WTA Volunteers forge ahead at Glacier Basin

"Although much of the Glacier Basin Trail reroute at Mount Rainier National Park has been completed, it won’t be until next season that the work is finally done."

Thus begins a nice article in the News Tribune yesterday, which properly attributes much of the work that has been done on this major flood recovery project to volunteers who have worked in partnership with the National Park Service and the Washington Trails Association.

WTA's efforts have been a major asset at Mount Rainier over the past three years, especially on the Glacier Basin project. Our records show 496 WTA volunteers in the park this summer, who contributed 5,292 hours of service, not counting travel time. Both of those are record numbers: even in 2007, the year following our big flood, WTA's work totalled a mere 4,971 hours; and last year, the previous record year for volunteer participation, only 336 volunteers participated.

We're still compiling the final numbers for our program this year, but there's no question that WTA will be responsible for a large percentage of our total volunteer hours, and an even larger percentage of our total numbers.

WTA's efforts are made possible, of course, by hundreds of individual volunteers; but they are also supported by major grants from Boeing Corporation, which has committed $60,000 to WTA in 2010. Their support is also invaluable! (Individual donations are also welcome.)

We look forward to continuing these productive partnerships at least through 2010, so keep an eye on the WTA website next spring to find more opportunities to participate. There are few things more rewarding that building a trail that will be used for generations to come!