Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra NF
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:00 pm
Happy New Year!
This year, Wilderness Corps will be ramping up to tackle some large projects in the Sierra National Forest. And, we will be working to clear the Theodore Solomons Trail. (What is that? See https://www.facebook.com/groups/TSTHikers/)
What has that to do with you? How can you help? Here are some things you can do, from the easiest to the most involved:
1. Send us your trip reports from hikes on the Sierra National Forest, inside or outside designated wilderness. Take pictures and GPS coordinates of fallen trees, washouts, rockfalls, encroaching brush, indistinct or absent trail where there should be trail. Also send us road issues - fallen trees and such. We are also going to be clearing roads that access trailheads. (Yes, we know the road to Willow Meadow is bad... We need to know if it's suddenly impassible tho.
)
2. Write to your congress critters requesting that National Forest Service be adequately funded. NFS is at an all time low for funding, and the consequences are just beginning to be obvious...
3. Volunteer for visitor services - answering phones, staffing the High Sierra Ranger Station on the other side of Kaiser Pass... we have sedentary volunteer opportunities in several locations. If you have not seen the view from the porch of the residence at the High Sierra Ranger Station, you can get a hint by walking over to the side of Kaiser Pass Road from the station and looking north -- gorgeous. Lucky volunteers can wake up every morning to it. Also it will in the future be helpful if we have people who can run errands, write grants, etc - we have grant writers who will become trail crew shortly and be very busy with saws and pruners.
4. Volunteer for trail crew - it isn't just for buff people, if it was I would be left out... A sharp crosscut saw sings through a tree and does all the cutting for you. We also need folks who can clear waterbars with a hoe, use loppers on brush, and scout trails. We have retired folk and weekend warriors, some come often, some only a few weekends a year. If we had more people we could have lots of people doing a little, and still get the job done.
On our radar for this year will be spearheading an effort to open the worst section of the Theodore Solomons trail, in an effort to draw hikers into relatively unexplored parts of the forest. We already have the JMT/PCT corridor, well traveled and usually the first trail cleared each year. Then we clear the Dinkey, the next most popular destination out there. Kaiser Wilderness Foundation handles the trails in the Kaiser. Ansel Adams Wilderness and John Muir Wilderness both contain segments of the TST, as well as other rarely-traveled but worthwhile trails, and there are thousands of trees down - time to get out and clear those pieces as well. A hardy crew of Conservation Corps ladies have finally maintained the Tehipite section to the top of the switchbacks -- I'll be going out for a week to scout the faded trail over Crown Pass to that point, marking the original trailbed with orange ribbon so successive trail crews will know where to work and hikers will have them to follow until the trail is re-established.
All our work is in partnership with the Sierra National Forest and all our crews work with FS radios, logging in and out each day with the Forest Service, as while volunteering we are employees, provided with tools and resources. We offer free certifications in first aid, sawyer classes so all know how to buck trees safely, and in addition we work the OSV (over snow vehicle) and OHV (off highway vehicle) trails in partnership with 4x4 clubs and other trail maintenance organizations.
You do not need certifications to go out with trail crew -- new volunteers work under supervision of certified sawyers and no certs are needed for tasks like brushing and clearing trail. As you work with certified crew you may wish to become certified, and eventually be a crew leader yourself. Or, you may only have a couple of weekends -- you are more than welcome to join us for a day to check out how it goes. We are a pretty laid back crew most of the time -- we may cut a dozen trees out of the trail in a day, or we may do two. The work takes as long as it must to be done safely. Some of our trips involve a base camp and day hikes, others are backpacking trips with tools.
For more information visit our website in progress at wildernesscorps.com, where you can sign up and indicate your level of interest in volunteering, donate to our nonprofit, or just read our blog and see what we're up to. We are also setting up trail conditions forums for the trails we maintain, and intend to have that forum available on Tapatalk. The more information we have on trail conditions the easier it is to prioritize and put resources into the field. Sign up for our Meetup group to join events on our calendar.
You can also PM me here if you have any questions. I may not be around much but I'm here.
This year, Wilderness Corps will be ramping up to tackle some large projects in the Sierra National Forest. And, we will be working to clear the Theodore Solomons Trail. (What is that? See https://www.facebook.com/groups/TSTHikers/)
What has that to do with you? How can you help? Here are some things you can do, from the easiest to the most involved:
1. Send us your trip reports from hikes on the Sierra National Forest, inside or outside designated wilderness. Take pictures and GPS coordinates of fallen trees, washouts, rockfalls, encroaching brush, indistinct or absent trail where there should be trail. Also send us road issues - fallen trees and such. We are also going to be clearing roads that access trailheads. (Yes, we know the road to Willow Meadow is bad... We need to know if it's suddenly impassible tho.
)2. Write to your congress critters requesting that National Forest Service be adequately funded. NFS is at an all time low for funding, and the consequences are just beginning to be obvious...
3. Volunteer for visitor services - answering phones, staffing the High Sierra Ranger Station on the other side of Kaiser Pass... we have sedentary volunteer opportunities in several locations. If you have not seen the view from the porch of the residence at the High Sierra Ranger Station, you can get a hint by walking over to the side of Kaiser Pass Road from the station and looking north -- gorgeous. Lucky volunteers can wake up every morning to it. Also it will in the future be helpful if we have people who can run errands, write grants, etc - we have grant writers who will become trail crew shortly and be very busy with saws and pruners.
4. Volunteer for trail crew - it isn't just for buff people, if it was I would be left out... A sharp crosscut saw sings through a tree and does all the cutting for you. We also need folks who can clear waterbars with a hoe, use loppers on brush, and scout trails. We have retired folk and weekend warriors, some come often, some only a few weekends a year. If we had more people we could have lots of people doing a little, and still get the job done.
On our radar for this year will be spearheading an effort to open the worst section of the Theodore Solomons trail, in an effort to draw hikers into relatively unexplored parts of the forest. We already have the JMT/PCT corridor, well traveled and usually the first trail cleared each year. Then we clear the Dinkey, the next most popular destination out there. Kaiser Wilderness Foundation handles the trails in the Kaiser. Ansel Adams Wilderness and John Muir Wilderness both contain segments of the TST, as well as other rarely-traveled but worthwhile trails, and there are thousands of trees down - time to get out and clear those pieces as well. A hardy crew of Conservation Corps ladies have finally maintained the Tehipite section to the top of the switchbacks -- I'll be going out for a week to scout the faded trail over Crown Pass to that point, marking the original trailbed with orange ribbon so successive trail crews will know where to work and hikers will have them to follow until the trail is re-established.
All our work is in partnership with the Sierra National Forest and all our crews work with FS radios, logging in and out each day with the Forest Service, as while volunteering we are employees, provided with tools and resources. We offer free certifications in first aid, sawyer classes so all know how to buck trees safely, and in addition we work the OSV (over snow vehicle) and OHV (off highway vehicle) trails in partnership with 4x4 clubs and other trail maintenance organizations.
You do not need certifications to go out with trail crew -- new volunteers work under supervision of certified sawyers and no certs are needed for tasks like brushing and clearing trail. As you work with certified crew you may wish to become certified, and eventually be a crew leader yourself. Or, you may only have a couple of weekends -- you are more than welcome to join us for a day to check out how it goes. We are a pretty laid back crew most of the time -- we may cut a dozen trees out of the trail in a day, or we may do two. The work takes as long as it must to be done safely. Some of our trips involve a base camp and day hikes, others are backpacking trips with tools.
For more information visit our website in progress at wildernesscorps.com, where you can sign up and indicate your level of interest in volunteering, donate to our nonprofit, or just read our blog and see what we're up to. We are also setting up trail conditions forums for the trails we maintain, and intend to have that forum available on Tapatalk. The more information we have on trail conditions the easier it is to prioritize and put resources into the field. Sign up for our Meetup group to join events on our calendar.
You can also PM me here if you have any questions. I may not be around much but I'm here.