The Outdoor Programs Office recently received a $100,000 grant to improve facilities along the Appalachian Trail, including cabins, shelters and the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge.
"This all takes money," Outdoor Programs Director Earl Jette said. The grant "will help out a lot."
Although the repairs and renovations will not be completed for some time, Jette said the grant will help make sure the new facilities "will be ready to serve the Outing Club and the Dartmouth community for a long time into the future."
The R.K. Mellon Family Foundation, a Pittsburgh, Penn. philanthropic organization that contributes money to educational, conservationist and human service causes, pledged $25,000 each year for the next four years to the Outdoor Programs Office.
Kent Morton, associate director of Foundation and Corporate Relations, said the Foundation has "given [the College] a fair amount of money in the past."
In the past 30 years, Morton said, the Mellon Family Foundation has donated more than $1 million to the school.
Although the Foundation typically donates most of its money to projects in western Pennsylvania, "the reason we're able to attract their interest is because of the family and alumnus connection," he said.
S. Prosser Mellon '64 is one of the directors of the Mellon Family Foundation, Morton said.
Jette said the money will be used to upgrade facilities owned by the office.
The Outdoor Programs Office oversees the Dartmouth Outing Club, the College's ski teams, the Connecticut River waterfront, the Ledyard Canoe Club, Mt. Moosilauke and the Second College Grant, a large plot of land in northern New Hampshire.
Jette said the grant money will all be used "for physical improvement of facilities" beyond the normal maintenance that occurs every year.
According to Jette, the major renovations that the grant is being used for are not covered in the Office's normal budget.
Funding for capital improvement in "a very difficult thing to find in the operating budget," he said.
Part of the grant money will go toward renovations on the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge such as improving its kitchen facilities, Jette said.
He added that the office is considering converting one of the bunk houses at the Lodge into a full-service cabin that can be used year-round.
The office will also repair and improve the facilities at other D.O.C. cabins.
For example, Jette said, "Lots of the stoves that they have are out of date."
And, starting next summer, the office will also rebuild three worn-out shelters along the Appalachian Trial, according to Jette.
The D.O.C. maintains 75 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Jette said the D.O.C would also like to rebuild a cabin at the Dartmouth Skiway that has not been used in 15 years.
He said the cabin required new roofing, windows, paint, supplies and equipment.
Another project that the funds will be used for is improvements in the Second College Grant in Northern New Hampshire.
Jette said the office will build a storage shed for tools, fire-fighting equipment and other supplies and a second foot bridge."All of this has to be scattered out over the next four years," Jette said.
