The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) (formerly Appalachian Trail Conference) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Appalachian Trail, a route in the eastern United States that runs from Maine to Georgia. Founded in 1925, the ATC is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Appalachian Trail under a cooperative agreement executed with the National Park Service. It is the lead non-governmental organization in protecting the trail's 2,193 miles (3,529 km), 250,000 acre (1,000 km²) greenway and coordinates the work of some thirty-one Appalachian Trail maintaining clubs performing almost all of the on-the-ground maintenance work. The National Trails System Act, which established the National Trails System and brought the Appalachian Trail into the federal es