June 25, 1998
Pam Gluck, Executive Director
American Trails
P.O. Box 11046
Prescott AZ 86304-1046

Dear Pam,

I am writing to inform you that American Hiking Society cannot become a member or supporter of American Trails at this time. Further, I ask that our organization's name be removed from all American Trails-produced materials.

This is a decision we take only after great consideration. Our withdraw is precipitated by American Trails' public claim to represent hikers and the interests of hikers. American Hiking Society and our more than 100 affiliated hiking-based conservation organizations reject the notion of American Trails as speaking for our interests.

We welcome American Trails efforts to facilitate interaction among various "user groups" and to conduct research germane to common interests. Those are roles for which American Trails is well positioned and which illustrate identified needs within the community. They do not, under any definition, constitute a representative relationship between American Trails and the hiking community. To illustrate, nearly half of American Hiking Society members own mountain bikes, but we would never hold ourselves out as representing the interests of the mountain bicycling community.

The appearance of the American Hiking Society name in a recent issue of Trail Tracks caused a flurry of letters from angry hikers in Montana, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona. They were concerned that we were ceding our role as the hiker's voice and the guardian of hiking trails to American Trails. We requested their patience on the matter and told hikers that it was important for American Hiking, which represents the hiking community nationally, to participate in the ecumenical forum of American Trails.

Further, we assured them that American Trails would never purport to represent the interest of hikers, but was interested only in facilitating dialogue.

We were wrong. Our withdraw from American Trails is not based on your organization's service to the motorized community; it is a response to your claim of representation of the community of hiking organizations. American Hiking Society acknowledges both motorized and non motorized trails. For example, American Hiking is a member of the Coalition for Recreational Trails, which includes motorized users. However, our participation in any coalition lends our voice only to the issues addressed by a particular coalition. You must understand that while hikers in general, and American Hiking specifically, embrace collaboration to work on common issues, there are many issues on which we are in sharp disagreement. We are committed to dialogue on these issues, and would welcome American Trails' efforts as a facilitator, but not as our representative.

I would be happy to discuss this letter with you personally and look forward to participating in the National Trails Symposium in November. Let me know how we can help.

Sincerely,

David Lillard
President