Scott Monroe: Super Steward

AMC Outdoors, March 2004

By Katharine Wroth

Two years ago, a fragile yellow alpine flower fought its way off the federal Endangered Species List, and Scott Monroe wants the world to know. This month, he'll send the U.S. Postal Service a proposal — created by AMC and several other groups — for a stamp dedicated to that hardy survivor, Potentilla robbinsiana. That's just one way Monroe champions the ever—popular — and sometimes too well loved — alpine zone. The Boston Chapter member helped create the AMC's Alpine Stewardship Volunteer Program, which — in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service — helps educate hikers about the alpine ecology of Franconia Ridge. Monroe learned about threats to the ridge in 1997 when, after 11 years as a volunteer with the AMC's Adopt-a-Trail program, he became its northern Franconia section leader. Seeing hikers walking off-trail, he says, "got me thinking, we need to do more."

Through AMC, Monroe, 56, has worked with the state of New Hampshire and the Forest Service to install information kiosks at Franconia Ridge trailheads. He has also traveled the region to learn about similar alpine-zone stewardship programs, and is collecting photos from varying eras in order to document vegetation growth along the ridge.

This year, Monroe's dedication earned him a Stewards of the Environment award from outdoor retailer REI. One of only seven award—winners in the country — and the only one east of the Mississippi — Monroe now finds his photo plastered in store displays across the country. He is "humbled by the ado," he says, but pleased. He has also received five of the AMC's annual Hart awards for 225 or more hours of volunteer service in a given year.

An engineer who oversees environmental construction projects in eastern Massachusetts, Monroe lives in Weymouth, Mass. Family and friends have hiked and worked with him on the trail, but he says they "don't really understand my driven passion … they let me go on my own.

"One person can make a difference," says this alpine achiever. "You just have to be determined."

— Katharine Wroth is co-editor of AMC Outdoors.