• Informational Meeting on the Industrial Wind Project Proposed for Highland Plt. & general information as it pertains to other nearby mountain ridges in Western Maine
  
  Where: Quimby Middle School - Bingham, ME
  When: Thursday, May 13th, 6:00 p.m.
  Who:  Presented by The Friends of the Highland Mountains
  Please join us for factual information on the Governor’s goal to produce 2,700 MW of land-based wind energy by placing Industrial Wind turbines on the ridgelines of over
  300 miles of Maine’s mountains.
  Refreshments will be provided.
  
  Karen Pease at roomtomove@tds.net or 628-2070 - Posted 4-28-10
  

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• Help Support the Friends of the Highland Mountains by attending this fundraising event in Freeport on Saturday evening, June 5th.

You Are Invited to:
“THE BIG WIND REGATTA  AND  AUCTION”
Come Help Save the Highland Mountains and the Bigelow Preserve From Industrial Wind Development

When:  Saturday June 5th, 5:30 – 8:30pm
Where: Harraseeket Inn, 162 Main St., Freeport, Maine
Event:  Social Hour, Dinner, Speakers, Short DVD Presentation, Comedy Show and Auction
Speakers: Jonathan Carter, Steve Thurston, Bob Weingarten, Alan Michka
Short DVD Showing: Save the Mountains of Highland, Maine
Comedy Presentation:  Karen Pease of Friends of the Highland Mountains

Please come and enjoy an entertaining evening of fun. Bring your family, friends, and neighbors. Suggested donation $10.
Co-sponsored by The Forest Ecology Network and Friends of the Highland Mountains.
Call if you have any questions. FEN (207) 628-6404, FHM (207) 399-4850
Great Auction Items

• 75 Years:  1935 – 2010
  You are invited to the Celebration

All MATC members and their guests are invited to celebrate 75 years of stewardship of the Appalachian Trail in Maine.  Learn about MATC’s history and meet our new Base Camp partners, the Somerset Woods Trustees.   Dave Field and Lester Kenway remembered the 50th Anniversary in Monson to be a rather small gathering with a pot-luck lunch.  “After lunch, we all marched out to work on the trail,” they recalled.  This anniversary celebration will be a larger affair (we do have a larger membership) and there will be no work party requirement but will offer walks at the Somerset Woods Trustees Malborns Mills Road property after lunch. The doors will open at 10:00 AM for socializing and review of displays, photos, archival video and other historic material.  The formal program will start at about 11:00 AM to meet past MATC Presidents, laugh at some good stories, listen to a guest speaker and mark the occasion with a special event.  After lunch, all will be invited to visit the future location of the Maine Trail Crew Base Camp.  It is a beautiful property situated on the Kennebec River bluffs amidst large White Pines.

WHEN:                 Saturday, June 19, 2010

TIME:                 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

WHERE:             Skowhegan Community Center
(US 2 ~0.8 miles west of the Kennebec River bridges)
Skowhegan, Maine

Lunch will be provided so please RSVP to Elsa Sanborn, ejask@myfairpoint.net
207-947-2723 by June 15.

If you have an interesting or funny (& short) story to share on this occasion, please contact Ray Ronan, walkinhome1@yahoo.com 207-892-2600 who will be coordinating the ‘oral history’ portion of the program.

We have come a long way since the last anniversary celebration – the treadway is protected -- now all located on public land. However, MATC has expanded duties of stewardship.  We are about to embark on a new era with a permanent trail crew base camp in partnership with Somerset Woods Trustees and are facing new threats to the Appalachian Trail lands. Come join us to celebrate this milestone to past accomplishments and future challenges.

• Sawyer Safety Alert - Check Your Chaps - Posted 5-7-10

Note to A.T. sawyers­we need to know if your chaps meet the standards listed in this article, or if they need to be replaced because they don't comply or because of their condition. Please complete this survey as soon as possible (or contact your ATC regional office).

There will be no cost to Appalachian Trail clubs and sawyers to replace substandard or damaged chaps.

The U.S. Forest Service distributed a safety advisory last summer regarding the need to upgrade chain-saw chaps to increase the coverage/width protection for the lower legs to 14 inches, to increase cut-through resistance to a chain speed of no less than 3,200 feet per minute, and to provide thermal protection for fire fighting.

After consultation with the Forest Service, this direction has been adapted specifically for A.T. sawyers, who are not involved in fire-fighting activities. All A.T. sawyers Trailwide should check the label in their chaps and make sure they meet the following specifications: ASTM F1897-08 or ASTM F1897-04 or USFS 6170-4F. (Note: some manufacturers do not include F in the spec number for ASTM chaps.)

Chaps that do not meet these new standards should be replaced. However, if they are in good condition (see article below) they may continue to be used until new chaps are provided. They should then be destroyed by cutting the waist belt and buckles. Once the new chaps are received, the specification should be marked in indelible ink (“Sharpie” pen) in two locations, in case the original label wears out or fades.

ATC expects to continue to provide personal protective equipment to certified A.T. sawyers in future years, but we would like to complete this replacement program by December 15, 2010.

All Appalachian Trail sawyers need to have current sawyer certification, current first-aid/CPR certifications, be authorized by their Trail-maintaining club or ATC, wear required PPE, and work within the limits of their certification. For more information, see the sawyer certification section of ATC's Web site.
Bob

Robert Proudman
Director of Conservation Operations
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
bproudman@appalachiantrail.org
799 Washington St. | P.O. Box 807
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807
Phone: 304.535.6331 x103
Fax: 304.535.2667
Skype Name: robert.d.proudman

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• CPR - First Aid Question from Michelle Moody - Posted 4-21-10

For those members that are chainsaw certified, I would like to let you know that I am working on putting together a list of CPR and 1st aid courses that qualify for our required training. Here is the rule:

22.48b ­ Qualifications.

1. In addition to having the applicable training and certifications listed in sections 22.07 and 22.48a, all saw operators shall be currently certified by a nationally recognized organization to render first aid and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Supervisors shall ensure that saw operators receive training or retraining in first aid and CPR before certifications expire. Refer to section 52.3 for direction on the bloodborne pathogens program.

Also, I would love to hear from you as to where you found training. Do you get it at work, from another organization or on your own? How much did you pay? Did you put in for reimbursement? Remember, ATC will reimburse us up to $60 per year for this training.

Would you be interested in an MATC sponsored class even if it meant you had to travel to it? We are discussing having a combo class that would cover 1st aid that would be geared more to the type of work we do and the type of injury we might suffer as well as CPR.

American Heart Association CPR training should provide a 2 year certificate while Red Cross is only a 1 year certificate. So you may want to keep that in mind when looking for a class. I recently found out that our local hospital offers AHA CPR classes on a regular basis.

Chris Dorion was looking for folks in the Bangor area to join him for a class in 1st aid/CPR in May. He needs 6 people in order to get a class going. You can contact him by email at cdorion@infionline.net.

Personally, I like taking a Wilderness First Aid Course (WFA). Since I lead a lot of hikes in the woods and hike away from easy access to help, I felt this would better serve my needs. However, that is not required.

You can contact me at matc@micstan.us or 207-319-7355.

Michelle Moody

Mic and Stan Moody, Certified Sawyers
237 Foreside Rd.
Topsham, ME
matc@micstan.us
207-319-7355

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