Volunteer Newsletter - May 2013

Sumer is icumen in!

The snow is melting back and the wildflowers are just beginning to emerge in the lower forest zone. It's time to start thinking about our summer Volunteer activities in the Park! If you're a new volunteer or a seasoned veteran looking to expand your service to the Park, be sure you check out the opportunities listed on volunteer.gov. We are actively recruiting for a number of different positions including Backcountry Maintenance (painting) and Frontcountry Patrol - Paradise. Get your applications in soon!

Upcoming Events

The annual Volunteer Brunch returns to the Tacoma Mountaineers' Program Center this year. Join us on Saturday, May 11 from 9-11 AM. Attendees are asked to bring their favorite potluck dishes to share with the group. Beverages and place settings will be furnished by the hosts. The address is 2302 North 30th St. Tacoma WA 98403. Hope to see you there!

Break out the gloves and hardhats! The MRNPA will be working on several trails projects this year. Mark May 18, June 15 and August 10 on your calendars if you'd like to join the crew. The MRNPA will also be removing exotic plants on July 13 and will hold a revegetation project at Sunrise on September 7. If you are interested in participating in any or all of the above activities, please contact volunteer@mount-rainier.org or visit MRNPA's website at mrnpa.org.

Meadow Rovers, we have two training sessions coming up for you as well. The first is for incoming Rovers and will be held on Saturday, June 22. The training for experienced Rovers is on Sunday, June 23. Further details will be posted here and also in an upcoming Volunteer newsletter.

We will be partnering with Washington Trails Association again this year! This fine group will be leading projects every weekend starting in June. You can sign up for on their website at wta.org.

Our Citizen Science programs will be resuming again in July. Watch for details on the Volunteer blog and in upcoming newsletters. We're still taking applicants for amphibian surveys. Butterfly surveys will also return this year, and we hope to be announcing a third citizen science project shortly as well.

What's Been Going On

ArrowCorps502: In recognition of their conservation project ArrowCorps502, the T'Kope Kwiskwis Lodge received the 2012 OA National Service Award, making the lodge the first in its section to receive the Award, and only the second lodge in Washington State. ArrowCorps volunteers built trails and restored campsites during August 2011. Congratulations to all who made ArrowCorps502 a success!

Nordic Patrol wrapped up a great season with 47 volunteers logging over 1,081 hours for the winter of 2012-2013.  Nordic Patrol is made up of volunteers supplied by the Washington Ski Touring Club (WSTC). Volunteers patrol the backcountry trails of the Park on weekends and holidays, and sometimes participate in Search and Rescue. If you are interested in volunteering for Nordic Patrol, visit wstc.org.

Adopt-a-Highway: In a partnership with the Washington State Department of Transportation, teams of Park volunteers conducted two litter patrols along a two-mile stretch of SR 706. This "beat" encompasses the Tahoma Woods frontage as well as that of Columbia Crest School. Future patrols will be scheduled in late June and September. Keep your eye on the Volunteer blog for more information.

Jeanne Friend: On a more sombre note, we are sad to report the loss of longtime volunteer Jeanne Friend. Jeanne's contribution to the Park spanned 27 years of volunteer service. For most of her volunteer career, Jeanne's passion was with the revegetation program. She was actively involved with a Boy Scout troup in Everett, starting with restoration of the old Paradise Campground in 1983. Many of the still-healing patches in the meadows you see during the summer are restorative work done by her and her teams. She also served as a "Paradise Ranger Assistant" under Ranger John Madden, patrolling trails and helping in the ranger station full time from 1997 to 2000 and part-time in 2001 during the summer. In later years, she helped with the park library and curatorial collection. Jeanne received the prestigious Superintendent's Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service

Statistics, statistics!

Number of volunteers have increased from 1,728 to 1,804.
Total volunteer hours increased from 74,504 hours to 74,615 (worth $1.65 million!).
The new value of volunteer time by the hour is $22.14, a 35-cent increase from last year.