SWK/Hilltowns

New President of the Appalachian Mountain Club visits Russell

On Wednesday, a small group of volunteers and supporters of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) gathered at AMC’s Noble View Outdoor Center in Russell to meet their new President and CEO, John D. Judge.

Judge, whose background includes seven years with the Greater Boston Habitat for Humanity, most recently served as Chief Development Officer for the City of Springfield, where he oversaw projects that set the city on a path of sustainable development, including the construction of the state’s largest solar field. He succeeds Andrew Falendar, who retired after 23 years as president of AMC. Judge said the comment he receives most often as he travels from Washington, D.C. to Maine, is the one that Sen. Olympia Snowe said to him, “You have big shoes to fill.”

The meeting on Wednesday was the first opportunity for Judge, who became president of AMC in February, to visit Noble View’s mountaintop location and its 360 acres of woodlands, trails, and abandoned farm fields. Gary Forish, who led the volunteer effort to renovate the Center, grew up on the mountain and described it as an old farmstead dating back to the mid-1600s. Forish said the trails on the property have the same names they’ve had for one hundred years.

Over the past decade, the Noble View Outdoor Center has had an extensive renovation. Forish, who was credited by people at the meeting as being “individually responsible for everything that’s happened” at Noble View, said the Center was rebuilt all by volunteers.

“Blasting, engineers, architects – they were all pro bono or volunteer,” Forish said.

Another attraction at Noble View is the newly renovated bathhouse which Forish described as “very green. 75 percent of the heat comes through solar hot air panels.” Other green technologies in the bathhouse include flushing composting toilets and grey-water systems for water efficiency.

Forish said the trails at Noble View are easy, “starting points to get people outdoors.” He said the Center is geared for young families, and also great for seniors.   In June, they will be starting a naturalist program once a month which will be open to the public.

Judge said that his vision for the next eight years for AMC includes getting 200,000 kids outdoors. He said last year, AMC held outdoor programs for 40,000 kids. Nora Hanke, a pediatrician from Easthampton and a participant in the AMC since 1994, said in her practice she sees a “severe nature deficit” in children.

“There is just this huge, huge need,” Hanke said. “They need nature and physical activity.”

Heriberto Flores, president of Partners for Community in Springfield, agreed. Flores said he himself grew up as a farm worker, and described himself as an urban person who likes the outdoors.

“We need to get those kids from Springfield and Holyoke to experience the environment,” Flores said.

Judge said other goals of his presidency include growing the constituency of the Appalachian Mountain Club from 100,000 to 500,000 over the next eight years, creating local partnerships that broaden diversity and reflect the region, and helping to establish Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness region as a world-class destination for sustainable eco-tourism.

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