Westside Road Project - Thank You!

A big thank you to those volunteers who have been working on the Westside Road with Jeni! Some of their work included: shoveling soil, using tools to cut down young willow and alder branches for live staking, using rock bars to move rocks for site preparation, moving soil via wheelbarrow, and hammering live stakes into the creek bed.

Lots of hard work - thank you!!!

Volunteers Needed!

Volunteers are needed to help with the creation of willow wattle fences. Volunteers can learn about the construction process and local ecology of Tahoma Creek. Volunteers would take part in helping the park re-open a portion of the Westside road. Because part of the design involves live trees, volunteers can watch soil stabilization happen over time.

 

 I am looking for 10 volunteers on each of the following days: August 26, 27, 29, 30, 31/ September 7,8,9.   to work with me on constructing willow wattle fences. This is a great opportunity to volunteer with a group of friends or to meet some new people!

The project would include the following tasks:

- Shoveling soil

- Using tools to cut down young willow and alder branches, to be used for live staking.

- Using rock bars to move rocks, for site preparation.

- Moving soil via wheelbarrow

- Hammering live stakes into the creek bed

A day would span from 8 am to 5 pm, but promises to be invigorating! Volunteers would need to bring their own lunch and their own water. 

 

If you are willing to participate or have questions please contact Jeni Chan at jennifer_chan@partner.nps.gov

 

Thank you!

Jeni Chan 

Westside Road Erosion Mitigation Project

The Westside Road Phyto-Engineering Project is looking for volunteers from August  22nd- September 16^th to help collect live willow stakes to build both wattle fences and for live staking. Our project site will focus on a portion of the Westside Road beyond the gate to help mitigate bank erosion. We will be out every week day from 9:00AM-4:00PM, unless otherwise notified. Tasks per day will vary between collecting and constructing.

We are looking for 10 volunteers to help out with this project where you can learn about the process of bank erosion, and how to deal with it using various engineering methods. Although no prior experience is necessary, familiarity with gardening and construction tools is a plus! All tools are provided. Please bring your own lunch, snack, and water!

For more information, please email Jennifer_chan@partner.nps.gov

Not just another day at the office

One of the things I love about working in a National Park is that every day is different, and our dynamic landscape is always changing. Thus, when one of my summer interns, Yonit Yogev, a graduate student at The Evergreen State College, turned out to be the first ranger on scene when a debris flow came down Tahoma Creek last week, my first thought was to have her write down her experience for this blog. I hear from volunteers every week about the interesting things that happen to them and the wonderful things they encounter along the trail. But it will take a while to top this one. - Kevin Bacher, Volunteer Program Manager

Mount Rainier is a geologically active area.  Signs of rock fall, past debris flows, braided rivers full of glacial flour, and even the occasional sound of distant rock falling are all clear reminders of just how active the mountain really is.  Volunteering here over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of hearing lectures by and going on guided walks with park scientists and geologists, heard their stories and about their research.  They always emphasize (and so I placed firmly on the back-burner of my mind) the warnings about quickly finding higher ground if I were ever to hear loud rumbling that sounds like an oncoming train.

On August 13, late in the morning I headed out to do an ‘attended listening’ session on the Tahoma Creek Trail for the park’s Soundscape Project.  This research records and confirms background noise levels at strategic places in the park. As I drove up the Westside Road—thought to be the most geologically active and dangerous area of the park at present—I brought the warnings of rumbling trains to the forefront of my thoughts. I was awed and humbled by the signs of recent geologic activity which landed truck-sized boulders onto the road and left many others in precarious positions on the remaining landslide.  Thinking I should not stay in that area for long—though it’s so fascinating one may be compelled to just stare at it for a long while—I continued the drive up the road to the trailhead.  On the way, I ran into and briefly talked with two hiking parties—one of about 5 adults, and the other a couple. 

I arrived at the trailhead, turned the truck around and parked it.  As I got out and prepared to get onto the trail, I heard what sounded like very loud helicopters overhead.  The noise continued for some time.  I had read an email about helicopter traffic, so at first didn’t worry too much, though I thought it sounded awfully loud.  Of course, in the back of my head, the warning signs were waving red flags.  I decided to wait out the noise before beginning the hike.  (That decision turned out to be key to keeping me out of harm’s way!)  After a couple of minutes or so, it became louder and louder and clearly turned into rumbling, accompanied by the sounds of trees being knocked over and the roaring of the river getting louder as well.  At this point, I finally was quite sure we were dealing with a debris flow, so previously having backed the truck further uphill, I got myself to higher ground and watched and waited, heart thumping, and head shaking in disbelief at my mixed luck!

As I watched, a large flash flood of water, mixed with mud, rock and debris washed over the road.  It looked to be about a foot or foot and a half high, and washed away part of the road on the far side where it flowed over into a shallow ravine.  After a few minutes it subsided and I felt safe enough to come back down to the road; I called dispatch on the radio, and took pictures with my phone.  Then I saw the couple coming up (they had been on the way to the trail as well).  I turned them around, explaining what had just happened.  They reported witnessing lots of large trees being washed down-river.  I then realized I should report all the visitors I had seen to dispatch. 

Eventually, two rangers and Scott, the park geologist, came up and there was discussion about closing roads and trails and making sure all the hikers were accounted for.

On the one hand, this was an incredibly rare thing to get to see, and it was unbelievably exciting.  On the other hand, of course it was rather nerve-wracking, though I would have loved to have been allowed to go up in the helicopter to scope out the source—the Tahoma Glacier, where an event of this sort was expected to occur at some point this summer.  I learned that when it happens, there are usually several waves, and indeed we heard another two while we were standing there, though the subsequent ones were not high enough to wash over the road again.  At some point earlier, another volunteer who was higher up the mountain was able to get to the suspension bridge and provided ongoing, real-time information about what the river was doing, and at least twice he mentioned further rumbling and rises in the water level.  Indeed a couple of times we heard increasing noise from the river, up to the level of rumbling, but not as severe as when I initially heard it. 

We never knowingly put ourselves in harm’s way, but with a mountain as geologically active as this one, this was a heart-thumping reminder that these things really do occur, really can be dangerous, and that you can never be too careful when you’re out hiking the trails or wilderness.  The beauty is jaw-dropping, but it is rugged and unstable, and it pays to always keep those warnings on the front-burner when venturing out in this region.

- Yonit Yogev, Volunteer and Outreach Intern, The Evergreen State College

Post-script:  As my mind processed this event over the course of the evening, I remembered that the evening before, I had been to see a screening of the documentary “Chasing Ice,” about James Balog’s incredible Extreme Ice Survey.  In this decade-long project, they have set up cameras on over 20 sites on glaciers around the world.  The resulting footage documents in a jaw-dropping, ‘in your face’ manner, the degree and speed of glacier recession around the world.  If you haven’t seen it, you absolutely MUST.  This is a powerful film about the urgency of climate change.

Mount Rainier National Park Associates Deveg Project

The Mount Rainier National Park Associates conducts a "deveg" (exotic plant removal) project along the Westside Road in July 2012. MRNPA welcomes volunteers! Learn more about them at MRNPA.org, and join the for one of their next projects -- trail maintenance on August 11, or Revegetation on September 8!

Catching up

Horrible as it may sound, I've been too busy to blog for most of the past week! Now that the volunteer picnic is past, and before the J-VIPA volunteers arrive, I'll be getting caught up. There's a lot to report on: things going on in the park, things coming up. Here's the first installment, a few miscellaneous news items:

Spotted Owls more endangered than ever
Check out this article in the Seattle Times. Many of our volunteers help with Spotted Owl survey work.

Westside Road closed for maintenance
Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga has announced that repairs to the Westside Road, located at the southwest corner of Mount Rainier National Park, will begin on Monday, August 18. This repair work will result in the road being closed to all public access for a three week period, Monday through Friday, from August 18 through September 5, 2008. This closure is to ensure the safety of the public, as heavy equipment will be working in the area along with trucks carrying large loads of rocks and boulders. The closure applies to all public access including hiking, biking, and motor vehicles, and will extend from the beginning of the Westside Road at its intersection with the main park road, to the motor vehicle gate at Fish Creek. During the closure periods, there will not be access to the road north of Fish Creek from the main park road. The Westside Road will be open to public access on weekends beginning at 5:00 pm on Fridays through midnight on Sundays, and will also be open on Labor Day, September 1.

The Westside Road was heavily damaged during flooding that occurred at Mount Rainier on November 6, 2006. The work occurring in August will involve reconstructing the road embankment where Fish Creek has eroded it away, constructing two rock barbs (diversionary structures) in the creek to help stabilize the bank, and installing riprap and logs to protect the bank from future erosion.

Park crews (including volunteers) will revegetate the area once repairs are made. Obtaining required environmental compliance approval for these repairs, and completion of other flood-related repairs throughout the park, has cleared the way for work to begin on the Westside Road. It is crucial that work be completed on the road prior to the start of the rainy season which occurs around September of each year.

Please note that additional work on the Westside Road is slated for September in the flood-damaged area north of the Fish Creek gate. Visitors should use caution whenever near construction zones throughout the park.

Old Timer's Alumni Brunch coming up September 6
Are you one of the lucky individuals who have worked at Mount Rainier for decades, either as a paid employee or volunteers, or both? Join us for our annual alumni brunch on Saturday September 6 at the Longmire Community Building. Contact Donna Rahier at 360-569-2211 ext. 2301 for details.

More bears
Here's a photo submitted by a friend of one of our volunteers, taken near Summerland last week:

Keep an eye out for the bears--they've been very active this year!--and remember to keep your food out of reach in the campgrounds.

A volunteer reports back
Here's a note from our mailbag this week:

I thought I would send you a note to let you know that Crys and I had a good time working with the SCA in Steven's Canyon this summer. We built a bridge, a french drain, and did many other revisions and repairs in order to prevent any natural decay to the existing trail and enhance the Mt. Rainier visitor's experience. The food was good, the SCA members were all professionals (particularly Brad who was extremely personable, friendly, knowledgable, tough, and goal orientated - this guy rocks, if I were responsible for hiring for the National Park Service I would actively recruit him for full time permanant employment before he gets another offer someplace else), and the camp site was awesome. - T.M.

There are several more backcountry projects available on our calendar this summer, if you'd like to see for yourself how much fun it is...

Backcountry volunteer survives 100 foot fall at Zion National Park
Some of you may remember Kaitlyn Bohlin, formerly of Mount Rainier National Park. She unfortunately had a serious accident a few weeks ago at Zion. Last word I heard is that she's recovering well, despite being in critical condition for a while. Read the latest here, including a letter dictated by Kaitlyn herself.

And last but not least,

Trotter heads for Sequoia; Kinzer to Niobrara
Two of our staff members who have been ardent supporters of the volunteer program will be leaving Mount Rainier in the next few months:

Congratulations to Chris Trotter who has accepted a Law Enforcement Protection Ranger position at Sequoia National Park. She will be working in the busy Lodgepole area, one of the more active districts of the park, which is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Southern California. Chris started working at Mount Rainier ("MORA") seasonally in 1992 as a Park Interpreter. She worked seasonally at Mount Rainier through 1996, then taking positions at Rocky Mountain NP and Saguaro NP, and working some winter seasons at MORA through 1999. In 2000, Chris became permanent here at MORA as a Park Guide, switching over to a Law Enforcement position later that year. Having been at MORA off and on since the early 90's, Chris has a great deal of experience and knowledge about the park and area that will be difficult to replace. Chris starts work at Sequoia on August 31. Please take some time to thank Chris for the work and enthusiasm she has brought to her job as a ranger here at MORA. - Chuck Young, Chief Ranger

Please join me in congratulating Sandi Kinzer on her selection for the position of Chief of Interpretation at Niobrara National Scenic River in Nebraska. Sandi will remain at Mount Rainier for the opening of the new Jackson Memorial Visitor Center October 10th, and start her new position October 12th. Sandi came to Mount Rainier in September of 2004 as East District Interpreter and Outreach Coordinator. This summer she took on the task of supervising interpretive operations park wide. She is an outstanding interpreter and supervisor. Her vision, enthusiasm, and professionalism will be greatly missed! Best wishes, Sandi, in your new role! - Lee Taylor, Chief of Interpretation and Education