Going Above and Beyond: Stewardship in the National Parks National Parks

A recent commenter made sure to point out the distinction between the national park system and the National Park Service.... The management role the National Park Service plays in our parks cannot be understated, but the responsibility of protecting the parks does not lie with them alone. You and I have the same responsibility to pass the resources of our park system to future generations, just as it was passed to us by preceding generations. For those wishing to get involved, volunteering is one way to preserve the gift of the parks.

Read the entire, thoughtful article on the National Parks Conservation Association's blog, "National Parks Traveler."

Park News

On the weekend of August 3-5 the MRNPA had its annual workparty/campout event. There were several who camped Friday night. They were joined Saturday morning by several more for trail work along the Wonderland Trail reroute between Longmire and Cougar Rock....

Read more, with a link to pictures, on the Mount Rainier National Park Associates website.

Rebuilding Rainier 2.4

The fourth issue of this summer's volunteer newsletter is now available! It features some great pictures, lots of good news about progress being made on flood recovery, and more opportunities to get involved yourself. Also, learn about a new Interagency Volunteer Pass, developed to reward the cummulative efforts of those who volunteer on our public lands.

Mount Rainier Park Briskly Recovering from Storms

Unprecedented numbers of volunteers are helping paid contractors rebuild trails, campgrounds, and roads in Mount Rainier National Park. Storm damage closed the iconic park for six months this past winter and spring. Now, the pace of recovery is delightfully brisk. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

Read the full story, or listen to the broadcast, by Tom Banse of National Public Radio, on the website of KUOW in Seattle!

You can now hike all the Wonderland Trail

The Park Service reports that the Wonderland Trail is now hikeable in its entirety. The trail was severely damaged by rains this past November. New footlogs and temporary bridges are in place, and you can now complete a hike of the 93-mile trail, although it does require a detour on a stretch of the Stevens Canyon Road…. This is fantastic news, and a huge thank you is due to the National Park Service, plus committed volunteers from Student Conservation Association and Washington Trails Association. There's still much work to be done….

Read the whole article on WTA's Signposts Blog.

SCA Alumni Work Together at Mount Rainier

The first Rainier SCA alumni event took place without much fanfare but with much enthusiasm and hard work....

Read more on SCA's Rainier News blog.

Field Notes

Lots of news to report! I’ve been out of the office most of the past week, and it’s nice to return to reports of positive things happening all over the park. Here are a few highlights from the e-mails and phone messages scattered across my desk:

The Wonderland Trail is open! Steve Klump, our Wilderness Supervisor, sent this e-mail to our park staff late yesterday afternoon: "Thanks to the great work by trail crew, the Wonderland Trail is essentially open. All the main creek crossings have bridges in place. There remains temporary reroutes in some sections, a road bypass in Stevens Canyon, and a few closed camps. However, permits can begin to be issued for the entire loop. We will start accepting reservations for complete Wonderland itineraries. The public website and trail conditions report will be updated shortly." Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

Statistics: Speaking of which, our total number of volunteers for the year has now exceeded 1,000! That includes almost 300 individual volunteers, 359 who’ve volunteered through work parties led by SCA’s Mount Rainier Recovery Corps, well over 200 who’ve participated in WTA projects by now, and more than 150 others who’ve joined other group efforts. We had 924 volunteers in all of last year, so with two months to go in the fiscal year reporting period, we are well positioned to shatter all previous records for volunteer participation!

That being said, there is still a lot of work to be done before the snow flies! Keep us on your calendar, and let’s get as much done as possible this year!

Coming up on NPR: Tune your radios to NPR on Monday morning, August 6th, for a special report by Tom Banse on the volunteer efforts to rebuild Mount Rainier’s trails. In addition, I’ll link to the report as soon as it appears on KPLU’s website. The live broadcast is tentatively scheduled to be part of Morning Edition throughout Washington State.

Former Volunteer Makes Good: Brian Landau was a Geoscientist-in-Parks volunteer at Sunrise last year, while on sabbatical from the King County Department of Natural Resources. He has had an abstract accepted for presentation by the Geologic Society of America based on his experience here, entitled "Sunrise, Sunsets, and Mudflows: Lessons Learned from a Summer Experience as a Geologic Interpreter at Mt. Rainier National Park." You can hear his report live at the GSA’s annual meeting in Denver, and in the meantime, read his interesting abstract online!

Coming Up: A new issue of our newsletter will be out shortly, probably early next week. Meanwhile, there are still lots of projects on our calendar for the coming months, including trail repairs, meadow roving, and backpacking trips. Further out, mark your calendars for September 29, when we will commemorate National Public Lands Day with a suite of projects and a major celebration of the role volunteers have played in Mount Rainier’s recovery efforts. Details will be announced soon! Even further out, we’re already planning for next year’s volunteer program. When did it become August already?!

Petersburg, Alaska #5

Building trails is
Understanding it's Feng Shui....

I just had to share this great poem by Katie Sobalsky, an SCA intern in Alaska. Check out the whole poem on SCA's Conservation Nation blog!

Rainier's Wonderland Trail ready for hikers

Here's a sign things are getting back to normal at Mount Rainier: Repairs to the Wonderland Trail have made it possible for hikers to take to the 93-mile-long Wonderland Trail that wraps Rainier....

Read more on the National Parks Conservation Association's website.

Off to Indian Henry's

Volunteers Charlie Devine, Taylor Barbrack, and David Barbrack join Mount Rainier Recovery Corps members Sam Keller, Hannah O'Connell, and Susan Simpson as they prepare for five days of trail repairs near Indian Henry's Hunting Ground starting August 1st.