We've moved!

Mount Rainier’s volunteer program blog will now be here, at rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com. I’ve been reluctant to make the move, believing strongly that a National Park Service website should stay on the National Park Service server. Unfortunately, the tools for maintaining an effective blog just aren’t available on our server. The new site will provide options for comments and feedback, better search capabilities, improved cross-linking with other blog sites, automatic archiving (something I currently have to do manually), and easier access to archived posts. It will also be much quicker, easier, and reliable for me to use—and as busy as I am during “high season,” that can make the difference between having time to update you all on program news, and not having time to do so.

I will gradually copy the summer’s blog postings to this new site, and will leave them archived on the old site as well. You’ll also continue to find all of the other features of our volunteer program at the NPS address, www.nps.gov/mora/supportyourpark/volunteer.htm, including job listings and general information. Photos are still there too, though now that I’ve made the switch to Google’s blogspot, its photo management cousin, Picasa, looks tempting as well. We’ll see.

What do you think? This new website is interactive. Leave a comment and let me know!

Public Lands Day: A Flood of Help!

From the NW Parks and Public Lands Storm Recovery Coalition blog:

This last Saturday, the NW Storm Recovery Coalition hosted a very successful National Public Lands Day event at Mount Rainier National Park.

In total, 115 volunteers contributed a total of 529 hours. Teams of volunteers worked on ten service projects that included trail repair, campground restoration/clean up and other projects throughout the park. The day started with a speech and send off by Representative Norm Dicks. Representative Dicks has been a strong supporter of park storm recovery making several trips to the park over the past year.

That evening a celebratory gathering included an informal dinner and presentations at Columbia Crest Elementary School near Ashford. Phil Freeman, owner of Copper Creek Restaurant and Resort in Ashford, presented proceeds from the Music for the Mountain fundraiser held this past spring totaling over $5,000 to Mount Rainier National Park (via Washington’s National Park Fund), the Nisqually Land Trust, and Friends of the Upper Nisqually.

The NW Storm Recovery Coalition wishes to extend its thanks again everyone who helped out this past summer.

Park Honors Volunteers

From the full story in the Eatonville Dispatch, October 2, 2007:

Over 1,500 people gave their time and sweat to repairs, amounting to over 67,800 hours valued at over $1,290,600 in savings to the park. Ninety volunteers did additional work Saturday before the lunch and program held at Columbia Crest Elementary School.

America the Wild

Hey, check out this radio interview by Sean Smith, of the National Parks Conservation Association, that aired on a nationwide talk show called "America the Wild!" Choose Segment 2 from Show #104 on September 29.

Mount Rainier Recovery

From the website of the Student Conservation Association:

The first season of the Mount Rainier Recovery program came to a triumphant close last Saturday with a final, festive day of hands-on service and celebration. Some 150 enthusiastic individuals showed up on this chilly northwest autumn day to honor the park on National Public Lands Day by donning their warm layers and setting out to do one more favor for the mountain. Find pictures and stories soon on the park's volunteer blog page!

After a celebratory barbeque dinner, Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga addressed the group, expressing deep gratitude for everything that the attendees and hundreds of other citizens have done to help the park this season. Here are some of the impressive numbers:

• Volunteers: at least 1,600
• Hours of service: over 67,000
• Estimated value of volunteer work: exceeding $1.3 million
• Portion of trailwork completed by volunteers: over half
• Campsites cleared/maintained: 335
• Days of Meadow Protection duty: 69
• Road culverts cleared: 222
• Roadside erosion control areas: 10,800 sq ft+
• Trail brushed: 31,970 ft+
• Trail raked: 59,560 ft+
• Check steps constructed: 27+
• Trail reroute constructed: ~3600 ft

SCA is proud and honored to have been a leader in the Mount Rainier Recovery effort this year, and we are already working to build on this momentum toward even greater accomplishments at Mount Rainier in the coming year. We would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to all of you have contributed your time, energy, or savings to SCA and the Mount Rainier Recovery program. See you next year!

In our view: Clearing the Trails

Complete story at The Columbian, October 2, 2007:

There is some heartwarming news in the wake of all the destruction. Some 1,500 volunteers from all over the world contributed a total of some 67,000 hours of their time to rebuilding trails, bridges and campsites in Mount Rainier National Park... The 93-mile Wonderland Trail that encircles the Northwest's signature peak is among the routes now open, thanks to their work.

Mount Rainier Volunteers Work to Reopen Trails, Repair Damages

Complete story at The News Tribune, September 28, 2007:

“If we didn’t have the volunteer assistance, a lot of miles of trail most likely would not have been open or would be opening now,” said Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail supervisor. “If you count all the youth corps and volunteer support we had, it was at least half the work we got done.”

Volunteers Rescue Ravaged Mount Rainier National Park

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 28, 2007:

The Mount Rainier recovery estimate was $36 million, but volunteerism and fiscal management likely will bring costs down, possibly allowing funding to shift to other hard-hit national parks like Olympic or North Cascades, said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Calm before the Storm...

National Public Lands Day is just four days away. More than 120 people have signed up so far, and there's still room for more! Congressman Norm Dicks may join us at Longmire to kick off the day, and other representatives are considering doing so as well. It'll be a great way to end this Season of the Volunteer, adding several hundred more hours to a total, now past 67,000, that has already shattered all previous records. Meanwhile, volunteers and park rangers continue to work hard on trails, campgrounds, and restoration projects, knowing that winter's snows may be less than a month away in some places.


"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." - Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral (1655)

Volunteers work in Mount Rainier's rugged backcountry

From The Olympian, September 25, 2007:

The sounds of traffic melt away just as the sounds of the creek burble up the trail. The creek pours through narrow slots in giant, bedrock boulders when it first comes into view. At that moment, you stop thinking about the hike back up to the car — and start thinking about what wonders are ahead. On this day, the biggest wonder was a crew of five Student Conservation Association workers.