Reflections on the Retirement of a Favorite National Forest Partner

Below Wilderness Volunteers leader Kathleen Worley reflects on the retirement of Keith Waterfall, a long serving agency contact in the Inyo National Forest.  While Keith may have moved on, Kathleen is leading another great project in the Inyo NF in 2016, this time at Lake Ediza in the Ansel Adams Wilderness.

A WV crew moving logs in the Inyo National Forest .

 Keith Waterfall was the ranger in charge of the first Wilderness Volunteers trip I ever led, along with Bill Olmsted, to the Hilton Lakes in the Eastern Sierra.  He partnered with WV to set up projects in the Little Lakes Valley, at Lamark Lakes, Upper Pine Lake and Honeymoon Lake, Gem Lakes, various places above Lake Sabrina, and up Big Pine Creek in the Seven Lakes Basin below the Palisades Glacier. On that first trip he drove up from his office in Bishop to meet us at the trailhead and hike in with us to show us the project.  He arranged for packers to take in our supplies, with all our food sealed in big bear barrels that looked like oil drums (not the sleek sliver bear boxes we use now). 

Building the causeway

Our task was to build a long causeway through a meadow being trampled by packhorses on their way to Davis Lake.  A great two-man trail crew, John and Eric, supervised our work.  We hauled logs to mark the sides of the causeway, stripped off the bark, gathered rocks, laid them inside the log rails and crushed them with rock hammers, large and small.  We had a great crew. Carol got up early and made coffee every morning.  Joel had every gadget known to mankind, so we connected via radio during the free day, one group atop a mountain and the other at the edge of a waterfall.  Amy swam out to the island on Davis Lake at lunch while the rest of us watched the week-long progress of a fire high up in a granite bowl above us.  John came to my rescue when bears returned to camp in the middle of the night after breaking into one of the food barrels earlier in the day.  They’d eaten or carried off most of that night’s dinner, but we managed to improvise something; for the rest of the week people returned from trips into the woods carrying tooth-dented cans of tuna.

Not all trips Keith set up were quite as memorable, but there was always something strange and wonderful.  He chose campsites with amazing views and a good spot for a kitchen.  He found us places to camp the night before each trip and chose great packers to take us in and back out again.

Volunteer Michelle Collins "holding up a rock" on the 2013 Bishop Pass project

Some projects were more fun than others but all felt worth doing.  We had a great time destroying all trace of the former trail over Bishop Pass.  Though a new trail had been constructed, people coming down the pass could see the old one and were tempted to take it, since it looked shorter and less steep, but it passed under an active glacial moraine that could at any moment roll giant rocks onto unsuspecting hikers.  We got to roll many a rock ourselves, obliterating all evidence of the former pathway.  We also attempted to obliterate all non-natural traces of a former private lodge in the Seven Lakes Basin.  We filled and carried bags of cement from the foundation down the trail to a point above one of the lakes where we could dump the cement into the water. At one point, a woman in a pink inflatable boat rowed across the lake to find out what was happening, threatening to report us to the forest service.  She didn’t know what to make of the fact that the people who were doing the dumping were in fact forest service employees.  We cleaned campsites, got rid of fire rings, built a new trail at Gem Lakes, built checks and steps above Sailor Lake on the way to Hungry Packer and Midnight. We got to visit Heidi’s house, the remains of what had been built for the High Sierra filming of Heidi. This past summer, I joined Misha Kokotovic for the leader training trip at Honeymoon Lake and walked on the stone pathway above the lake created by the WV crew Ron Harton and I had led there many years before.  

Leader trainees Bobbie Morrison and Dave Marancik on the 13 year old stone pathway built by an earlier WV crew.

Tools packed by Keith

Keith always sent us out with great trail crews, though the crews had fewer members as forest service budgets diminished.  He did his best to find worthwhile projects we could accomplish successfully, knowing that WV crews are capable of more than might be expected of others.  We worked with Student Conservation Association interns, with Friends of the Inyo, with volunteer camp hosts, with back- country rangers, with trail crews and on our own.  Now that Keith has retired, we don’t know what will happen exactly.  The Forest Service has decided that the Inyo National Forest can cutback on trail crews and back-country rangers, so they will need volunteers more than ever, and yet there may be less staff to identify and/or supervise projects. (Editor's note: The 2016 Inyo project at Lake Ediza is being planned with the Mammoth Lakes office instead of Bishop office). I will miss the yearly conversations I had with Keith about where we might go, what we might do, why some trips filled and others didn’t and what we might do about that.  I will miss meeting him at the office in Bishop where I would transfer all the food from bags and coolers into the sleek silver bear boxes that packers would carry up for us and that no bears ever managed to open.

On behalf of WV, I extend many, many thanks to Keith Waterfall for being one of our longest-term partners. His last name seemed so perfect for a man who was so well fitted for his position that we sometimes wondered whether it was a name he had acquired rather than one he was born with. In any case, it suited him as perfectly as he suited his job. May it continue to connect him with wild places during his retirement. Keep in touch, Keith. We’ll miss you.  

Kathleen Worley grew up in Reno, Nevada, which perhaps explains her love of the high desert as well as the granite spires and crystal clear lakes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. She has led more than 30 projects with Wilderness Volunteers in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. She recently retired from teaching theatre at Reed College in Portland, OR.

Available Summer Adventures

There are still spaces remaining on WV service projects in several outstanding wild places. Here are a few of the places that have spots available to give something back:

Mission Mountains Wilderness, Montana, July 19 - 26

Photo by Tammy Rinaldi, WV Service Project in 2010

The Mission Mountain Wilderness, with its rugged peaks, pristine glacial lakes and mountain streams, is frequently called the American Alps. The Missions feature 225 lakes and its clear waters hold native trout, a high-bred "Cutbow" (which is a cross between the Cutthroat and Rainbow trout), and pike. Its high peaks tower 7000 feet above the valley floor, up to 9280' McDonald Peak. The slopes and valleys are heavily forested, rocky and lush with undergrowth.

This a great trip for everyone, including beginner backpackers, as it's fairly level and we have terrific pack stock support. Our service project will be very useful in helping maintaining these scenic mountain trails after a particularly late snow season this year.  See the project page to learn more and join us in America's Alps.

Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness, Bighorn Crags, Idaho, August 17 - 23

Photo by Caroline Williams, WV Service Project 2013

Located in west-central Idaho and below the Montana state line, lies the 2.3 million acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area - the largest wilderness in the United States outside of Alaska. Cutting through it with ferocity is the Wild and Scenic Middle Fork of the Salmon River, called the River of No Return by pioneers. High above the river is the remote, jagged Bighorn Crags area, with outstanding opportunities for hunting, hiking, primitive camping, fishing and whitewater rafting.

Please join us on our service project in this undeveloped and wild land, assisting wilderness rangers from the North Fork Ranger District with trail maintenance on the Ship Island Lake Trail. Our work will include erosion control, reroutes, brushing, and maintaining campsites following a 9 mile backpack to a picturesque base camp at Airplane Lake in the Ship Island Lake basin. 

Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, September 7 - 13

Located twenty miles east of Portland, Oregon, and the northern Willamette River valley, the Mt. Hood

Photo by Sharon Pilot, WV Service Project 2012

National Forest extends south from the strikingly beautiful Columbia River Gorge across more than a million acres of forested mountains, lakes and streams. At its heart lies the imposing figure of Mt. Hood, a dormant volcano with 11 active glaciers, forested slopes and alpine meadows. The Mt. Hood Wilderness follows river drainages to lower elevations, concealing waterfalls and valleys that support an understory of Oregon grape, salal, rhododendron, huckleberries, and an overstory of towering cedars and other moss-covered conifers.

The service project is working with the Mt. Hood NF Fisheries Biology team on a continuing collective to restore and aid salmon habitat recovery along Still Creek and the Salmon River. We'll spend the first part of the week working on stream banks restoring riparian habitat, wetlands and stream-side vegetation by planting native Red cedar, and removing illegal campsites and fire rings as they are encountered. The second half of the week we'll be gathering seeds and berries for direct sewing or later propagation. Opportunities abound for day hiking to area waterfalls and taking in the sites of this classic Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest. This project is great for all experience levels including beginners to car camping and service work.

Find more info about these projects and more on our website.

Thanks for giving something back with Wilderness Volunteers!

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.

A Transformational Trip To Escalante by Rebecca Glucklich

Yes, I am “that girl” who decided to go to Utah after reading Aron Ralston’s “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” and watching 127 Hours – I was mesmerized by the slot canyons, the vast expanses of empty desert, the hoodoos – it just looked other-worldly. I would occasionally pop online to see if there were any guided trips to Moab or the surrounding areas – I was smart enough to know that I really shouldn’t trek alone since I have quite a fondness for my limbs, but everything was out of my budget or just not at the right time. This past February, I was visiting my parents and going on about Utah when my dad pointed out that I’d been talking about taking a trip out west for years now and I just needed to “make it happen already!” On a whim, I Googled “Utah volunteer trek” and lo and behold, the WV site popped up in my search results. Little did I know that this Google search would change my life.

For the months leading up to my departure date, I got a ton of “You’re going WHERE? To do WHAT?” from friends, co-workers, really anyone who I told I was going to Utah to chop down Russian Olive trees. But I also got a lot of “wow – you’re brave!” I spent my lunch hours searching for gear online and around my office, and thankfully had friends to lend me a sleeping bag and one adventurous sister to lend me a tent. Yes, I was nervous and had no idea what to expect, but just knowing that I’d really wanted something and made it happen gave me the boost I needed to make the solo journey to Escalante.

Upon arriving after a 6 hour car trip with one of my fellow volunteers, I was pleasantly surprised to see that our camp site was complete with bathrooms and showers, a fresh water pump and a glorious, sparkling albeit freezing cold reservoir. Hardly what I’d call “roughing it” but it was a good way to ease back into outdoor life. After all, I hadn’t been on a real camping trip in over a decade. I was immediately welcomed into the group, who were also a bit astonished that I had just hopped on a plane and left Boston for a week in the desert without knowing a soul. These folks would soon become my dear friends and confidants for my week long adventure and I could tell by the first dinner that I was going to have the best week ever. 

The work is hard. Really hard. 6 or so hours a day in the desert heat sawing, loping, hauling and chopping these beasts of trees with thorns so sharp they’ll go right through your shirt (I have a few battle scars to prove it.) But after my first day, I felt more relaxed and at ease than I had been in years and apparently left some of my inner aggressions out by the banks of the Escalante River. I wasn’t thinking about my job or my personal life or Facebook (although, I was a little relieved to have wireless at night to post some stellar pics!). Every day, though the hike to and from the worksite got a little longer, the days seemed to fly by. I spent one whole morning in and by the river working on deconstructing a massive snarl of Russian Olive trees, river debris and probably a few other types of plants and trees. When the Russian Olive was finally cleared out enough for the sawyers to take down, it was the most exhilarating and satisfying feeling in the world. To quote one of my other favorite books, “I swear we were infinite.” (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

After a week of sawing, chopping, exploring slot canyons, searching for pictograms, staring at the night sky and falling asleep to the LOUDEST frogs ever, it was time to go home. As I made my rounds of hugs and goodbyes to my new friends, including my fearless leaders Dudley and Chris, I couldn’t help but feel a little heaviness in my chest. I grew so close to this group of strangers in such a short amount of time and had a feeling that although we may be scattered around the country, we’d keep in touch and even see each other again on a future WV trip. Even now, as I write this, I must admit, my eyes are tearing up a bit remembering what an incredible time I had. 

Within a week of my return, not only was I offered a new job at a new organization, but many of my friends remarked that I seemed much more relaxed and happy. I came home with such a sense of accomplishment, a feeling that I really can do whatever I set my mind and heart to. I truly felt as if my life had been changed and I have WV to thank for that. I don’t know if any WV trip will top my first one, but I will certainly do my best to try!

***

The 2014 Wilderness Volunteers spring schedule is available now, including service projects in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and along the Escalante River in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We invite you to join us in giving something back and experience the loudest frogs ever.

Update on 2010 Hawksbill Nesting Season guest post by Ashely Northcutt

In March of 2010, I was lucky enough to co-lead a Wilderness Volunteers trip to Halape beach in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We backpacked about 8 miles in over some fantastic lava down to the coast line and spent a week removing invasive vines and trees. These trees/vines have been creeping in further every year and are significantly reducing the available real estate on the beach for the mother turtles to nest (not to mention keeping the tiny babies from reaching the ocean after they hatch).

The Hawaii Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project reports that the last nest of the 2010 season hatched in mid-January 2011. Between April and January, 40 nests from 13 turtles at six different beaches (including Halape!) were documented on the southern coast of Hawaii.


They are estimating that 4000 baby turtles made it to the ocean.

Hooray!!!! :)

I'm proud to have been a part of this fantastic work project and greatful that Wilderness Volunteers made it possible.

Ashely Northcutt