The first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-registered sporting camp building in Maine, and one of just a handful of LEED-registered backcountry facilities in the nation, is up and running, providing a welcoming and green-friendly get-away for cross-country skiers and hikers near Moosehead Lake.

The venue is Gorman Chairback Lodge and Cabins, the newest addition to AMC's Maine Wilderness Lodges. These traditional sporting camps, their connecting trails, and surrounding 66,000 acres of conservation land are open to the public as part of AMC's Maine Woods Initiative. AMC has registered the new central lodge building at Gorman Chairback, recently completed, with the LEED program.

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Information on the LEED program is available at www.usgbc.org. For a map and guide to recreational opportunities at Gorman Chairback and AMC's other Maine sporting camps, click here.

Overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED provides a nationally recognized set of industry standards for evaluation and certification of environmentally sustainable construction and design. Under the LEED program, points are awarded for effective performance in such areas as site sustainability, energy efficiency, water use, and indoor environmental quality.

Environmentally sustainable, "green" construction typically incorporates tested technologies, systems, and materials designed to minimize environmental impacts. At Gorman Chairback Lodge, such features include a solar-powered electrical system, radiant heat in floors, abundant insulation designed to help conserve building heat, and double-glazed, argon-filled windows.

"We are inspired by, and aspire to, the exceptionally high standards set by the LEED program, and we are eagerly anticipating LEED certification later this year," said AMC Vice President Walter Graff. "The LEED program is a perfect fit, given AMC's commitment to environmentally sustainable operations. What's nice about it, too, is that many of the green features encouraged by LEED also enhance the comfort and experience of guests, so we invite folks to come check it out."

Gorman Chairback opened for operations in late January and is slated to provide services for guests through the spring season closing date of March 28. Following some early summer landscaping and sprucing up, Gorman Chairback is set to reopen July 1.

It's one of three traditional Maine sporting camps operated by AMC for use by the public. AMC partners with a fourth sporting camp, the fourth-generation, family-owned West Branch Pond Camps, to provide accommodations along the popular lodge-to-lodge cross-country ski route that connects AMC's Medawisla Wilderness Lodge and Cabins, West Branch Pond Camps, AMC's Little Lyford Lodge and Cabins, and Gorman Chairback.

Gorman Chairback, situated on the shore of Long Pond, is named in honor of Leon and Lisa Gorman, longtime AMC supporters and outdoor enthusiasts.

The site was used as a private sporting camp as early as 1867. In intervening years, it has served as a commercial sporting camp and a private summer residence. Following renovations to eight shorefront cabins and construction of the new lodge, AMC has made this historic Maine sporting camp available for use by the public once again.

Reservations can be made at www.outdoors.org/mainelodges.