Interview with Annette Smits, North Zone Trails Coordinator for the Gila National Forest

We checked in with Annette Smits, the North Zone Trails Coordinator for the Gila National Forest ahead of our returning service project there, June 8 - 14, 2014. We asked Annette about the area, her work and how to help, among a number of other topics.

Tell us about the most unique aspect of the wilderness area that you manage. What draws visitors here?

In my zone (I cover 3 districts of the Gila) we cover 2 wilderness areas-all of the Blue Range and the western half of the Gila Wilderness, as well as General Forest Areas (GFA) and Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRA).

For the Blue Range the most unique feature is likely solitude, I can think of few other areas that give the user a chance to truly get away from it all. We have amazing dark skies, great hunting, and opportunities to catch glimpses of wildlife of all sorts from elk to raccoons or hear wolves howling in the distance.

For the Gila, the biggest draw is that it is one of the original wilderness areas, where Aldo Leopold got some of his inspiration. Where the green fire died in the wolf’s eyes. The western half has extremely rugged terrain that draws people looking for a challenge.

Tell us about the most important types of projects a group of volunteers can do to help in your wild backcountry areas.

Trail work. In my opinion trails bring people into our great public lands and give them the opportunity to experience them and grow to love them. Trail work is hard work in that is very demanding in terms of resources. Trails serve as a means to concentrate use, and reduce impact to natural resources (for example we typically route our trails away from sensitive resources whether cultural or biological). I think if we provide a sound way for people to come out and enjoy our backcountry they will start to love them and want to protect them.

Why do you work with Wilderness Volunteers?

We partner with WV, because we need help. What makes WV such an ideal group to work with is the continuity of leadership, the ease of working with leaders who are already savvy about being out in the woods and leaving no trace, and the general professionalism of Wilderness Volunteers as an organization. 

About the WV service project:

Our projects have been on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) construction. Currently much of our route of the CDT is on roadways, where non-motorized users are competing for space with trucks and ATVs. For the last few years we have been working on creating a new trail where people can enjoy the panoramic vistas, in the peace and quiet that the Gila is known for. In the still of the forest a user can catch glimpses of herds of elk, bobcats, deer, bears, various birds, coyotes, and other wildlife. It may be a personal bias here, but these things can make for an outstanding trip whether out for the day or on a longer trip. In partnering with WV we are giving more people the chance for these experiences. The way in which WV operates make them an extremely easy group to work with. There is always going to be set up time with any project, but due to good planning and working with the same leadership every time the amount of work that goes into a WV trip is much less than what is generally expected with volunteer groups in general. Working with WV, all that I really need to do is show up with tools, safety equipment, and water the rest of the in and out day-to-day logistical stuff is covered by WV. Any trip that is being coordinated by WV is one that as I can count on as being a productive week as a land manager, and an enjoyable week on a personal level.

How can folks continue to give back to your area when not on a WV project?

Being our eyes and ears out in the field. I cover about 1½  million acres in my zone, so needless to say there are a lot of things that I don’t know about as far as day to day stuff. Though we may or may not be able to deal

with the issue rapidly, the sort of things that are very helpful for us to know about are:

·        Water and spring conditions (or lack thereof)- this is the most common question I get asked, and being in the southwest water is almost always scarce. If at least I could say as an example- as of June 18^th there was water in spring x. At least it’s a bit more certain than a guess.

·        Noxious weeds- this is starting to become more of an issue in our areas. If we have the opportunity to find and remove these outcropping while they are still small we have a much better chance of removing them.

·        Trail conditions- not necessarily a single tree down, but if there are excessive numbers of them down, trail has extreme washouts, if the trail is very difficult to find, or anything that looks out of the ordinary out there. 

Join Annette and WV on the service project in the Gila National Forest, June 8 - 14, 2014, as we continue to build and improve the Continental Divide Trail.

Photo from the Field: Superstition Wilderness by Sarah Slover

Photo from the Field: Taken by Sarah Slover on WV's spring service project in the Superstition Wilderness of Arizona's Tonto National Forest in March 2012.

You can sign up now for WV's 2014 service project in the Superstition Wilderness, as well as many others at http://www.wildernessvolunteers.org/php/projects.php

Coming Back For More

We received this nice note from Glenn Thornton, a participant on WV's service project in Utah's Dark Canyon Wilderness of the Manti-La Sal National Forest, May 12 - 18, 2013.

Dave and Wilderness Volunteers,

Glenn conquering invasive tamarisk

Thanks for the fantastic opportunity to "give something back" on the 2013 service project in Dark Canyon. It truly was a rich and rewarding experience. This was my first WV trip and so I was not quite sure what to expect. Some volunteer/non-profit projects end up being a bit cobbled together logistics and communications wise. But with WV, I was very pleased to be able to have access to an up-to-date website with current info in the participants area, as well as the trip specific communications that were sent out to each participant. Then in the field you and Peyton had everything well planned and organized so that the hike in, and the camp-life was kept smooth and safe. And the food was quite good, varied and fresh, considering the remote location and all.

After all the hard work your crews have done in Dark Canyon and Woodenshoe Canyon, I felt honored to help WV and the USFS get one step closer to declaring victory over the evil tamarisk in Dark Canyon, at least in the wilderness portion of Dark Canyon. If all you guys offer is great volunteers, great leaders, great remote logistics, and seven days of hard and hot sandy work killing tamarisk while hiking in some of the most beautiful country around, then I'll definitely be back for more. Thanks again!

Glenn Thornton


While WV's next trip to Dark Canyon is already full, we'll likely be back in 2014. There are a just a few projects still in need of volunteers, such as a great project in the Moquith Mountain Wilderness Study Area by Kanab, UT and a neat one in the San Gabriel Mountains within the Angeles National Forest. Take a peek over on the WV project page for all the info on the service projects remaining in 2013.

Project Spotlight: La Sal Mountains Roadless Area

WV's 2013 project will camp nearby the stunningly beautiful Warner Lake, photo by Jeff Maurone

A view of Mt. Peale, photo by GSEC

The Wilderness Volunteers Project Spotlight next lands on the outdoor recreation haven of southeastern Utah, in the Manti-La Sal National Forest.  Towering above the town of Moab to the east lies the impressive La Sal Mountains, the second highest range in Utah. The La Sals span about 18 miles and contain 3 clusters of peaks.  The highest peak, Mt. Peale tops out at 12,721 feet above sea level. The name of the range dates to the Old Spanish Trail when the range was referred to as the Sierra La Sal or "Salt Mountains". The range remains a prominent landmark for travelers to the region, presenting a breathtaking background to the world famous slickrock Parks of Arches and Canyonlands.

The La Sal Mountains as seen from a viewing point in Arches National Park, photo by Focused Exposure

We've planned this project in coordination with Brian Murdock, the Recreation, Wilderness and Trails Manager for the National Forest in the Moab/Monticello region. In regard to this project he writes:

Not a bad place to give something back

"The trail system in the La Sal mountains provide for a wide range of trail activities and is heavily used. As a result many of the trails are in need of maintenance to reduce impacts to forest resources. Also a new trail plan will be implemented this summer to deal with an increasing amount of use and the WV project will focus on constructing some of these new trails.  

We are planning on base camping at a high elevation camp in the La Sals (either Geyser Pass at 10,500 ft or Warner Lake at 9,300 ft). The views into the surrounding desert country are phenomenal. The project will occur in areas ranging from alpine meadows, aspen and fir stands to areas above timberline and it is usually 30 degrees cooler than the surrounding desert. Participants will be hiking out each morning to the project sites from 1-2 miles and constructing/maintaining trails with provided handtools. It is likely that we will see a large variety of wildlife (deer, elk, coyotes, bears). Many peaks over 11,000  feet are accessible to climb during free time and Warner Lake also presents good fishing."

Also a great place to go for a hike!  Join us this summer in the La Sal Mountains.

Learn more and join us on the Wilderness Volunteers Project in the La Sal Mountains Roadless Area

Endangered California Condors

We often see California Condors on the North Kaibab service trips, lazily soaring in thermals or perched on snags in the areas above Kanab Creek. They are huge, very distinctive looking birds with large numbers on their wings (this is a picture of number 33).

I recently learned that the singer Johnny Cash caused a forest fire in 1965 that burned 508 acres including 49 of the 53 condors being raised at a sanctuary in the Los Padres National Forest. Cash, who reportedly said, "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards" at the time, was sued by the federal government and settled, bragging for years that he was the only person sued for starting a forest fire.

According to this report, there are currently 369 California condors remaining in the world, and in northern Arizona, several are pulled out of the wild every year to undergo chelation therapy for lead poisoning due to eating lead shot used by hunters. There is a program to give free safe ammunition to hunters and to teach them to clean up the entrails and shot left when they hunt in the North Kaibab, which has been somewhat successful although at least two condors died due to lead poisoning in 2010, and three are unaccounted for.

Spend a week on the North Rim with Wilderness Volunteers for an opportunity to see this rare, magnificent condor and marvel at the 9 - 10-ft wingspan as they take flight.

Got Nature?

Great Falls National Park, VA (2010)

I'm about to begin reading Richard Louv's bestseller Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, which argues that children need nature just as much as they need their vegetables and their playgrounds and their ABCs. It's an argument we hear more and more frequently and it doesn't apply just to children, particularly in our increasingly digital world.

In fact, there's a growing field of research into the effects of technology on our brains - on how technology affects the way we think and act - with special attention paid to the role nature might play in reversing those effects. In today's New York Times, Matt Richtel writes about a study undertaken by a group of neuroscientists who set out to explore this relationship during a week-long rafting trip on the San Juan River in Utah's Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

WV in the AZ Daily Sun

North Kaibab National Forest, AZ (2009)

In mid-September, 13 participants spent a week in the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest building steps into an eroded section of the North Canyon Trail and conducting general trail maintenance in the Saddle Mountain Wilderness.

Read about it here.

The Great Escalante Flood of 2009

Escalante River Canyon, UT (2009)

When he's not teaching Latin American Literature at UC San Diego, Wilderness Volunteer trip leader Misha Kokotovic is busy battling invasive Russian Olive trees - notorious for choking off rivers and streams in the West - along Utah's Escalante River. His first WV trip led him to the Escalante in 1999, and he's been going back almost every year since - including this past year, which proved to be his most exciting trip yet.

"Near the end of our second day of work in the Escalante River canyon, we hear someone a few hundred yards downstream from us shouting. It’s someone from our group, so maybe he’s announcing that it’s quitting time. But the tone sounds more urgent than that, and some of us think we might have heard him shout the word “Flood!” That’s not implausible since it’s been cloudy all afternoon, and there were even a few drops of rain. The Escalante River had already risen a couple of inches over the course of the afternoon, which was enough to convince us to have everyone work on the river bank closest to camp so that nobody would get stranded for the night if there were a serious flood. So, yes, maybe he has been shouting “Flood!”

But we’re upstream of the shouting and see no sign of the river above us rising any further than it already has. Then we hear it: a steady roar downstream, which drowns out the shouting. All doubt is erased as the Escalante River reverses course and begins to flow upstream, carrying with it the Russian Olive branches we had cut over the past two days. Yes, there has in fact been a flood, but not the one we expected.

Rather than coming down the main Escalante drainage, the flood has come down the tributary drainage of Choprock Canyon. And our camp, our food, our tents – everything – is on the other side of Choprock, out of reach until the flood waters recede. Despite our precautions, it’s beginning to look like at least some of us may be going to bed hungry and without our camping gear.

We hike towards camp and gather on the river bank directly across from our tents, yet not everyone is accounted for. We can see one lucky group member who somehow ended up on the other side of Choprock and now waves to us from camp. Most of our group waits on the bank while a few of us hike back to the Escalante River to look for the missing, to no avail. We then walk up the Choprock drainage along the canyon rim and spot a group member on the opposite rim. After much gesturing and shouting over the flood waters below, we learn that two group members have been stranded farther up Choprock Canyon. Soon we’re on the rim above them and, after more gesturing and shouting, we’re reassured that they are safe and even enjoying the flood. Finally, the remaining members of the group, including Park Ranger Bill Wolverton, join us on the canyon rim. We’re all relieved that everyone has finally been accounted for, and it’s now time to reconstruct what happened.

Spotting the flood first were three volunteers who had quit work early in order to hike up Choprock Canyon in search of clear water for drinking and cooking (our main water source, the Escalante River, had become very muddy the day before). As they were filling the water jugs, they heard and then saw the flood racing down the canyon. Two were stranded on opposite banks of Choprock, while the third managed to outrun the flood and warn the rest of us – hence, the shouting we heard. Ranger Bill and another volunteer were the first to hear the warning and see the flood spill over into the Escalante River, overpowering the current and reversing the flow for several hundred yards upstream. Caught on the far bank of the Escalante, they hiked upstream to a safer crossing, and joined us on the rim of Choprock Canyon.

With everyone accounted for, but still separated from camp by a rising river, all we could do was ensure that everyone was safe and comfortable while we waited for the flood to subside. Fortunately, the water receded within four hours, and by dark we were all reunited in camp. Dinner was late, but good, and seasoned with stories of “The Great Escalante Flood of 2009” (the tall tales began long before the wash in Choprock was dry). We spent much of the next day – our free day – exploring Choprock Canyon and marveling at the flood’s effects.

Such excitement and adventure is not unusual on WV trips, and this flash flood was not the first I had experienced on an Escalante trip – though it was certainly the biggest and most dramatic. It was the high point of a fun but challenging week spent removing the invasive Russian Olive tree from the Escalante river corridor, an ongoing project to which WV has devoted the better part of the past decade. In that time, we have helped eradicate the Russian Olive from over 36 miles of the Escalante Canyon, preventing it from crowding out the native willows and cottonwoods and, in turn, making the hiking much more pleasant.

I’m always impressed by how much work even a small group of dedicated people can get done when they work together. I’m also heartened to see how people look after each other in the face of potential danger, such as our “Great Flood.” As soon as we realized what was happening, we set out to make sure everyone was accounted for and safe. Some people ran ahead to warn others, some helped locate the missing, and some moved others’ tents and gear to higher ground, and brought clothing and food (which, by the way, had to be lowered down a cliff) to those who were temporarily stranded. What could have been simply a frightening ordeal instead became a thrilling, shared experience.

The flood was the high point of the trip for everyone in the group – including me – but not merely because of the excitement it provided. The group’s response to the flood reminded me of what I like best about WV trips, even more than the good work we do and the adventures we enjoy: our ability to accomplish great things when we work together to fulfill our responsibilities to each other and to the land that sustains us."

Experience for yourself below:

For more on the project and the progress WV has made, check out Ranger Bill Wolverton's "War with the Russian Olive."

And for some great before-and-after shots of the work, click here.

WV Announces Alternative Spring Break Program

This spring, Wilderness Volunteers launched an exciting new program: Alternative Spring Break!

Designed to involve college students in the preservation and maintenance of our wild lands and wild places, WV's Alternative Spring Break program will give students from college campuses across the country the opportunity to spend a week "giving something back" in the nation's parks, forests, and wilderness areas and to become the next generation of environmental stewards and "wilderness volunteers."

During the second week of March, ten James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) students and one faculty member packed their bags and headed west to Utah's Zion National Park to spend their spring break clearing trails, moving rocks, digging trenches, and working hard. No beaches, suntans, wild parties, or lazy afternoons here.

"Team J-M-U" maintained trails and built earthen water bars across the East Rim and Left Fork Subway trails, improved the wheelchair accessible Emerald Pools trail, and broke ice and cleared a path along the popular Observation Point trail.

Take a look:

The 8-day trip was a success, and was arranged through Breakaway: The Alternative Break Connection, which has been instrumental in providing college students with opportunities to spend their hard-earned spring breaks performing community service focused on some of the world's most important issues. REI generously donated tents, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags for the students to use.

The Zion service trip is the first all-student project that Wilderness Volunteers has organized as it endeavors to involve more college students in alternative spring break service trips across the country.

WV is currently scheduling projects for Spring Break 2010. For more information about how to connect your university group with a Wilderness Volunteers Alternative Spring Break Project, contact Dave Pacheco at dave@wildernessvolunteers.org.

Thanks again to Team J-M-U for "Giving Something Back!"

P.S. To learn more about Breakaway and the Alternative Spring Break movement, listen to this interview with Breakaway's Program Director:

WV Presents...@ REI in Salt Lake City

Outdoor enthusiasts in Utah are encouraged to attend one of two upcoming presentations at REI in the Salt Lake City area titled "Giving Something Back in 2009." The photo presentation will discuss Wilderness Volunteers' work and mission, and will encourage attendees to get involved in upcoming wild-land service projects.

WV's Program Manager Dave Pacheco will present on the following dates:

• May 14th, 7:00pm at the Sandy REI, 230 W 10600 S

• July 22nd, 7:00pm at the Salt Lake City REI, 3285 E 3300 S

Wilderness Volunteers and James Madison University would also like to thank REI for supporting the first-ever Wilderness Volunteers Alternative Spring Break Service Project, which ran during the second week of March in Utah's Zion National Park. As part of its committment to environmental stewardship, REI donated a tent for the students to use, and continues to support the work of Wilderness Volunteers.

Thanks from all of us!