Longmire Campground Still Needs Hosts!
Are you looking for a summer position as a campground host? Longmire Volunteer Campground needs you! Specifically, we're looking for someone to live in the campground in their own RV and coordinate the use of 31 tent sites, 2 group sites, and several Park-provided platform tents. As host, you will be taking reservations and assigning campsites, making sure guests are aware of campground regulations and that they comply with them while making sure everyone feels welcomed and supported. Your duties will consist of dealing with challenges as they come up (illegal campers, people who've lost their keys, loose dogs and so on), maintaining, cleaning and restocking a comfort station with three showers, and assigning/retrieving keys from campers, and keeping the campground free of camping litter.
It's a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job, with flexible hours since you'll need to be on call whenever volunteers arrive or need assistance. For more details, fill out an application today at volunteer.gov or contact Kevin Bacher directly at 360-569-6567 or Kevin_Bacher@NPS.gov.
UPCOMING EVENTS
MRNPA Trails Project at Carbon River
The June 15 Mount Rainier National Park Associates (MRNPA) volunteer trails work project will be working on the Mine Trail at Carbon River, continuing the work done on May 18. MRNPA volunteers will meet at the Carbon River entrance at about 8:30 AM. Volunteers should park inside the gate in order to leave parking spaces available to the public. If you are interested in participating, please contact John Titland at volunteer@mrnpa.org and let him know how many people will be in your group.
CITO the Mountain
Are you a member of the growing group of people who enjoy geocaching? If so, join us on Saturday, June 8 at the Longmire Campground and help set up platform tents and clean up storm debris from the winter. This annual event is one of many loosely-defined "Cache in, Trash out" events organized by geocaching.com. For details of this year's event, visit coord.info/GC4CM5H.
Recruiting for MeadoWatch
Love hiking and viewing Washington's alpine wildflowers? Interested in gaining an understanding of how scientists study the potential impacts of climate change on native plants? If so, MeadoWatch (a program developed by the University of Washington Biology Department) would love your help this summer! Wildflower surveys will occur between late June and late September (depending on the snow season), and will start and end at Reflection Lakes. Volunteers will collect information on plants, and in return, will get free entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, and the option of camping 1-2 nights without charge at the Volunteer Campground at Longmire during the survey.
For more information, please visit the MeadoWatch website at
or contact Anna Wilson, MeadoWatch Coordinator at mwatch@uw.edu.
Wilderness Volunteers
Wilderness Volunteers will be giving something back to Mount Rainier National Park over Sept. 8-14, 2013 as they pitch in to help with revegetation of a popular area near Sunrise. Volunteers will be tent- and car-camping at White River during the project. If you're interested in becoming involved in this frontcountry effort, you're invited to learn more at the Wilderness Volunteers website. Come and enjoy the views while helping with this much-needed restoration.
Adopt-a-Highway Litter Patrol
Litter is an ongoing problem, and we want to have our gateway to the Mountain looking nice for our Fourth of July visitors. Therefore, we'll be conducting another litter patrol on Saturday, June 29 as part of our partnership with the state Dept. of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway program. They limit us to twelve participants, so if you're interested, sign up soon! Gloves, safety vests, bags and "long-armed grabbers" will be provided. Hard hats are optional, so if you want to wear one, bring your own. Contact Crow at Petrina_Vecchio@partner.nps.
More Trail Projects -- something every weekend!
The MRNPA will be working on several trails projects this year. In addition to the work scheduled on the Old Mine Trail on June 15, another project to be announced is proposed for August 10. Stay tuned to the blog for further details! 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.
In addition, the Washington Trails Association (WTA) continues to partner with us to lead trail maintenance projects throughout the park every Friday and Saturday through the summer. Visit WTA.org and click the "volunteer" link in the banner for a full list of projects throughout the state, and look for the ones marked "Mount Rainier." You can sign up to help right there on their website!
Meadow Rover Training
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.
Safety Training
The All-Park Safety Training is open to both paid employees and to volunteers and will be held at Columbia Crest School on June 26, 1-4 PM with an optional fire extinguisher session afterwards. Speaker Dave McEvoy (Director, Aerie Backcountry Medicine) will address Risk Normalization and Working at Mount Rainier. For more information, contact brandi_stewart@nps.gov.
4th of July Parade
Looking for something unique to do on Independence Day? Join the volunteer program in representing Mount Rainier National Park at the annual 4th of July Parade at noon in Eatonville! If you're interested in walking with our group, send an e-mail to Jim_Ross@nps.gov.
What's Been Going On
You may have noticed that the links to the Volunteer Calendar at the top and right of the blog page are not working properly. A new version can be found here http://rainiervolunteers.
Coming up: Longmire Campground upgrades! We've received grant funding from two different sources, and as soon as the paperwork is finished and supplies are purchased, we'll be organizing work parties to build picnic tables and install fire grates! Watch the blog and newsletter for details on these upcoming projects.
On a personal note, I'd like to thank my coworkers -- Ingrid Nixon, Lee Snook, Fawn Bauer, Patti Wold, and especially Crow Vecchio -- for stepping in at the last minute to cover for me this last week of the month while I had minor surgery. It wasn't the time I would have chosen to be away, but I couldn't have chosen a better team to keep things running in my absence!
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