Volunteer Newsletter: July 2015

June Highlights

The start of our volunteer season was a strong one in June, with many different events culminating in hours of hard work put in around the mountain.  Here are some highlights from the past month:

Tribal Use Dedication – June 10^th

At the junction of the Nisqually River and the Longmire Stewardship Campground lies a recently dedicated piece of land.  This land was dedicated as a Tribal Use Area, as members of the Nisqually Tribe participated in the dedication, showcasing traditional dance and grilling salmon over a fire.

Geocacher’s CITO Event – June 13^th

The 8^th Annual CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) event was a very productive one, as geocachers and others worked hard in and around the Longmire Stewardship Campground.  They were able to help prepare the campground for the fast approaching summer season by cleaning the campsites, removing debris, erecting platform tents, filling potholes, and giving a much needed coat of paint to an adjacent firebox.  Thanks to their dedication year after year, we are able to provide a spectacular campground for all of our volunteers to enjoy.

Girl Scouts of Tacoma, Washington – June 25^th to June 28^th

Seven members of Girl Scout Troop 40216 of Tacoma, Washington stayed with us in the Longmire Stewardship Campground and had a blast.  When they arrived, they had a lesson with volunteer coordinator Crow on different forms of photography and lessons on various organisms from a “Penny’s Perspective.”  The second day they spent with members of our Education team and learned all about habitats around Mount Rainier and spent much of their additional time hiking to Carter Falls, cooling off in the Nisqually River, and constructing a small rock dam in the ultimate show of teamwork (they later destroyed it, as it was not to be a permanent structure).  On their final day, they tied all this new knowledge together to participate in our MeadoWatch program.  They walked along portions of trail in the Paradise area, taking pictures of flowers they saw, making note of their exact location, and entered it into an Internet database once they returned home.  The intrepid group of girls pressed on bravely through the sweltering sun in the name of science, and with the promise from their leaders of ice cream at the end.  Work with a Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop in your hometown and are looking for service projects?  We can help! 

Citizen Science Trainings – Throughout the Month of June

Many citizen science projects kicked off this month with higher numbers of volunteers than ever before.  The MeadoWatch program is designed to allow volunteers of all kinds to help monitor and track the impacts of global climate change at Mount Rainier.  Participants will be collecting information throughout the summer and over many years in the form of noting the stage of development of different species of flowers along a set trail.  Scientists will then study this data and compare it from year to year.  The Cascades Butterfly Project is taking the same approach as the MeadoWatch crew in that they are enlisting the help of dozens of volunteers to help track and identify sensitive indicator species, such as butterflies, in five different locations throughout the park.  They too will be continuing on with this project over many years and tracking the effects of global climate change.  Love science and want to participate in these or similar studies?  There are still spots available!

Meadow Rovers – Throughout the Month of June

This year is on track to be one of the most popular years for visitors in Mount Rainier’s history.  With thousands upon thousands of visitors rambling through the trails, many questions may go unanswered, many flowers may be picked from our pristine subalpine fields, many dogs may chase down those loveable marmots, and many meadows may become stomped.  This is where the Meadow Rover crew comes into play.  Showing in record numbers this year, the Meadow Rovers have one goal: to improve protection of the meadows at Paradise and Sunrise through visitor education.  This devoted group of volunteers spends their time on patrol around the meadows of Paradise and Sunrise, sharing stories with visitors on a wide range of topics, educating guests on a variety of ecological concepts and programming within the park, and assisting those in need while on the trails.  We’d love to have you out roving the meadows at either Paradise or Sunrise!

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Looking Ahead to July

July is looking to be a hot month, but that won’t stop our volunteer crews!  Here are some events coming up in the month of July (and beyond).

Eatonville 4^th of July Parade – July 4^th

This year we are celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Wonderland trail, the 90+ mile loop trail that encircles the mountain.  Come cheer us on, or if you’d like, join us walking the parade route!  For more information, contact Jim Ross at Jim_Ross@nps.gov, or just show up at 11:30 on Penn Avenue in Eatonville and look for the ranger vehicle. Wear your trail maintenance helmets and show your support for the Wonderland Trail!

SCA Community Crew #1 – July 6^th

On July 6^th, we welcome our first of three youth crews from the Seattle area as part of the Student Conservation Association’s Community Crew program.  These volunteers will spend two weeks working in the backcountry alongside trail crews, improving many miles of trails.  If you hike past them, make sure to express your support for them and all of their hard work! The second crew will then be arriving on July 27th and staying through August 10th.

Mount Rainier National Parks Associates “Deveg” – July 11^th

The next MRNPA volunteer work party will be on Saturday, July 11^th.  The primary focus of this work party will be exotic plant removal, or “deveg,” at the site of the new Carbon River Ranger Station, just west of the Carbon River Entrance.  They are meeting between 8:30am and 9:00am in front of the ranger station and no prior experience is needed; all training necessary will be provided on site.  If interested, please contact MRNPA at volunteer@mrnpa.org with information of how many volunteers you are expecting to accompany you.

Washington Trails Association Trail Work – Every Weekend of the Summer

The WTA is a longstanding partner of Mount Rainier National Park, and every weekend they are having volunteer work parties that are designed to improve sections of trail that are commonly traveled.  For information on where their next work project is in the park and how YOU can join them, visit www.wta.org.

Volunteer Picnics – August 14^th and 15^th

Remember that our annual Volunteer Picnics (Longmire on the 14^th and Sunrise on the 15^th) will be held in August.  Food will be provided at both events, and more information will be posted on the volunteer blog (rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com) soon!

Tents Up!

A hard-working batch of geocachers and Mount Rainier Volunteers gathered together today in the Longmire Campground for the annual spring cleanup and installation of five platform tents which serve as temporary housing for volunteers throughout the summer months. The event was officially billed at Geocaching.com as a "CITO" (Cache In, Trash Out) and was the seventh annual gathering of this type at this location. The work went smoothly. Participants ranged in age from pre-school kids to senior citizens, each contributing their best efforts to the project. Go, Volunteers!

The Volunteer Program is hoping to enlist a second cleanup team to remove storm debris next weekend. Stay tuned to this blog for updates, and if you're interested in participating, please contact Kevin via Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov for more details.

Longmire Campground opening tomorrow -- both geocachers and non-geocachers are welcome!

"Mostly sunny, freezing level near 13,500 feet." That's the weather forecast for tomorrow in Mount Rainier National Park! If you're looking for something worthwhile to do on a gorgeous day, consider joining us for our annual Longmire Campground Opening volunteer project. We'll be setting up platform tents and picking up storm debris that has accumulated in the campsites over the winter. It's fun, low-key work, and only takes a couple of hours; by lunch time, we'll be ready to sit in the sun and eat our picnics along the Nisqually River.

As is our tradition, this year's campground opening is sponsored by local geocachers. However, the project is not limited to geocachers. And, it's also a great opportunity to find out about geocaching if you've been curious!

For more information, visit the geocache page for this event here. RSVP by sending an e-mail to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov, or just show up at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 8. For those of you without GPS units, meet at the Longmire Campground. Enter Mount Rainier National Park by the southwest (Nisqually) entrance -- let the rangers at the gate know you're volunteering so that they don't charge you a fee -- and drive six miles to Longmire. Turn right just past the National Park Inn and follow the road marked "dead end" until it crosses a suspension bridge. A few hundred yards further you'll come to a small building and parking lot. Park there and follow the campground loop counter-clockwise to meet up with the volunteer team.

If you'd like to extend your weekend, consider camping in the Longmire Campground after your work day. Camping is free for working volunteers, and volunteers have access to the only public showers in the park!

We hope to see you there!

Longmire Campground Cleanup Event

Many of our Volunteers take advantage of the privilege of staying in the historic Longmire Campground while they're working on projects in the Park. Some come in motorhomes and campers. Others "rough it" in tents for a weekend or a week, depending on their assignments, but every winter brings down a new carpet of limbs, twigs and fir needles which need to be cleaned up before the campground officially opens.

For the last six years, members of Geocaching.com have contributed their efforts in tidying up for the June opening, and various other groups have pitched in later in the year, creating piles which now need to be consolidated for removal by maintenance crews. In addition, there is last winter's shed of branches to gather and rake up, and the platform tents need to be erected. Lots of work for many hands!

We're asking you to help! The date is June 8. The time is 9 AM. There will be a break for bring-your-own lunch, fun and games after the event, and of course there's the opportunity to socialize with your friends. Bring your own gloves, and keep an eye on the weather report to determine appropriate clothing. Please join us. RSVP to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov or to Crow at Petrina_Vecchio@partner.nps.gov.

And just a reminder: we still need Volunteers to help clean up winter's deposits in the Longmire housing area on Tuesday, May 28. Event begins at 9 AM. RSVP to Crow if you'd like to participate.

Many Hands Make Light Work

For a sixth year, a small, dedicated group of geocachers got together with Park staff on June 9 to erect tents in the Longmire Campground for use by summer volunteers. This project has been plagued by a number of issues in the past, anything from late-lying snow needing to be shoveled away to parts having gone missing. This year was no exception as we discovered that the canvas tents had shrunk so radically that in a couple of cases, the poles did not fit. The good news is that the poles have now been shortened and standardized, and next year's "CITO the Mountain" should be the easiest one yet!

CITO Pictures and Conclusion

It's Official: The Cache-In-Trash-Out event last Saturday was a huge success. More than a dozen Geocachers came and helped set-up nine platform tent, dig out a path to the accessible bathrooms, and clean and paint the accessible bathroom stall. With these tents up, housing volunteers will be that much easier in the future. This was the first big volunteer event of the summer, so it was great to see such a turnout. Just looks at the hard work and happy faces. I hear Geocachers have a term "First To Find", so in a way, they were the "First To Find" volunteering this summer.

So again, Kevin and I want to thank everyone that came out and give you a big round of applause. If you want to know more about the event and see some cool pictures you can check out this link for info and this link for photos.

So have a good week, a great Memorial Day, and come volunteer again soon.

Those amazing geocachers

WOW! I just checked out the page for the Washington Geocachers event at Cougar Rock Campground yesterday, for National Trails Day. I am absolutely floored by the amount of work those guys accomplished! For comparison, here is what the campground amphitheater looked like when I stopped by at noon:



Now here's what it looked like at the end of the day (I've also UPDATED the image above with a photo from the exact same location):

Check out all of their photos here.

I had seriously thought maybe we wouldn't be able to do evening programs in the campground until September. It's looking a lot more optimistic now. One member of the group estimated they must have moved 50 tons of snow! I especially like this comment by TotemLake:

I'm making the rare move to count this as an ATTENDED WITH PRIDE to have worked as hard with a great bunch of people in the Geocaching community and with a very impressively energetic organization such as the SCA.

The members promise to post more photos and videos later, which I will link to here, so stay tuned. THANK YOU, Washington Geocachers!!