2016 Annual Report

AMC Maine Chapter
2016 Annual Report

We have a lot to be proud of this year!

Our membership has grown from 5,184 members to 5,356 members over the course of the past year. This represents an increase of 172 members this year as compared to 29 in 2015. We are a mid-level chapter as measured by membership counts and we maintain a membership renewal rate of about 80% which is higher than chapter averages.

Over the past year we have publicized our activities on our web site, on Facebook, Instagram, and MeetUp and through our newsletter. This resulted in 16,400 visits to our web site and 65% of those were first time visitors. With over 180 Facebook posts over the year we now reach nearly 1,000 with each new post.

Those activities comprised 15 evening presentations between the Bangor and Brunswick locations. We also have 61 outings trips for the year led by almost 3 dozen leaders.

Those volunteers who focus on young members had about a dozen hiking and backpacking trips this year as well as more than half a dozen social events. This small but dedicated group of leaders have an additional two who qualified this year to lead trips with two more still finishing their qualifications.

Our involvement in AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative continues with chapter members active in that group and we continue to provide volunteers for much of the trail improvements and infrastructure building that supports use of the over 70,000 acres AMC owns in our back yard.

We continue to try to connect with land trusts in Maine to help them build and maintain trails as well as support the establishment of more protected land.

We successfully transitioned some of our committee leadership during the year. Several committees added volunteers so all the work is not being done by the committee chair. That is a sign of healthy membership involvement and I hope it continues.

We also have several new volunteers on our Executive Committee who will officially start this month. We are very glad to have a full roster on the Executive Committee as we start the new year.

At the beginning of this year Sam Jamke turned over the role of Regional Director to John Mullens. John has been exceptionally effective at keeping our chapter connected to the rest of AMC and in helping me, and Kathleen Redmond-Miller, our new vice-chair, throughout the year with various management issues that have come up.
Noteworthy achievements and events during the year include:

• Creation of an Archives Committee to gather and protect the records and historical artifacts of the chapter.
• Re-establishment of leader training events this year and have begun expanding the number of qualified leaders.
• Agreement to use $7,500 to support facilities in the Maine Woods. This expenditure is intended to ensure that a more affordable option exists to the full-service lodging typically provided at the AMC lodges.
• We also agreed to support the MATC project to build a trail maintenance service center with a $5,000 donation to that effort. These expenditures were well received by AMC leadership and they commend us on these decisions as excellent examples of chapter spending.
• Our chapter also agreed to co-host the ATC 2017 Conference in August at Coby College along with the MATC. Planning for that event is well underway and we hope to see 1,500 hikers and outdoors enthusiasts at what we believe is the largest gathering of such people in North America.

Doug Chamberlin
Maine Chapter Chair
November 11, 2016