Next steps for ArrowCorps 502

If all goes well, in 2011, 502 members of the Boy Scouts' "Order of the Arrow" will come to Mount Rainier National Park and vicinity for a week of volunteer service, organized by local lodge number 502. This Friday, members of the group, including coordinators Bob Davies (bandaged from recent surgery in this photo) and Barb Maynes (kneeling), and youth leaders Matt Allyn (in the back row) and Evan Skandalis (kneeling), met with Acting Superintendent Randy King (far right) and Volunteer Program Manager Kevin Bacher (far left) to discuss details of the proposal and plans for carrying it out. If successful, the project--tentatively scheduled for the beginning of August next year--will be the largest single volunteer group ever to work at Mount Rainier.

In the meantime, a lot of planning has yet to be done, identifying projects, crew leaders, campsites, transportation, and other logistics. Because few volunteer opportunities at the park can accommodate anything close to the number of people who may participate, we'll be looking at ways to divide the group into smaller teams working all over the park, and in fact also on adjacent Forest Service land and with partners such as the Washington Trails Association.

Stay tuned for more information as plans are worked out; and meanwhile, you can learn more about "Arrow Corps 502" on their website and in previous blog entries.