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.

Truly Wild - Nevada's Jarbidge Wilderness

A photo from WV's 2011 project in the Jarbidge Wilderness

In the far northeastern section of Nevada, just below the Idaho border, lies the remote and rugged beauty of more than 110,000 acres of Jarbidge Wilderness. With soaring 10,000’ peaks looming more than 4,000’ above the Great Basin, this is an impressive wilderness area to visit. You are sure to find solitude, as this area is amongst the least visited wilderness areas in the lower 48 states, due solely to the remote location.

Jarbidge boasts many different plant species and lots of wild flowers

The aura of wilderness is in the fresh mountain air here. Indeed, the unicorporated community of Jarbidge is officially rated as having amongst the least polluted air in the country. There is an opportunity for tremendous bird watching, as the clear air and geography allow for sweeping, impressive views.  The geography is impressive, ranging from hoodoos reminiscent of Bryce Canyon to large granite peaks that feel like the Alps. A large range of ecosystems are present, from high desert to alpine. Large herds of deer and elk roam the area, as do the mountain lions that hunt them. Fish are abundant in the many lakes and streams that reside in this unusually wet area of Nevada.

A previous WV basecamp in the Jarbidge

The area receives substantial regular snowfall and the rough winters ensure the need for constant trailwork! Our project will be assisting the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest staff in maintaining trail in the striking Mary’s River Basin from August 22 - 29th. We’ll have pack support and will pack in around seven miles to camp, where we’ll make daily trips to work sites close by, so we can keep the trails accessible in this far out there place.

Join WV as we give back in the beautiful Jarbidge Wilderness

If a truly wilderness experience is what you crave, you can do no better than joining the service adventure in the Jarbidge Wilderness! Come breath the freshest air and  join us as we give something back in this remote, striking area. Learn more and signup here.

Amazing time-lapse photography of our National Parks

Our friends at The Wilderness Society shared a wonderful post featuring some gorgeous time-lapse photography of our National Parks. Below are a few of our favorites, where we also happen to have projects in 2015!

Yosemite National Park - June 7-13, 2015
There may still be time to throw your pack in the car and join WV in giving back on a backpack adventure in this outstanding National Park. This time-lapse is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but that's not surprising in Yosemite.

via Project Yosemite

Joshua Tree National Park - October 11-18, 2015
This Southern California National Park receives more than 1 million visitors, and there's really no question as to why. Our project there is currently full, but you're welcome to add your name to the waitlist in case of a cancellation, which does happen. And you can join us next year as well!

via Gavin Heffernan

Acadia National Park - September 20-26, 2015
Spots remain on our continuing service project in one of the most picturesque, wild places in the northeast. You'll get a good overview of the Park while giving something back.


Acadia National Park from John Fouse on Vimeo.

Zion National Park
Our continuing service project in Zion is currently full for 2015, but you can always visit this gorgeous National Park on your way to other WV service projects on the Colorado Plateau like the San Rafael Swell project or Grand Gulch-Cedar Mesa project that both still have spaces available.

via Matt Bowen

Denali National Park - July 12-18, 2015
WV returns to help maintain the Savage River Trail, a trail we helped build! This project is full for 2015, but stay tuned, as we plan to return in 2016.

via lanesapples

Olympic National Park - October 18-24, 2015
Our continuing project on the Elwha is helping naturalize the area after the dams were removed, in many cases planting saplings from seed previous WV groups helped collect.  Currently this project is full, but you're always welcome on the waitlist in case a cancellation or two occurs.

via Glenn Wadsworth

Big Bend National Park - November 1-7, 2015

Another continuing project, WV will once again return to the jewel on the Rio Grande to give something back with the National Park Service. While this project is full, WV is offering another spectacular trip in Saguaro National Park that has spaces available. 

via Sundance Kid

See the whole TWS blog post for more videos.

Project Videos: Pinnacles NP, Mojave NP, Pt. Reyes NS

Veteran Wilderness Volunteer Tom Coroneos has done more than 20 projects giving back all over the country! And beyond being an excellent volunteer, he's terrific at making movies, having put together many great videos, including several about his recent WV projects! Take a gander at Tom's excellent work below:

Pinnacles National Park 2015

Mojave National Preserve 2015

Pt. Reyes National Seashore 2014

Mojave National Preserve 2014

And Tom is currently out in the field at the Pt. Reyes National Seashore project, so we can likely count on another video coming our way soon. Thanks Tom!

Photos From the Field

Our 2014 photo contest had many wonderful submissions, such as the following great shots of the moon.

WV participant David Peters on two of his photos he took on the Continental Divide Trail building project in New Mexico's Gila National Forest:

I love taking photos of the moon, playing with exposures and focal distances and compositions. The photos are most special when I captured the moon juxtaposed against something distinctive in the place I’m visiting. On the Continental Divide trip, I had the advantage of a full moon and a clear sky at 8,600 feet above sea level. When the moon rose on the evening of the full moon, I thought I had missed the best opportunity because the divide ridge behind our camp obscured the moon until it was high in the sky. But I wandered around my tent site until I was able to place some ponderosa branches in front of the lunar image.

Then the next morning, as the moon was setting in the west, the rising sun illuminated the few clouds on the horizon, turning them a New Mexico pink and blue as ponderosa pines framed the image.

See more of these great photographer's works, as well as many more photos from our 2014 season at the gallery. And stay tuned for more information on the 2015 WV Photo Contest!

Wilderness Trends

The Forest Service conducted surveys in 1970, 1982 and 2004 to look at the most used trailheads, frequency of visits, and reasons for visiting wilderness along with other questions. They noticed that visitors to wilderness are increasingly older, more experienced, and have more education (62% had four-year college degrees or higher). Another shift was that wilderness users aren't staying as long as they used to; in 1970, the average number of nights was 5.1 compared to 3.3 in 2004.

In the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the average age of a visitor in 1969 was 26, in 1991 it had increased to 36, and in 2007 the average was 45.

What trends have you noticed in the backcountry?

(source at this link  and this link)

First Grid-connected Wave Power Plant Goes Live

The world's oceans are vast wilderness areas, a place where few people venture although many of our habits wreak havoc upon the waters. In Australia, a potentially good use has gone live recently. The world’s first wave power station has been activated off the coast of Western Australia (WA). The technology uses wave swells to create zero-emission power and zero-emission desalinated freshwater. The system is fully submerged with a buoy tethered to a pump on the ocean floor.

The Perth Wave Energy Project is the first grid connected commercial scale demonstration of this technology. More information here.

New National Monuments Declared

Chalk Cliffs of Browns Canyon, Colorado. Photo by John Fielder / Friends of Browns Canyon

Last week, President Obama declared three new National Monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act.  The three areas offer a range of of educational, historical and wilderness values.  This announcement will bring the creation of the Pullman National Monument in Chicago, Ill., a site where African-American railway workers won a historic labor agreement, and the Honoliuli National Monument, the largest internment camp for Japanese-Americans and prisoners of war in Hawaii during World War II.  Also included in this announcement is a 21,000 acre parcel of wild land along the Arkansas River in Colorado, Browns Canyon.

For outdoor recreationalists, the victory in the campaign for Monument status for Browns Canyon is the culmination of more than two decades of work to gain permanent protection for this area. Originally proposed as 35,000 acres, the proposal, which includes defined wilderness, was scaled back to ensure feasible management as a BLM National Monument. The Friends of Browns Canyon has been spearheading the effort since chartered in 2003.

This area is not only notable for its renowned whitewater rafting, but also the pristine forests, unspoiled wildlife habitat, excellent rock climbing, mountain biking, hunting and fishing that engage visitors year-round. The land has been managed as a BLM Wilderness Study Area and National Forest Roadless Area for many years.

What do you think about the new National Monuments? Any interest is helping the BLM steward this land on a service project in the coming years? Let us know in the comments section below.

And here's a way cool graphic of all the new National Monuments over the last few years.

Image courtesy of ThinkProgress

Canyon Country Adventures Await

In just a few short weeks, the 2015 Wilderness Volunteers project season will kick off with a full trip to the Mojave. Get out of the cold and into the wilderness with projects across the southwest (and Hawaii), such as these projects on the Colorado Plateau:

Moab Arches and Towers, Moab BLM, Utah
Moab is a paradise for hikers, with many landforms unparalleled in the world.  Our project there runs the week of April 19th - 25th whre we'll work on the trails to arches and views of the Colorado River and Fisher Towers.

San Rafael Swell, Sids Mountain WSA, Price BLM, Utah
The San Rafael Swell is one of most striking areas in all of the wild western United States.  With slot canyons, gorges, mesas, desert streams and so much more. This is an area all wilderness lovers should explore, at least once. Read more about the April 19-25th trip in this blog post and sign up for the adventure on the website.

Escalante River, Glen Canyon NRA, Utah
This project is the continuation of a fourteen year project removing invasive Russian olive trees from the Escalante River watershed. The work is needed and this rugged landscape must be experienced. Join us April 26 - May 2.

Hammond Canyon, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah

Join WV out in Canyon Country from May 10-16th for a trail maintenance project amongst fascinating ancient history and scenic beauty. This extremely underrated area promises to impress you and reward your stewardship efforts.

North Rim, Kaibab National Forest, Arizona

When you think of canyons, there is one in particular that stands out - the Grand Canyon. Join us in northern Arizona in an area outside of the National Park and spend the week working from the Kaibab Plateau brushing trails that lead to the North Canyon. Read more and signup up for the WV service project on the North Rim, Kaibab National Forest, May 24 - 30, 2015.


And more! If you need help deciding which project is right for you, send us an email or give us a call at (928) 255-1128 - we'd love to hear from you.

The Birth of the Pulaski and the Great Fire of 1910

Volunteer Ed Leonard sharpens his Pulaski on a WV trip in Dolly Sods 2012

If you've been on a service project with WV, there is a very good chance you've used a Pulaski. This common hand-tool features an ax on one side of the head and an adze or hoe on the other. The Pulaski is the preferred tool of choice in fighting wildfires and building trail, among many other outdoor uses. But do you know the circumstances of how it was invented?

Last week the television series American Experience, which airs on PBS stations across the country, featured an in-depth documentary on the massive fire of 1910 in the northern Rockies, The Big Burn. Still unsurpassed in American history, this gigantic blaze burned more than 3 million acres and over 100 lives were lost in a weekend. The documentary details the impact this fire would have on the burgeoning National Forest Service and the tenuous political climate surrounding Gifford Pinchot and the agency's growth under President Theodore Roosevelt. Also detailed in the documentary is the valiant efforts and particular history of one assistant ranger in Idaho, Ed Pulaski.

For anyone who has swung a Pulaski and/or cares about the history of our public lands, it is a really interesting tale. Luckily, if you missed it, you can watch it below. More information is also available on the American Experience website.

Please let us know what you thought of this documentary in the comments section below.

Project Spotlight: San Rafael Swell - April 19-25, 2015

Photo of the San Rafael Swell, from photographer Vera de Kok,  

Spaces are available on a spring WV service project in one of the most striking areas of the Colorado Plateau - the San Rafael Swell.  Geologically referred to as a massive domal anticline (a convex fold of the earth), the Swell is marked by slot-canyons, valleys, gorges, mesas, desert streams, geologic formations and buttes.  Despite being only several hours from Salt Lake City, the San Rafael Swell offers an incredible wilderness experience with a multitude of recreation opportunities and an abundance of solitude.

Randy Kahn took this 2014 photo contest winning shot of volunteers heading to work on the WV project in the San Rafael Swell last year.

Endangered Winklers Cactus (Pediocactus winkleri),
Photo by Daniela Roth, USFWS

The San Rafael Swell offers fascinating geologic formations, a history of ancient peoples, active wildlife and many endemic plants. Evidence of Native American cultures, including the Fremont, Paiute, and Ute, is common throughout the San Rafael Swell in the form of pictograph and petroglyph panels, many of which are accessible. The geology is so uniquely picturesque, it has served as a stand-in for alien worlds in many Hollywood productions, such as Star Trek  and Galaxy Quest. Unique geological conditions in combination with the arid climate have created microhabitats that support more than 40 rare and endemic plant species. Many of these plants are federally listed as endangered, such as the San Rafael cactus (Pediocactus despainii), Ute ladies-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), Barneby's reed-mustard (Schoencrambe barnebyi), and many more.

Photo by Randy Kahn from last year's WV San Rafael Swell project

Our project will focus on a non-native plant that is abundant across the western US - the invasive and destructive tamarisk (tamarix). Tamarisk disrupts the structure and stability of native plant communities and degrades native wildlife habitat in extremely sensitive southwestern riparian areas by outcompeting and replacing native plant species (such as Cottonwoods and Willows), salinizing soils, monopolizing limited water, and increasing the frequency, intensity and effect of fires and floods. Tamarisk, as well as the other woody invasive plant common in the southwest, Russian olive, are nasty non-native plants that need to be removed to help restore wildlife habitat.

We'll camp by our vehicles at a remote site in the Sids Mountain Wilderness Study Area, picked out by our agency partners out of the BLM office in Price, Utah. From there we'll make daily hikes to work sites and explore the vast and wild San Rafael Swell. Learn more and come join us on a spring service project adventure in this remarkable place! And don't fret too much if the April dates don't line up with your calendar - we have a fall trip in the San Rafael Swell as well.

Another great shot from Randy Kahn from last year's project

See more great photos from the 2014 WV San Rafael service projects over at the WV Photo Gallery.

Snowmobilers cited for riding in wilderness area

The Flathead National Forest law enforcement officers cited seven snowmobilers for operating their machines in the Mission Mountains Wilderness in Montana. Each rider was given a ticket for $325. Forest service employees say they saw the snowmobile tracks. They encourage folks who ride in the backcountry to use maps and be aware of their location.

The Wilderness Act prohibits the use of motorized vehicles in designated wilderness.

For more on this story, visit this link.

2014 Photo Contest Winners

We're pleased to announce the winning entries from the 2014 WV Photo Contest, sponsored by Mountainsmith, Sea to Summit, Crazy Creek and Ribz. We received more than 100 submissions, representing the majority of projects we had in the field in 2014. There were so many fantastic photos, picking a winner was very difficult for the sponsoring companies and WV staff.

The grand prize winner was Ulrich Boegli, who has won a place on a 2015 Wilderness Volunteers service project and a Mountainsmith Camera Bag. Ulrich took this photo on the Glacier National Park service project (we'll be back in 2015).

2014 Photo Contest Winner - Taken by Ulrich Boegli in Glacier National Park

Eric Mak was our first runner-up and he receives a prize pack from Sea to Summit and a Longback chair from Crazy Creek. Eric took this trip on his 2014 service project in the Superior National Forest's Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  While both BWCA projects are full this year, you can always join us in  2016.

Eric Mak's beautiful photo from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in 2014.

Our second runner-up, Randy Kahn, will receive a Ribz Front Pack thanks to his really lovely shot from the San Rafael Reef Wilderness Study Area. We'll be back to the San Rafael Swell area this spring with a a project within the Sids Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Spaces remain available, so come on out and bring your camera!

Randy Kahn's lovely photo from the 2014 San Rafael Reef WSA in Utah

You can see these photos and the other selected 2014 Photo Contest finalists on the WV gallery. There are also photo galleries for just about every service project we ran in 2014.  Take a look around and see what amazing wild lands you want to visit next. And take your camera - we will once again host a photo contest, featuring great prizes from terrific sponsors, in 2015.

Wilderness and Multiple Use by Deborah Northcutt

The Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of 1960 brought the term "multiple use" into common use, but it is used differently by different users. Commercial interests tend to use it as meaning "development" instead of protection. The Act lists five multiple uses: outdoor recreation, range (grazing), timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes.

Under the Wilderness Act of 1964, all of these uses are allowed except timber. Grazing that was taking place before designation as wilderness is allowed until bought out or retired. And mining is allowed if the leases were in place before the designation.

The legislation that regulates mining was signed into law by President Ulysses Grant, and reflects the 19th century view that natural resources are there for the taking. However, a legacy of pollution and defacement at tens of thousands of abandoned mines across the West clearly flies in the face of wilderness values and has prompted challenges to new mine proposals and caused some to fail or be delayed.

The US Forest service is asking for public comment on plans to build a road and begin drilling in a remote area of Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The lease holder, American Independence Mines and Mineral Company plan to mine gold near Big Creek in the wilderness. Clearly, roads and mining machinery are out of place in wilderness, and the potential for habitat destruction and lasting pollution must be considered.

The Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act states prominently (on the first page):

“Multiple use means the management of all the various renewable resources of the national forests so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people.”

Mining is not a renewable resource; once the ore is gone, it is gone forever. There is no multiple use with mining. Ever hiked through a retired open pit mine? Ever even seen cattle grazing in a strip mined piece of land? Is there any hunting, fishing or wildlife hanging out on tailings? Single use or abuse of public land has no place in wilderness.

Wilderness is truly multiple use -- we can all enjoy it whether we explore it or not. We can be amazed at the scenery, marvel at the quiet solitude, appreciate the wildlife living as they were meant to live in natural surroundings where man is just a visitor. Breath the air, drink the clear water -- and feel great about a small part of the USA remaining free.

The Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act doesn't list mining as a use, but it does mention wilderness (in the last sentence of Section 2 (16 USC 529):

“The establishment and maintenance of areas of wilderness are consistent with the purposes and provisions of this Act.”

The public comment period ends February 23rd. If you, like me, don't want this wonderful wilderness  invaded and degraded by a gold mining operation, send your comments to:
Jim Egnew, 800 W Lakeside Ave, McCall, ID   jegnew@fs.fed.us

This post is the opinion of the writer.
The photos above were from the 2014 WV project in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, taken by Steve Jones. 

New Wilderness!

President Obama signed the defense spending act into law on Friday, and with it, a bill that adds 245,000 acres of newly designated wilderness in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington.

Included are:

-- the Hermosa Creek Watershed, San Juan National Forest,  near Durango, CO, includes 38,000 acres of new wilderness and 70,000 acres of special management area where the roads will be left as is and motorcycles, snowmobiles and bicycles will be allowed. 

--  the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, WA, adds 22,100 acres to the existing wilderness and parts of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie and Pratt rivers have been designated as Wild and Scenic.

-- the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness, Carson National Forest, NM, permanently protects 45,000 acres of new wilderness, but also adjusted a current wilderness boundary to allow access to mountain bikers to link popular single track trails, and get them onboard with supporting the new wilderness designation.

-- the Wovoka Wilderness and Pine Forest Range Wilderness, NV, with 48,000 acres and 26,000 acres respectively. The Wovoka Wilderness is named in honor of the Native American spiritual leader who lived in the area.

-- the Rocky Mountain Front, MT, adds 50,500 acres to the Bob Marshall Wilderness and 16,700 acres to the Scapegoat Wilderness. The legislation also sets aside 208,000 acres as Conservation Management Areas which limits road building but allows current motorized recreation and access for hunting, biking, grazing and logging.

This Congressional gift was the result of many compromises and sacrificed many wilderness study areas that are as deserving of protection, but we must celebrate the victory of preserving America's wild lands however it's achieved. This is a gift to our children and future generations -- they will need wilderness as much as we do. Please take the time to thank your Congressmen and Senators so they will know that we appreciate their leadership in preserving our national heritage.

Wilderness Volunteers Enjoy Long Commute by Gillian Grant

Gillian Grant, a participant on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness project we did with the LaCroix Ranger District in August, wrote a post for her employer's blog about the experience. It finally went live this week and can be seen at this link with the title Wilderness Volunteers Enjoy Long Commute.

Sandy Stroo & Gillian Grant

Gillian works at the University of North Texas and the piece was posted to the Community Engagement blog. It was edited (quite severely) from her original piece which is posted here:

Wilderness Volunteer trip to the Boundary Waters, August 2014

Imagine escaping that tedious crawl through repairs on Interstate-35 and replacing your commute with a quiet canoe ride on pristine, mirrored water floating by lily pads and wild rice with the sound of loons and only your paddle gently striking water. This was our typical 2 hour and 15 minute commute to work, and it was pure joy.

A couple of UNT IELI (Intensive English Language Institute) Faculty decided to spend some of their summer break getting closer to nature through the Wilderness Volunteers in a week long volunteer service trip to do some much-needed and much appreciated volunteer work for the forest service.

Gillian at work

The daily commute was from our campsite on an island in Shell Lake in the Superior National Forest in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that separates the USA from Canada in far NE Minnesota.   The commute involved nearly an hour of hiking in a lush green forest where the Sioux- Hustler hiking trail traverses some dense,  wonderful birch and pine trees. Part of the trail is on what seems to be a spongy bouncy tundra like springy carpet. This Texan was surprised to see the enormous number of trees felled by storms in various states of decomposition. Much of the area has glacially smoothed boulders a foot or two below the surface, so try as the trees do to anchor themselves, eventually the windstorms win and take down tall trees to expose horizontally massive root systems. Also on the daily commute was the wonderful peaceful, quiet canoe trip through lily pads, lotus, wild rice, and other marine based flora. The multiple portages which entailed carrying the canoe either by yourself over your shoulders or with your partner were a physical test, and the rocks in the water were a navigational challenge. Totally engaging and invigorating.

Sandy and Gillian at a portage

Sandy Stroo (retired in August from IELI faculty at UNT after 18 years of service) and I were on a week long service trip doing trail maintenance on the Sioux –Hustler hiking trail with Wilderness Volunteers, a nonprofit outfit that was started by a couple of dedicated Sierra Club members 18 years ago who thought the Sierra Club volunteer trips  had become too expensive. Wilderness Volunteers is based in Flagstaff, Arizona, and they run week long trips with 6-10 volunteer participants, in addition to 2 volunteer certified leaders, to clean up national and state parks and forest service land, choosing projects pitched to them by rangers all over the country. This year there were more than 60 trips. Sandy has done 3, and she inspired other IELI Faculty; I have done 5 trips, Donna Obenda did one and so did Sally Kloppe (currently on assignment for IELI and UNT teaching at Kansai Gaidai in Japan).  In total, we IELI teachers have used time off in the summer (without pay) to participate in 10 WV trips in Colorado, Montana, California, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, and Minnesota. There is a small cost to participate ($300), which covers all food, beverages, and associated park costs. If selected for a trip, participants provide their own basic gear (tent, backpack, hiking boots, sleeping bag, thermarest, etc) and pay for their own transportation.

On the water

On our trip to the Boundary Waters in August, there were 8 participants (including a mother-daughter leader team) and we worked with small tools called “silky saws” and a big old timey 2 person cross cut saw. Our team cut and cleared about 200 trees on the Sioux- Hustler hiking trail. It had been years since the trail had seen maintenance. Like most of our parks in America, they are vastly understaffed and depend on volunteer groups like the WV to keep trails open. In fact, there are 2 rangers assigned to maintain the trails in a half million acres at this park.  As a consequence, ranger stations depend on volunteer groups like the WV to keep trails open.

If you like starry nights, frogs, loon cries, making new friends with people who love nature, and a great commute to work, you will love Wilderness Volunteers.
For more information, go to the WV website   http://www.wildernessvolunteers.org/
- Gillian Grant

50 Years of Wilderness

"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."
                   — President Lyndon Baines Johnson, signing the Wilderness Act of 1964 into law.

Elizabeth Kolbert, an environmental writer, says in the current National Geographic magazine: "Some 30 proposed wilderness areas now await approval from a gridlocked Congress. None of the proposals would have made it even that far without broad local support. There would be no better way to celebrate the Wilderness Act's golden anniversary than for Washington to approve them."

Read her article 50 Years of Wilderness here.

Please take the time to write your Congressional members and ask them for protection now before they are degraded by competing uses.

Let us hear from you -- what does Wilderness mean to you?

Rethinking the Wild

In a recent NYTimes editorial, Christopher Solomon states that the Wilderness Act, at 50 years, is facing a midlife crisis. Solomon cites some environmentalists that believe human intervention may be required in order to save or restore the original wilderness qualities in many of our wilderness areas.

Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness

Due to climate change, areas like Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows is drying out and being replaced by lodgepole pine forest. Should the Park Service keep the meadow intact by cutting these trees and irrigating the meadow? Sequoia and Joshua Tree national parks are considering interventions to help these titular species survive rising temperatures and drought, either relocating trees or irrigating groves. In Bandelier National Monument, the Park Service has already stepped in to remove the increasing pinon-juniper forest to stave off erosion of thousands of archaeological sites and restore the grassland character of the area.

It's an interesting question -- is Wilderness truly wild? Is any place on the planet not shaped by human impact? Can we really experience land "untrammeled by man?" Grazing is still an allowed use of Wilderness, and the impacts of over-grazing are evident everywhere in the American west (compacted soils, cutbanks, disappearance of native grasses and other species, and the invasion of nonnatives). Popular areas are overrun by recreationalists, like the Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness where hundreds of people and their dogs pound the trails everyday.

What do you think? Is Wilderness worth keeping? Do we relax the rules to allow more intervention by land agencies or contracted concessions? Is it time to rewrite the Wilderness Act?

The Idea of Wilderness

Memoirs of a Cactus: Saguaro Wilderness

Shared from NPS Wilderness

"They say that history is in the eye of the beholder, but what if the beholder is wilderness itself? What do our actions as a species look like to a member of the wilderness community? A personal history from the eyes of the saguaro cacti, this video recounts how over time humans have transformed Saguaro National Park's desert landscape. Saguaro cacti are among the oldest members of the Sonoran desert community, and over centuries and generations, the cacti have seen their home change dramatically as groups of humans moved in. Over the course of this memoir, we see poetic vestiges of human settlement in the desert, echoes from a time before wilderness reclaimed its own."