Student Conservation Association Community Crews are hard at work

For at least the past decade, Mount Rainier National Park has worked with the Student Conservation Association to bring a special group of young people to the park for 15-day conservation leadership experiences. These are SCA's "Community Crews," recruited from the urban communities of Seattle. Most have participated in SCA's school year programs, and their two weeks at Mount Rainier are a culminating experience that builds on many previous months of service and team-building.

The first Community Crew worked on
the Trail of the Shadows at Longmire.

Community Crew alumni often go on to do other types of environmental service: the North Cascades Climate Challenge, for instance, or longer summer internships with SCA. Some even graduate into the "green and gray," working as seasonal park rangers in the National Park Service. For all of them, Community Crew service is a foundational experience that makes a dramatic difference in their lives.

We're excited to be working, this year, with not only students from Seattle, but also youth from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, through SCA's "Base to Base Camp" program. This year's three Community Crews, each made up of 8 youth and two crew leaders, are about half-and-half students from Seattle and JBLM. The first crew, pictured here, was in the park from June 30 through July 14, working on trails near Longmire. The second crew arrived this past Sunday, and will be working on the east side of the park until August 4. A third crew will be back on the west side of the park from September 11 to 25.

The Community Crew programs are supported by grants from the Youth Partnerships Program of the National Park Service, and the America's Best Idea program of the National Park Foundation.

Mount Rainier National Park receives 2013 America’s Best Idea grant from the National Park Foundation

July 10, 2013: For Immediate Release

Alanna Sobel, National Park Foundation, asobel@nationalparks.org, (202) 354-6486
Kevin Bacher, Mount Rainier National Park, kevin_bacher@nps.gov, (360) 569-6567
Jay Satz, Student Conservation Association, jsatz@thesca.org, (206) 550-5977

Mount Rainier is one of 34 national parks across the country selected to receive a 2013 America’s Best Idea grantfrom the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. Inspired by the critically acclaimed Ken Burns documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” the America’s Best Idea program funds park activities designed to connect diverse, underserved and under-engaged populations throughout the United States with their national parks in innovative and meaningful ways.

“One of the great things about our national parks is that every American can relate to these treasured places if given the chance to experience them,” said Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service. “It’s our mission to engage visitors from all backgrounds in the diverse stories that we tell in our national parks. Thanks to the support of the National Park Foundation, we can propel that outreach, and engage new audiences that would otherwise never have the opportunity to experience a national park.”

“The America’s Best Idea program gives people – particularly youth – incredible opportunities to connect to ournational parks through unique and innovative ways,” said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation. “From experiences that center on history, the environment and even adventure, we are able to capture the imagination of a new generation of park-goers in ways that benefit their lives and the future of the parks.”

At Mount Rainier, the America’s Best Idea grant supports a long standing and growing partnership between theNational Park Service and the Student Conservation Association (SCA). “SCA’s mission is to build the next generation of conservation stewards, by connecting them to our parks and forests through the action of conservation service,” said Jay A. Satz, SCA’s Regional Vice President.

“We are fortunate here at Mount Rainier to work with SCA’s Community Conservation Program, which engages high school students in Seattle during the school year, and then brings them to Mount Rainier to serve with 15-day trail crews during the summer,” said Kevin Bacher, Mount Rainier’s Volunteer Program Manager. “SCA’s outreach to members of military families at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, through a program called ‘Base to Base Camp,’ has resulted in almost half of this year’s crew members coming from JBLM. And we’ve worked with SCA For decades to provide interns who support park staff in critical roles, learning skills, doing important work, and serving the public. Through our partnership with SCA this summer, 37 young people will contribute more than 9,000 hours of conservation service at Mount Rainier while having an extraordinary national park experience.”

Funding from the National Park Foundation supports the crew leaders for three eight-person trail maintenance teams, each made up of Community Program members from Seattle and Base-to-Base Camp youth from JBLM. The first crew is in the field now, and the second and third will be in the park later this month and next. Additional funding for the program comes from the National Park Service’s Youth Partnerships Program and Washington’sNational Park Fund.

“We are pleased to work with SCA’s Community Crews again this year, and especially pleased to welcome members of our military families at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,” said Randy King, Superintendent of Mount RainierNational Park. “These grants allow us to reach out to the conservation leaders of tomorrow and offer them a great experience in their national parks, as well as stepping stones toward possible future careers. We look forward to working with these young men and women for many years to come.”

For a full listing of participating parks and program descriptions, please visit the National Park Foundation website.

The National Park Foundation wishes to thank L.L. Bean, the Anschutz Family Foundation, and The Ahmanson Foundation for their generous support of the America’s Best Idea program.

About the National Park Service

More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 401 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov and www.nps.gov/mora.

About the National Park Foundation

The National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, raises private funds that directly aid, support and enrich America’s more than 400 national parks and their programs. Chartered by Congress as the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation plays a critical role in conservation and preservation efforts, establishing national parks as powerful learning environments, and giving all audiences an equal and abundant opportunity to experience, enjoy and support America’s treasured places. For more information on the National Park Foundation or how you can support and protect America’s national parks, please visitwww.nationalparks.org. Follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/nationalpark and on Twitter attwitter.com/goparks.

About the Student Conservation Association
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is a nationwide conservation force of college and high school volunteers who protect and restore America’s parks, forests, and other public lands. For more than 50 years, SCA’s active, hands-on approach to conservation has helped to develop a new generation of conservation leaders, inspire lifelong stewardship, and save our planet. For more information, visit www.thesca.org.

- NPS -

Mark your calendars: National Public Lands Day and Glacier Basin Trail rededication on 9/24!

WTA volunteers

It's time again for Mount Rainier National Park's biggest volunteer event of the year! Mark your calendars now and plan to join us on Saturday, September 24 for a combination event. First, we'll be rededicating the Glacier Basin Trail, which volunteers and park partners have helped rebuild over the past three summers following its destruction in the November 2006 flood. Then, we'll disperse for a variety of volunteer projects, including more trail maintenance and a major revegetation effort at Sunrise. Finally, anyone who's interested will re-gather at the White River Campground for snacks and a more informal celebration and sharing of stories about the Glacier Basin Trail reconstruction.

SCA's Conservation Leadership Corps

2011 statistics aren't in yet, but from 2008 through 2010, volunteers and youth organizations like the Washington Conservation Corps and Student Conservation Association contributed 49,497 hours of time on the Glacier Basin Trail, an effort worth almost $1.06 million based on current figures from Independent Sector. The work has been done by National Park Service trail crews, partner groups, community groups, and hundreds of individuals who have worked on the project through the Washington Trails Association. WTA volunteers alone contributed about 15,000 hours of service over the three year period. The Student Conservation Association has fielded more than 8,000 hours of trail teams, national crews, and members of their Community Programs, made up of high school students mostly from the Seattle area.

NPCA's registration booth

Other key partners on the project have included Alpine Ascents International; Boy Scout Troops 224 and 436, as well as the Pacific Harbors Council and the T'kope Kwiswis Lodge 502 in Seattle; EarthCorps; the Mount Rainier National Park Associates; the Northwest Youth Corps; REI Adventures; and soldiers from the U.S.S. Henry M. Jackson. About 500 volunteers worked on the project each year (with a lot of overlap from year to year).

All volunteers who contributed to the Glacier Basin Trail reconstruction are invited to return for the rededication, and stay for National Public Lands Day!

Revegetation volunteers at Sunrise

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) will be returning again this year to help coordinate National Public Lands Day. Volunteers can choose from several projects. The National Park Service and WTA will both be leading trail maintenance projects on sections of the Wonderland Trail departing from White River Campground. Meanwhile, at Sunrise, Mount Rainier's restoration team will lead volunteers in replanting the old Sunrise Campground with native plants. For either project, volunteers should bring a lunch, snacks, water, layered clothing that you can get dirty in, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Bring your own gloves if you have a pair that works well for you. All ages are welcome! Other projects may be added between now and September 24th as well.

Registration for National Public Lands Day will be hosted by NPCA at the Amphitheater in White River Campground. Volunteers may choose to stay overnight for free in the campground the night before September 24th and/or the night after. Please RSVP with your intentions (see details below). WTA will be working on the Wonderland Trail again on Sunday, September 25th.

Event Details

WHAT: National Public Lands Day and Glacier Basin Trail Rededication


WHEN: Saturday, September 24, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
8:00 a.m. Event Registration
9:00 a.m. Glacier Basin trail dedication
10:00 a.m. Trail and meadow restoration
3:30 p.m. Informal gathering and celebration
WHERE: All events take place at, or depart from, White River Campground at Mount Rainier National Park. Click here for a map and directions. Stevens Canyon Road will be closed to the public that day due to road construction. Please enter the park via Highway 410 or 123.

RSVP: If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Mariely Lemagne at NPCA at mlemagne@npca.org. If you plan to camp overnight, please RSVP with those plans to Kevin Bacher at Mount Rainier National Park at Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov. If you wish to join a WTA work crew on Saturday or Sunday, please also register online at http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties.

OTHER INFO: Entry to all national park units will be free on National Public Lands Day! Volunteers who register at White River Campground will receive a coupon for free entrance to Mount Rainier National Park on a future date of your choosing. Please bring work gloves and dress appropriately for the weather and activity. Suncreen, hats, and raincoats are recommended. You will also want to bring your lunch and a water bottle to stay hydrated.

We hope you will join us for the Glacier Basin Trail rededication and National Public Lands Day!

Student Conservation Association crews are hard at work at Mount Rainier

On August 18, Patti and I, along with Acting Superintendent Randy King, Trails Foreman Jim Ziolkowski, and Student Conservation Association (SCA) Vice President Jay Satz, got to spend a rare day out of the office and in the field--meeting, spending time with, and photographing two different crews from SCA at work in Mount Rainier National Park. One crew, SCA's Conservation Leadership Corps out of Seattle, was working on trail maintenance on the Wonderland Trail above Louise Lake, at the end of a fifteen day assignment that began building trail at Klapatche Park deep in Mount Rainier's backcountry. The other crew was filming youth activities in the park, including the CLC crew, as part of a larger project filming youth programs in national parks throughout the region.

SCA is a major partner of the National Park Service, and each year fields many individual interns and crews at Mount Rainier and other parks, who contribute thousands of hours of volunteer service in return for a small stipend and a fantastic summer experience. We've had a total of three Conservation Leadership Corps groups in the park this summer, funded by a grants from the Park Service's Youth Internship Program and the Student Conservation Association.

As anyone local could guess, this has not been the best summer for volunteer crews to work in warm, sunny conditions with great views of The Mountain. Thursday, however, was gorgeous and perfect for photography. Here are a few photographs from the day; enjoy the whole set on Flickr (or click here for a slide show). Thank you to everyone for all of your hard work!

SCA releases 2010 Mount Rainier report

Just as I departed for the holidays last month, the Student Conservation Association released its 2010 report on its partnership at Mount Rainier National Park. The full report, in PDF format, is available here, and is good reading for anyone interested in understanding what a vital role this partnership plays at our park.

A few statistics:

• Three conservation crews, 21 members, 2 crew leaders, 3,240 hours served.
• Ten interns, 7,120 hours served.
• Dollar value of volunteer work completed: $216,006

It's worth expanding on that last figure. SCA interns aren't free, but they don't cost $216K, either, and in addition to the work, we also made an excellent investment in a diverse sampling of the next generation of youth leaders and conservationists--some of them, hopefully, in the National Park Service.

I particularly like this clip, the "participant profile" of Conservation Crew member Mohib Kohi:

Mohib spent the first half of his summer working on one of SCA's Community Conservation Crews in Seattle. For 5 weeks, he performed invasive species removal and trail restoration at Thornton Creek park. Mohib enjoyed his experience so much that when a spot opened up on the Mount Rainier National Conservation Crew, he agreed to fill the space. One of the highlights of Mohib's time on the crew was the visit from Congressman Reichert. The Congressman had recently traveled near Mohib's birthplace in Afghanistan, and the two were able to connect over the state of the country there.

Follow the link above to download and read the whole report.

Final Report of 2010 Conservation Crew

Student Conservation Association Partnership with

Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

Crew Leaders – Michelle Hessey, Max Gordon

Mt. Rainier National Park hosted three Student Conservation Association (SCA) Conservation Crews during the 2010 summer season.  These crews of eight high school student volunteers and two trained leaders worked in the following locations:

Crew	Dates	Project Location
Session I	June 28 – July 12, 2010	Glacier Basin Trail Re-Route, White River Campground
Session II	July 19 – Aug 2, 2010	South Puyallup River Trail, Round Pass, West Side Rd
Session III	Aug 9 – Aug 23, 2010	Glacier Basin Trail Re-Route, White River Campground

 

The Crews

The 2010 Mt. Rainier crew members included: 

Session I

1.     Lena Easton-Calabria – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

2.     Ariana Dionisio – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

3.     Camilla Senter – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

4.     Colleen Cirilo – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

5.     Victoria Yuen – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

6.     Emily Chan – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

7.     Yvonne Chan –N. Cascades Climate Challenge Alum from Shoreline, WA

8.     Sarah Salvador –N. Cascades Climate Challenge Alum from Shoreline, WA

Session II

1.     Emily Ostrove – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

2.     Desiree Silapaxay – NCWild Alumni and SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

3.     Laura Humes –N. Cascades Climate Challenge Alum from Shoreline, WA

4.     Neema Rostami – Bellevue, WA

5.     Martin Horst – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

6.     Bill Lau – SCA School Year Alum from Seattle, WA

Session III

1.     Elise Greiner – Seattle, WA

2.     Thalia Chhan – Seattle, WA

3.     Jennifer Chhan – Seattle, WA

4.     Yulo Leake – Seattle, WA

5.     Jared Johnson – Seattle, WA

6.     Mohib Kohi – SCA Community Crew Alum, Seattle, WA

7.     Christina Jarmick – Two year SCA Alum and MORA Alum from Seattle, WA

These students were led and supervised by SCA Crew Leaders Michelle Hessey of Washington, DC and Max Gordon of Seattle, WA.  Returning Crew Leader, Michelle Hessey, came to this crew with a diverse background in youth and trail work from Washigton, DC as well as a Wilderness First Aid medical certification.  After spending two years living abroad to complete service with the Peace Corps, Max came to this crew as a first time SCA Crew Leader with experience in restoration work and a passion for northwest ecosystems.  He also brought with him a Wilderness First Aid medical certification.

Accomplishments

Session I

We focused on the first 100 feet of the Glacier Basin Trail. The trail had been completely washed away during the floods of 2006 when it rained 18 inches in 36 hours. Starting in 2008, Mt. Rainier National Park started to build a reroute of the trail. This summer was the third summer that the park had been working on the trail, and they wanted to open the first 5000 feet of the trail this summer. The beginning of the trail had not been touched because the park did not want hikers to use the new trail until it was finished. We were responsible for breaking new trail at the very beginning of the Glacier Basin trail so that it could be open to the public.

We started by grubbing and digging duff. We had to cut roots, remove trees, fill in holes with rocks, and cover the trail with mineral soil. We spent many days digging and bucket brigading mineral soil and rocks. We also worked on constructing water bars with rocks at tricky drainage points on the trail.

Session II

We built a turnpike over a very wet section of trail. At first, the park had built a boardwalk, but the boardwalk was rotting and had become covered with slippery moss. Our project was to rip up the old boardwalk and replace it with a turnpike.

We ripped up an 80-foot boardwalk and replaced it with a turnpike. In order to complete this task, we had to fill in the muddy areas with rocks to raise the level of the trail so the turnpike would not sink. We had to haul small boulders from a nearby river bed to form the border of the turnpike. Then we placed geofabric along the inside of borders and covered it with fist-sized rocks. Once we made a layer of fist-sized rocks in the geofabric, we folded the geofabric over like a burrito wrap and covered it with more fist-sized rocks and gravel. The geofabric was placed there to prevent the gravel from filling in the gaps between the rocks and preventing the water from passing through.

Session III

The crew was working on the second section of the Glacier Basin reroute, a project started by the Park Service during the summer of 2008 to rebuild a trail that had been washed out by flooding. We were primarily responsible for breaking new trail that included moving large boulders, grubbing duff, and carrying large amounts of rocks and dirt.

Most of the trail work was evening and raising the grade of the trail. We worked on clearing big boulders out of the trail with rock bars. The rocks that were too big were blasted to pieces by the park staff. We also grubbed areas that were not so rocky, and spent a lot of time collecting and stockpiling rocks to use to fill up holes left by huge boulders.

Description of Project	# of Structures	Total Length in Feet	Person Hours
New trail Construction
Reroutes - Glacier Basin Trail Re-Route		300 ft	950
Tread and Drainage Work
Maintenance  (blowdowns, widening/ sidehill, brushing, clearing drainage structures, etc)		20 ft	114
Waterbars, Drainage ditches, dips, culverts  (Rock, Timber, Prefab)	7 water bars		190
Construction
Turnpike	1	80ft	528

Youth Development

     

      Most of these students joined the SCA Mt. Rainier crews after completing the SCA School Year program in Seattle, WA, which introduced them to the basics of outdoor living and trail work.  However, for some of the crewmembers, this was their first time doing this type of work or even visiting Mt. Rainier National Park.         

For many of these students this was their introduction to sleeping outside under the stars (and rain clouds!), cooking dinner, positive role models, Leave-No-Trace ethics and the rewards of working hard outside.  These students had this amazing experience and will remember Mt. Rainier National Park, your supporting staff and the experience for years to come.  They developed a bond to a natural place close to their home that may lead them towards becoming politically active, into an environmental field or the Park Service.  This SCA – Mt. Rainier partnership enabled all this to happen.  

      All three crews focused on environmental education components such as reducing food wastes, watershed connections, local flora and fauna, etc as well as participated in teambuilding games and activities. They also learned a lot from the rangers that guided the work projects at the different sites.  All three crews participated in the Shadows of the Past tour at Longmire and spoke with Jim Ross about future job opportunities at Mt. Rainier National Park.

Crew Highlights

-       Jim Ross welcoming each crew to the park and talking about future job opportunities

-       White River Campground ranger talks about glaciers, wildlife, and the geology of Mt. Rainier.

-       Shadows of the Past tour at Longmire.

-       Solo walks along the Wonderland Trail to get connected to the natural phenomenon of the park.

-       Plant identification through an activity called "Each one, teach one" in which each member taught all the other crew members about a specific plant.

-       Visits to Sunrise to learn about glaciers, and to the grove of the patriarchs

-       MORA II hiked 5 miles round trip after work one day to the look-out at Gobblers Knob to see the sunset over Mt. Rainier. For one rec day, we took an 11-mile hike to see Emerald Ridge and the South Tacoma River.

-       MORA III was visited by by Congressman Dave Reichert

-       Glacier Basin Ranger James Montgomery talked about job opportunities at the park

-       SCA intern Kenton Curtis taught the crew about ways to get involved with SCA that were different than trail work.

-       They learned about plants and trees in the park, how to work together as members of a team, how to cook outside, and how to handle tools and build trails.

-       Each crew member was the leader for the day. This person decided who would work on what task during the day, decided what time we would take lunch and breaks, and decided how long the breaks would be. The leader of the day was also responsible for talking to the agency partners (along with crew leaders) to figure out what our goals and tasks for the day would be.

Thank you

Much appreciation goes to Mt. Rainier National Park for having three SCA crews join you this year!  Special acknowledgement goes to Carl Fabiani and Kevin Bacher for all the preprogram work, logistics and projects preparation.  Thanks again!

Photos

MORA 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-sca/sets/72157624864185122/

MORA 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-sca/sets/72157624739596199/

MORA 3: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-sca/sets/72157624726361355/