Webmaster
05-10-2007, 06:00 AM
by JEFFREY P. MAYOR;
The News Tribune
A tidal wave of volunteers will begin pouring into Mount Rainier National Park as the park continues to recover from the November floods.
The volunteer effort being coordinated by the Student Conservation Association will start Wednesday as crews flag snowshoe routes in the Paradise area, the first day of a summer-long restoration program at the park.
The association released a preliminary project calendar on Monday, just two days after the park opened for the first time since an early November flood forced its closure.
Jay Statz, the association’s vice president for Northwest regional initiatives, said the group has nearly 2,000 individuals signed up to help with recovery projects.
“But I’m guessing, hundreds of those names are on the list on behalf of groups. Then there are groups who are calling up asking how they can get involved,” Statz said.
The Rainier response is a bit surprising, Statz said. When the association worked at Yellowstone National Park after the 1988 fires, it had 1,000 volunteers over three years.
“Rainier connects one way with people of the country, and with Washingtonians it connects a totally different way,” he said.
As another example, he pointed to REI’s fundraising campaign that raised $35,000 to $40,000 in December and January. That compares with the $20,000, the company raised in a nationwide campaign for tsunami relief.
“It says there’s this huge sense of connectivity to that place. It ties the state together. We all have our sense of the mountain,” Statz said.
The Washington Trails Association, another partner in the recovery, also is seeing high interest in its trail work parties. The key, said the WTA’s Lauren Braden, is keeping the momentum going.
“There’s a lot of interest in volunteering right now. The work in May and June is mostly clearing debris,” she said. “The trail work won’t really kick in until June and probably the end of June.”
June, July and August are when the WTA will really need a large volume of volunteers, Braden added.
The first phase of the SCA-led effort will run through July 28. Volunteers will focus on debris removal, trail maintenance and resource protection. Initial work sites will include Longmire, Paradise Meadows, Sunrise-Berkeley Park and the campgrounds at Cougar Rock, Ohanapecosh and White River.
Also on the schedule is to repair a section of the Wonderland Trail on National Trails Day, June 2.
The SCA has an online project calendar and volunteer registration form on its Web site, http://thesca.org, where new posts and updates will be added regularly.
you can help
Student Conservation Association: 206-324-4649; view project calendar at thesca.org.
Washington Trails Association: 206-625-1367, www.wta.org
Mount Rainier National Park: 360-569-2211, www.nps.gov/mora
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/492/story/58927.html
The News Tribune
A tidal wave of volunteers will begin pouring into Mount Rainier National Park as the park continues to recover from the November floods.
The volunteer effort being coordinated by the Student Conservation Association will start Wednesday as crews flag snowshoe routes in the Paradise area, the first day of a summer-long restoration program at the park.
The association released a preliminary project calendar on Monday, just two days after the park opened for the first time since an early November flood forced its closure.
Jay Statz, the association’s vice president for Northwest regional initiatives, said the group has nearly 2,000 individuals signed up to help with recovery projects.
“But I’m guessing, hundreds of those names are on the list on behalf of groups. Then there are groups who are calling up asking how they can get involved,” Statz said.
The Rainier response is a bit surprising, Statz said. When the association worked at Yellowstone National Park after the 1988 fires, it had 1,000 volunteers over three years.
“Rainier connects one way with people of the country, and with Washingtonians it connects a totally different way,” he said.
As another example, he pointed to REI’s fundraising campaign that raised $35,000 to $40,000 in December and January. That compares with the $20,000, the company raised in a nationwide campaign for tsunami relief.
“It says there’s this huge sense of connectivity to that place. It ties the state together. We all have our sense of the mountain,” Statz said.
The Washington Trails Association, another partner in the recovery, also is seeing high interest in its trail work parties. The key, said the WTA’s Lauren Braden, is keeping the momentum going.
“There’s a lot of interest in volunteering right now. The work in May and June is mostly clearing debris,” she said. “The trail work won’t really kick in until June and probably the end of June.”
June, July and August are when the WTA will really need a large volume of volunteers, Braden added.
The first phase of the SCA-led effort will run through July 28. Volunteers will focus on debris removal, trail maintenance and resource protection. Initial work sites will include Longmire, Paradise Meadows, Sunrise-Berkeley Park and the campgrounds at Cougar Rock, Ohanapecosh and White River.
Also on the schedule is to repair a section of the Wonderland Trail on National Trails Day, June 2.
The SCA has an online project calendar and volunteer registration form on its Web site, http://thesca.org, where new posts and updates will be added regularly.
you can help
Student Conservation Association: 206-324-4649; view project calendar at thesca.org.
Washington Trails Association: 206-625-1367, www.wta.org
Mount Rainier National Park: 360-569-2211, www.nps.gov/mora
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/492/story/58927.html