Mount Rainier Recovery

From the website of the Student Conservation Association:

The first season of the Mount Rainier Recovery program came to a triumphant close last Saturday with a final, festive day of hands-on service and celebration. Some 150 enthusiastic individuals showed up on this chilly northwest autumn day to honor the park on National Public Lands Day by donning their warm layers and setting out to do one more favor for the mountain. Find pictures and stories soon on the park's volunteer blog page!

After a celebratory barbeque dinner, Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga addressed the group, expressing deep gratitude for everything that the attendees and hundreds of other citizens have done to help the park this season. Here are some of the impressive numbers:

• Volunteers: at least 1,600
• Hours of service: over 67,000
• Estimated value of volunteer work: exceeding $1.3 million
• Portion of trailwork completed by volunteers: over half
• Campsites cleared/maintained: 335
• Days of Meadow Protection duty: 69
• Road culverts cleared: 222
• Roadside erosion control areas: 10,800 sq ft+
• Trail brushed: 31,970 ft+
• Trail raked: 59,560 ft+
• Check steps constructed: 27+
• Trail reroute constructed: ~3600 ft

SCA is proud and honored to have been a leader in the Mount Rainier Recovery effort this year, and we are already working to build on this momentum toward even greater accomplishments at Mount Rainier in the coming year. We would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to all of you have contributed your time, energy, or savings to SCA and the Mount Rainier Recovery program. See you next year!