond Trail. It would provide new recreational and stewardship opportunities while offering a connection between Zealand Falls and Mizpah Spring huts.

Why did you pick this site?

The new hut site provides the opportunity for a hut-to-hut experience within a day’s hike or cross-country ski between the new hut and Zealand Falls Hut as well as between the new hut and Mizpah Spring Hut and between the new hut and the AMC Highland Center. It is near a well-maintained network of hiking trails offering stunning scenic views of the White Mountains. We used care in picking a site that is environmentally sustainable and contains compatible soils, slope, elevation, and vegetation. The accessible location will also make this hut a not-too-challenging destination for less experienced hikers and families, as well as day visitors.

How big is the hut?

The hut is expected to accommodate up to 50 guests and would have space for up to eight staff and up to four volunteers. Its size would be similar to that of other huts with similar capacities, such as Madison Spring Hut, Carter Notch Hut, Greenleaf Hut, or Lonesome Lake Hut.

Will the hut be open to everyone, or just AMC members?

As with all of AMC’s huts, the hut would be open to the general public for both overnight accommodations and day use.

What services will the hut provide?

The hut will be designed to provide clean water, restrooms, bunks for overnight lodging, space to eat meals, informational services, interpretive displays, and educational programming. Meals will be provided for overnight guests from May to October. No meal service will be provided from November to April, however, guests will have use of the hut’s kitchen, appliances, and cookware to prepare meals at those times of year, when a caretaker will be present. As with AMC’s other huts, there will be no charge for day visitors to the hut.



How will power be provided and how will waste be disposed of?

As with AMC’s other huts, the new hut would be off the grid with lighting, refrigeration, water heating, two-way radios, and life-safety systems powered by “green” alternative sources, such as solar power. Composting toilets and an onsite treatment system will process human waste, and food waste will be composted on site in a bear-proof enclosure. Hut croos will carry out trash and recyclable materials for proper municipal disposal and recycling.

What environmental concerns have been taken into account?

As part of its guiding principles for evaluating potential leases, the state of New Hampshire has identified several criteria it will be assessing in relation to the new hut. It will be looking at such issues as potential impacts on cultural resources, native plants and animals, threatened and endangered species, and water resources. In addition to the state review process, AMC is driven by its longstanding commitment to environmentally sustainable systems and operations. The hut site was intentionally located at an elevation chosen to minimize environmental concerns and visual impacts. It would be off the grid, with electricity for lighting, refrigeration, life-safety, water and septic systems, and two-way radios supplied by solar power. Water impacts would be minimized through the use of composting toilets and other water saving technologies. In addition, food waste would be composted on site in a bear-proof enclosure. Recyclables and trash that can’t be composted would be carried out for proper recycling or disposal by the hut croo. AMC intends to perform periodic assessments of the terrain, vegetation, and water sources near the hut to ensure resource damage is not occurring.

How would the public benefit from a new hut?

As is the case at AMC’s other huts, our operations provide benefits for the public. With hut croo located in the backcountry, there is an AMC staff presence in the area surrounding the hut, and croo can educate the public and help ensure the land in the vicinity of the hut is used appropriately. The public gets the benefit of a new, multi-day outdoor experience in the beautiful Crawford Notch State Park, as well as the opportunity to stop in as day visitors to the hut to rest and refill water bottles from the hut’s potable water supply. As with other huts, we plan to use the new hut as a venue for school groups to learn about the outdoors through direct experience in the natural world. Our hut croo members are certified in Wilderness First Aid and often serve as SAR volunteers, assisting the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department on an average of 50 SAR missions per year. Because of their locations in the backcountry, AMC staff are often among the first responders to a backcountry emergency.

Our staff provide informational services and can assist visitors in choosing an itinerary for a day hike or hut-to-hut excursion. Our huts also provide educational programs focused on natural history to help visitors make a closer connection with the natural world around them. Given the new hut’s location approximately 1.7 miles from the trailhead, we see this as a good hut for young families to access, and in this way, we help to introduce the outdoors to a new generation. AMC would continue to maintain public hiking trails in the area, including access trails to the new hut. AMC would also be funding construction of a new trailhead parking lot for use by the public, and would be making lease payments to the state of use of the hut site.

AMC’s presence also provides economic benefits to the state and local communities. For instance, in 2014, AMC’s New Hampshire tax obligations totaled more than $477,000, we employed 446 full-time and seasonal employees, and our direct contributions to local New Hampshire communities, primarily for goods and services, totaled $7.9 million. The unique opportunities provided by AMC huts attract visitors from around the country and around the world, helping to boost the local tourism economy.



Aren’t the huts expensive?

AMC offers a range of overnight accommodations at a range of rates in the White Mountains, including campsites and backpackers’ shelters (some free), roadside lodges, and mountainside huts. The nonprofit AMC sets hut rates to cover the costs of operating these backcountry facilities, including building maintenance, hut and reservations staff wages, food, transportation, insurance, and trail maintenance. Any surplus supports other North Country operations, including our backcountry shelter system and subsidized stays for school groups and youth agencies. Discounts are available for multi-night stays, and rates are lower during self-service caretaker season. Given a broad schedule of rates and services, with a little planning a hut stay is very affordable.



Who would build the hut?

AMC’s experienced Construction Crew would build the new hut, in conjunction with local contractors focused on specialized building trades.



Where would people park?

To accommodate existing trail users as well as guests of the new hut, additional parking is planned for the Ethan Pond Trailhead off U.S. Route 302.



How can I learn more?

Information is on the New Hampshire State Parks website at http://www.nhstateparks.org/.

Moreinformation is also available here.