Volunteers spend hours each year working on trails in Smokey Bear Ranger District
Look like a great way to spend the summer? New recruits always welcomed by foresters
They did it again this summer. The Smokey Bear Volunteer Trail Crew cleared 293 trees from eight trails in the White Mountain Wilderness. Each one of them cut with crosscut saws following a strict safety protocol.
Without this wonderful group that logged 717 hours of volunteer time, most of our wilderness trails would go unmaintained and be difficult to navigate for both hikers and horse riders.
Every other Saturday, members of this volunteer crew, headed up by Shippen Salas, meet up with Orin Nutting, one of Smokey Bear’s long-term seasonal employees. At the trailhead, they stuff their backpacks with water and snacks, hardhats, gloves and non-mechanized tools and dedicate a day of their precious time to improving conditions on the White Mountain Wilderness trails.
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This year the trail crew also spent time helping to restore South Fork Campground and clean up the campsites. With their help, we hope to get the campground open in May 2020.
The trail volunteers finished the season with a celebratory potluck and were given a small token of our appreciation in the form of a Smokey Bear coffee mug. We the Forest Service, and you the recreating public, owe this group our sincere thanks for a job well done and completed without fanfare.
The core group of trail volunteers includes Shippen Salas, Rifle Salas, Roger Dullum, Carolyn Dullum, Jane Zimmerman, Danny Heber, Leslie Wall, Ken Wall, Marianne Albrecht, Matt Schwebs, and Peggy Schwebs. They have been doing this trail work for seven seasons.
A round of applause for each and every one of you. Thank you.