Last revised: March 08, 2007

Annual Woody Growth Clearing Along the
Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Figures 1 through 3 illustrate the progressive loss of the Trail tread, construction investment, and hiker experience through inadequate clearing of woody annual growth along the A.T.

Figure 1:
The A.T. is new, there is little woody vegetation to worry about.  Note, however, the rhododendron sapling beginning to grow on the cut bank.  Very little maintainer effort is required at this stage to protect the investment of time and energy that went into construction of the Trail.  Simply removing the woody growth on the cut bank above the Trail will do the trick.

Figure 2:
Woody annual growth is starting to reach across the A.T. and begins to force hikers off the Trail to the fill slope below.  Trail maintainers could easily reverse the situation at this point.  Moderate effort is needed to protect the construction investment.  Resource damage is beginning to occur.  The "new Trail" is beginning to become a safety hazard.

Figure 3:
Woody annual growth now blocks the original A.T.  Hikers must walk below the constructed Trail on the fill slope, or below.  Since there is no trail surface to walk upon, the section becomes a "memorable" ankle twister.  In some cases the situation becomes so bad that new A.T. maintainers don't even notice that the original Trail tread is uphill from where hikers are now forced to walk.  A significant effort is needed to re-establish the original tread: vegetation must be severely cut back, and shrubs and saplings grubbed out of the Trail tread.  Serious resource damage is occurring below the original tread, and the A.T. has become a safety hazard.

Where the A.T. goes through a rhododendron tunnel, the progression from Fig. 1 to Fig. 3 can literally take place overnight!  This occurs during an ice storm or heavy wet snow.  After these natural disasters, care must be taken to clear enough woody growth to prevent the resource damage shown in Fig. 3.  Unfortunately, the resource damage can begin very quickly if clearing is not rapid.

Figure 4:
This illustrates the proper look of a "mature" A.T. section.  There is annual growth close beside the A.T. to make it look as natural as possible, BUT, there is no woody growth on the cut bank above the Trail to force hikers to the outside.  More importantly, there is woody growth on the fill slope below the A.T. to force hikers to the inside of the tread, its most failure-resistant point.

In general, only the cut slope, above the A.T., should be cleared of annual and woody growth.  When woody growth begins to grow over the Trail tread from the downhill side it should be trimmed back.

Copyright Appalachian Trail Conservancy