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The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is the latest organization to gain a specialty license plate through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The Pennsylvania Appalachian Trail Conservancy specialty license plate is now available, according to a press release from the ATC. As a revenue sharing plate, $21 of the $50 fee is transferred to the ATC to help support the conservation efforts of the AT in Pennsylvania.

Karen Lutz, ATC regional director, said, "Not only will this help raise awareness of the Appalachian Trail and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, it will also help generate some much need funds to help support our mission."

Volunteers have been working for more than eight years to help make the ATC specialty license plate a reality in Pennsylvania, which is the fifth state to offer specialty ATC plates. Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia already offer similar plates, which have generated more than a million dollars to help complete projects including trail and facilities maintenance, environmental monitoring and natural heritage projects, and education and community outreach.

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n Pennsylvania, personalization of the license plate is available with five letters or numbers. A disabled symbol is also available.

Pennsylvania offers 134 specialty organizational license plates. The state's Wild Resource Conservation Fund - today the Wild Resource Conservation Program - had the first specialty plate in 1993.

For more information or to order an ATC specialty license plate, visit www.appalachiantrail.org/plates.

A unit of the National Park Service, the AT ranges from Maine to Georgia and is about 2,185 miles in length. It is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world.

The ATC was founded in 1925 by volunteers and federal officials working to build a continuous footpath along the Appalachian Mountains. It's mission is to preserve and manage the AT, ensuring that its vast natural beauty and priceless cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed today, tomorrow and for centuries to come.

For more information, please visit www.appalachiantrail.org.