Volunteers help the Forest Service

Over $841,000 worth of volunteer work was performed on Sisters Ranger District by 356 individuals during fiscal year 2005, according to a report issued by the Deschutes National Forest. The work comes at a time when budgets continue to be reduced.

Volunteers with the Deschutes National Forest’s Senior, Youth, Volunteer and Hosted (SYVH) programs work with the Forest Service on trail projects, campground maintenance, weed abatement, garbage pickup, construction projects, and public contact.

Under the Hosted program, the Oregon Department of Corrections Deschutes Conservation Camp contributed 34,800 hours of work on the Sisters Ranger District, piling 800 acres of hazardous fuels, doing weed eradication, and fire line construction.

Much of this work was done along Highway 20 and in the Metolius Basin under the supervision of district employees Dave Moyer and Ben Benhower.

In addition, the Ameri Corp-Northwest Service Academy team in cooperation with the private Pacific Crest Trail Association worked on the Sisters Ranger District and other districts of the Deschutes National Forest in maintaining portions of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

Some 300 members of hiking, equestrian, snowmobile, and ski organizations performed a variety of volunteer projects on the Sisters Ranger District. Their work totaled over $52,000 in value. District employees Kevin Foss, Ginny Pittman and Audrey Watkins spent many hours coordinating these project, tracking hours of work, and working with volunteer supervisors.

The district also had three seniors participating in the Senior Community Service Employment Program with a $46,390 value. This federal program trains seniors to find employment that meets their personal goals. District employee Bill Kallimanis was a job developer for the forest and spent time with each of 47 seniors participating throughout the forest helping them prepare for employment.

Finally, the district had six Youth Conservation Corps members who performed district work valued at nearly $26,000. Their projects included fence maintenance, trail work, campground maintenance, and other forest projects supervised on the district by Foss.

“These are public lands and these programs offered to seniors, youth, volunteers, and all of the other participants provide an opportunity for people of all ages to get engaged in public land management,” Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony said. “When the public is involved in their own public lands, things go better for everybody.”

For all of the Deschutes National Forest, 1,397 participants working over 194,000 hours performed volunteer work totaling over $4 million in value from September of 2004 through July of 2005.