Forest Service holds training camp for trail volunteers

Last weekend at Allingham Guard Station on the Metolius River, Deschutes National Forest officials held a three-day training camp for forest trail volunteers.

"We started this because when we have this many volunteers, we're concerned about safety," said volunteer coordinator Jean Nelson-Dean.

According to Nelson-Dean, the Deschutes National Forest alone has over 1,300 volunteers who help out with various forest programs. Last year, this corps of unpaid workers put in approximately 22,780 hours of volunteer work.

"We have people who have been doing this for years and some who are new," said Nelson-Dean. "When the Forest Service takes on a volunteer, we want them to have the same protection and certification as our employees."

The specific focus of this training camp was on about 120 volunteers who help maintain and build trails in the National Forest system. Nelson-Dean said the trail volunteers represent hunters, hikers, trail bikers, equestrians, and conservation organizations. For example, Kit Dickey, President of the East Side High Cascade Volunteers was among those on hand to help register incoming volunteers.

This is only the second year that a training camp like this has been conducted in the Deschutes National Forest and is one of three such programs conducted in Oregon this year. The first was held in the Willamette National Forest, and one more is yet to be staged in the Mt. Hood National Forest.

To conduct these training clinics, the Forest Service has partnered with the Pacific Crest Trails Association, High Cascade Forest Volunteers, and others. For example, Joel Starr of Albany is a member of Mid-Valley Equestrian Trails.

"We're a working club, not a recreational club," said Starr. "We do trail clearing, campground reconstruction, pull and replace trail bridges...major construction jobs, things like that." He said that their club's nearly 1,400 members contributed over 10,000 hours of volunteer work last year.

As an example of a recent project, Starr cited replacement of a bridge over Snow Creek, on the Old Santiam Wagon Road, which collapsed under a snow load of more than 70,000 pounds. Snow Creek is off Highway 20 on the west side of Tombstone Pass between Sisters and Albany.

Starr, who was serving as one of the chain saw instructors, is one of the experienced sawyers also undergoing Forest Service advanced certification. Forest Service representative, Dave Robertson, of Sisters, explained that, when the certification process is complete, Starr and others will be qualified to certify other volunteers for sawing operations. Chain saw certification is required annually.

In addition to saw work, training camp participants attended workshops in first aid, CPR, trail design, rockwork, drainage design, and crew leadership. "After this, we'll have over 200 trained trail folks between us and the Willamette National Forest," said Nelson-Dean. The Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Jefferson Wilderness areas are all situated straddling the Cascade Range and are, therefore, in both the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests.

The Allingham Guard Station is no longer in active use, in part because of the age of the facility and, in part, because modern equipment, communications, and technology have created new models for the establishment of fire camps. For this special weekend, however, the old Guard Station grounds were alive with motor homes, tents, campers, vehicles and constant activity. Evening classes and campfire activities were also scheduled well into the night.

Registration for the event began on Friday morning last week, and activities continued on through the entire weekend. Nelson-Dean said that, in addition to training, organizers would take advantage of the event to do some needed trail improvements in the Metolius region in and around Camp Sherman.

"We're also helping connect new volunteers with experienced people," said Nelson-Dean. "We're really building people's skills so they feel comfortable when they are out there and doing quality work and can pass their knowledge along."

Nelson-Dean pointed out that there are more than 800 miles of trails in the Deschutes National Forest. So, she said, "We need these volunteers, and we're really grateful for them."