MRNPA July 14th Work Party!

Greetings,

 

The next Mount Rainier National Park Associates volunteer work party will be Saturday, July 14th.

 

We will be working with Will Arneson's Ecological Restoration crew doing exotic plant removal (weeding).  The project area is the 3.5 miles of the Westside Road, from the Nisqually Road junction to the end of the road at the Fish Creek parking lot.   We will be removing non-native plants that are invading the areas adjacent to roadway by digging up the whole plant, including the root system, and collecting the plants in plastic garbage bags.  All collected plant materials will be removed from the park and disposed of in a landfill.

 

To participate there is no need to know about native plants.  Will and his crew members will teach you which plants to remove, and they will be able to identify for you all the native plants in the area.  There will be no heavy tools (like shovels and pulaskis) to carry and use.  The Westside Road  is open to vehicle traffic, and though not heavily traveled, we will be required to wear safety vests. 

 

Things you should bring are work gloves, a small digging tool like a hand trowel, or your favorite weed removing tool, your lunch, plenty of fluids to drink, and a full set of rain gear.  A warm jacket would be good to include too as most of the Westside Road is shaded by trees.  If you have a reflective safety vest, bring that too.   Because we will working along the road, you will not need to carry much more than your digging tool, your jacket, and some fluids to drink.  We will have our packs transported to the lunch site. 

 

We will meet at 8:30 AM at the junction of the Westside Road and the Nisqually Road. (That is about a mile inside the Nisqually Entrance to the park).  Be ready to go to work by about 9:00 AM and expect to finish about 3:00 PM.  Tell the ranger at the gate as you enter the park that you will be working on a volunteer project and you will be admitted to the park for free.

 

If  you plan to attend this work party, please reply to this email indicating that you are coming and give me the number of volunteers you expect to accompany you.  I need an estimate of the number of volunteers who will attend.

 

If you would like to camp in the park for free before or after (or both) participating in this work party, camping is available at the Longmire VIP campground.  To camp for free you must make camping reservations by contacting Will Arneson at Will_Arnesen@nps.gov or Carrie_Anders@partner.nps.gov.

If you are not able to attend a MRNPA work party, but are interested in volunteering at Mount Rainier National Park,  please look at the Mount Rainier "Volunteers in the Park" website.
  

John Titland
Volunteer Coordinator
Mount Rainier National Park Associates