Last
night, we heard from one of CDTC's Founding Board Member's Teresa Martinez.
She moved us with the following emotional and meaningful words and we
wanted to share them with all of you. Thank you for joining us in our
movement, but let's keep dancing because we still have a long way to go.
Good
Evening!
My
name is Teresa Martinez and it is my extreme pleasure to welcome all of you
tonight to the Official Launch of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, and
the kick off of our Crowdfunding Campaign: Finding Our Way on the Continental
Divide
Before
I get too far along, I want to take this moment to thank and recognize some
very important people here tonight with out whom, all of this would not be
possible.
I
also want to thank everyone who helped with stories, images, support, technical
skills who helped get us here and ready for our countdown: Paul “Mags”
Magnanti, Lawton “Disco” Grinter, Felicia “POD” Hermasillo, Jon Pierson, Jerry
Brown, Kandler and Jessica Smith, Stephanie Friday-Allen, and David Dolton.
We
have many partners here as well: The Trail Show, Appalachian Trail Conservancy,
Green Packin’, American Hiking Society, Leave No Trace, Bear Creek Survey,
Wildlfire Pottery, Ula Equipment, Flagler Films, Erin Gallo, Tim Hogeboom, and
two very special partners, the Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and Colorado
Trail Foundation who have been instrumental in keeping the volunteer effort
alive along the Continental Divide over the past year.
And
Finally: An amazingly huge Thank you goes to our amazing planning team, Jenny
Saylor, Eric Herbst, Grace Herbison, Chris Smith, Jerry and Helga Bell, Josh
and Lisa Shusko, Dana Foulks, Leanna Joyner, Jenny Gomez, and John Hildreth,
Bryan Martin, Don Owen, Kerry Shakarjian, and our event planner- Sue Gallo, and
campaign Manager-Jonathon Stalls.
As
you can see there are a lot of people who have helped get us here. And I
think this shows you that this is a “we” not a “me” venture, its an “us” not an
“I” movement.
And
this is why each and everyone of you is important, because each and everyone of
you is here because you care about the Trail, and because you have been
impacted by your adventures on the CDT, because through those adventures you
have discovered a passion that made you decide to come here and share this
moment with us.
This
is the same passion that has fueled our team since January of 2012, when the
Continental Divide Trail Alliance ceased operations and we knew we had to take
action so that the important work and accomplishments achieved by the Trail
Community up to that point...that the countless hours and efforts of dedicated
staff, volunteers, supporters, ……lovers of the CDT, would not be forgotten or
lost and this most noblest of work would continue.
And
each and every one of us has story that has brought us here.
Each and every one of us has a moment in which we saw our future
and our future included a commitment to the CDT. A commitment to the
Barbarian Utopia that Benton Mackeye the grandfather of all National Scenic
Trails spoke of in 1914, almost 100 years ago,
He
spoke of a place where we could strip ourselves of all of this stuff..
technology, lights, smart phones, noise,...and get to the heart of the matter
and rediscover or reconnect to the most fundamental of things that make us
whole human beings, travelling in nature at 3 mph, with just the bare
essentials on our backs, and learning to and having to rely and trust in
humanity to provide our community of support, and our basic needs.
Because
when we experience this, we are all transformed and we are all reawakened to
what is really important in life- experiencing the world around us, in a place
that is like no other place on our planet and where we can connect to people
who we otherwise might never experience. A place where we discover
kindred spirits out of strangers who become our family, and our sanity, in a
world often inexplicably crazy and unpredictable.
We
are transformed by the simplicity of good food, clean water, fresh air and
amazing company all in the backdrop of amazing landscapes ....while walking in
the footsteps of a history that in the very moment we place our feet on that
same hollowed ground, it becomes a part of our history, becomes a piece
of us, and we become a piece of eachother.
When
I was 18 years old, I was introduced to the Appalachian Trail. It was my
first weekend attending Virginia Tech and I went to an Outing Club meeting
where I learned that the group was one of only two college groups that had
official responsibility for maintenance of the A.T. I had no idea what
the A.T. was, but I thought it was cool to be one of only two college groups
that maintained it. That weekend there was scheduled maintenance trip along the
Trail from Bland County to Va 621, or Laurel Creek. So we gathered our
tools, paint for blazing, and we drove 1.5 hours to the trailhead where we
would begin work. We got there and then we began walking. As we were
painting blazes, I asked theTrail Supervisor: "So what do the white
blazes mean again?". And he said, "well if you head south you will end
up in Georgia and if you head north , you'll end up in Maine, all you have to do
is follow the white blazes, its the Appalachian Trail. Volunteers are
responsible for it, and now you are as a member of this club and you are
officially an A.T. Maintainer!"
And
in that moment, in that instant my whole world changed. My whole world became
bigger and bolder than I ever imagined, because in that moment I went from a 18
year old college freshman, to someone who was a part of an amazing legacy that
started in 1921, a history that led me to embark upon my own unconventional
career, my own long distance journey, and one in which has beautifully,
magically, led me here in this moment with you today.
Because
in that moment I fell in love. I fell in love and began a relationship
with not only the A.T., but the entire national trails system. In 1991, I went from a
volunteer, to a member of Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s professional staff at
the age of 21 , I hadn’t even graduated from Virginia Tech yet, but
there I was, one of the first assistant regional reps along the A.T., and
only 1 of 5 field professionals. While at ATC, I was lucky enough to have
mentors who ranged from volunteers who had testified in Congress in 1968 on behalf of the National Trails System Act, to
professional's like Don Owen who is in this room tonight, and the newest member
of CDTC's board, who wrote the book on how to protect the A.T., and ultimately
became the standard for all of our national trail protection efforts.
And
miraculously, they were people willing to teach me everything they knew. And along
the way, they instilled in me many fundamentals. The three most important of
which were:
The
importance of the volunteer- That our role was to always put the volunteer
first, and that our job was to work ourselves out of one, because we had
trained our volunteers so well, they no longer needed us.
The
Second and equally important was that its about the Trail- what was in the best
interest of the Trail, and nothing else. We had to always put the Trail first.
And
Third, that volunteering along our national trails, is one of the truest forms of citizenship we could demonstrate- by engaging in the stewardship of our
public lands, we engaged in the stewardship of the very foundations of what
makes our country so unique and special- it is true democracy in action.
And these
are the very same idals that we are focused on for the CDT and that are the
foundations of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.
And, the
CDT needs us, I know this because I answered its call in 2007, and that call
was so strong, that it was the only thing that could ever inspire me to leave
my beloved AT Community after 15 years of commitment to its management.
And it is calling us again, because it needs all of us now more than
ever. It needs us to care, to support, to engage.
It
has called each and every one of us in this moment, to come together on its
behalf to continue to nurture each other, as much as the Trail itself. To
build a community, a family, that will always be there to keep the Trail in the
heart, minds, and souls of all of us who care about this amazing resource.
Because
the lifeblood of the CDT, like every other national Trail or Trail like
the Colorado Trail, isn’t its landscape, but rather how we interact with the
landscape and turn that experience into stewardship...into action....into
passion....into commitment..... and into a force to be reckoned with and,
it
gives us the courage to fight on its behalf to ensure that our experiences with
the CDT, the very ones that brought us here today, in this moment, are there for
every generation who follows in our foot steps and that their experience isn’t
just as good as ours, ...but better.
I
would like to think that 80 years from now, a young 18 year old student steps
foot onto the CDT for the first time, and in that moment her world will expand
beyond her wildest dreams, ....in that moment her world will change
forever, and in that moment she is going to see her future...It will be a future, that is
tied to the past.....and a past that starts - right here , right now, on May 21,
2013, and of which inspires her to spend the next 25 years, or more, committed
to not only the CDT, but the entire National Trail System, and in that
moment......she is going to fall in love, and that love will give her the
courage to embark upon a journey that introduces her to life lessons, shared
with amazing people, while in landscapes that bring her tears, and
inspires her to fight so that it doesn’t fall on her watch either……
Thank you for coming
tonight, for joining us, for sharing in this amazing moment, for being a part
of the Trail’s history.... and its future, and most importantly,.....for
helping us find our way along the Continental Divide.