VOW meetup group

Interested in meeting a different breed of VOW volunteers? Join the new meetup.com VOW group:

Click here to check out
The Volunteers for Outdoor Washington!

Our next event is this Saturday at Gold Creek Pond. See you then!

Handy Trail Links

Interested in trail work but don't know the first thing about it? Check out these links:

Washington Trails Association has a great website for all things trail work related. Check out their training materials. Learn all about the importance of the right clothing, hydration, and safety in their handy list of links.

If you're looking for a bit more advanced materials the American Trails Website is loaded with great information about trail work. Be sure to check out their article on trail stewardship.

And if you're interested in helping VOW out at the office there are a number of handy places to learn about publicizing for VOW. Check out the American Hiking Society's page on the development and publicity of trail volunteer management.

Of course the best way to learn about trail work is to join a work party!

-Sean

National Trails Day: Thank You!

National Trails Day was a great success for VOW! This year almost 100 volunteers that joined us as we worked at two sites.

On the Ira Spring Trail we had a large group that included a number of students from the mountaineers basic wilderness course. We helped maintain over 3 miles of trail by clearing out a number of water drains and removing a number of berms. Afterwards we enjoyed a tasty barbecue organized by the Mountaineers and two lucky volunteers received $100 gift certificates from Merrell.

Ed and Crystal Remove a Stump from the Trail.
For More Photos from the Ira Spring Trail click here.

On the Iron Goat two separate groups went out of the scenic trailhead and the martin creek trailhead. Substantial progress was made in brushing, raking and clearing debris from the trail. Additionally, new steps were installed on the windy point crossover. Afterwards a tasty barbecue was prepared for everyone by VOW's own Richard Botts.

Thank you to all our volunteers for making the day a great success!

To support the work that VOW does to organize events like NTD join as a member, and to sign to volunteer for future work parties visit our calendar.

Opening of the IGT Interpretive Site

The new interpretive site at the Iron Goat Trail has just opened for the 2007 Season! Come out and enjoy the wonderful new kiosks, caboose, and parking area. Also enjoy the fact that when you park at the interpretive site you can hike the trail without having to purchase a forest service pass. Of course if you volunteer with VOW you will receive a free forest service pass and what better way to visit the trail than to give your time.

Newly Installed Great Northern Caboose at the Site

There was a ribbon cutting at the site last October that featured a number of notables including Kathy Lambert and Doug McDonald, WSDOT Secretary. See pictures from the event here.

-Sean

National Trails Day

June 2nd: Give back to our nation's trails!

Hosted by the American Hiking Society, National Trails Day (NTD) is a nationwide effort to celebrate and give back to out nation's trails. Activities range from scouting, to guided hikes, and to construction and repair.

As I've mentioned before on this blog this winter there has been a great deal of flooding damage done to our state's trails. We have only just begun to assess the full extent of the work needed but, as you can see from this picture, our trails are in desperate need of repair.

Cascade Tunnel view of walkway that volunteers predict was picked
up and carried "down stream" from flooding of the tunnel.

Two Sites

For NTD we have two sites this year: The Iron Goat Trail and the Ira Spring Trail. As always for VOW work parties no experience is required and we will provide free snacks and water.

Free Food

At both sites we will be having a barbeque afterwards (bring your own lunch) and there will sure to be lots of free donated goodies you can take home for your efforts.

Sign Up!

For more information on the event and to see what other events are going on visit www.americanhiking.org and to volunteer sign up on VOW's event calendar. See you on the trail!

-Sean Bulthaup

Volunteer Participation

Greetings from the President! I wanted to let you know about a few ways you can participate indoors for Volunteers for Outdoor Washington. Instead of Google or some other search engine, use GoodSearch.com and designate VOW in the "who do you goodsearch for?" box. Every search gets a penny for VOW! That's all there is to it. If we all do this one little thing (and pass the word along to your friends and family), those pennies will add up to some really nice donations to the cause.

If you shop online, use iGive.com. Joining is free, and a percentage of all of your shopping purchases goes to VOW when you designate our organization as your recipient. Many dozens of the most popular online shopping outlets participate through iGive.com -- isn't that cool? And wouldn't you like to shop at companies who give so much to charity? It's a win-win!


Other organizations that VOW has registered with in the past (I'm not sure if we're still onboard with these, but I'll check) are MyCause.com, GuideStar.org, and GuideStar's Network for Good. Check them out -- if you have a chance before I do, let me know if we're there or not, and if we are, start participating!


Did you know that you can now pay your membership or make contributions to VOW online? It's arranged through PayPal. If you need to know what that's all about, just call the office, 206-517-3019.


When you can't get out on the trail to help, we offer plenty of indoor ways you can contribute! If you want to get off the computer and out of the house, consider calling the VOW office and asking about volunteering in the office. We can always use your help! Other non-trail volunteer opportunities abound as well. We have lots of committee work to do! Publicity, outreach, special events, training, recruitment, and service projects are just a few of the committees, or teams, as we like to call them, that would love to have a few extra hands and minds full of ideas and energy participating to meet this years' goals and objectives.


You can help! When lots of you are helping, you each only need to do one little thing for everything to get done. "Many hand make light work"! Our theme for 2007 is TEAMWORK. Join the team -- join the cause!
Kim

I-90 Corridor Work Parties

My first work party in the I-90 corridor took place at the Gold Creek Pond Trail this past fall.


As you can see it was a beautiful day on this beautiful trail. We arrived around 9 AM and after a short safety talk by crew leader Harold Buresh it was time to get to work. Our focus for the day was cutting back invasives like napweed, clearing vegetation from a picnic table, and thinning trees along the trail corridor. The latter is of particular importance on this trail because it is barrier free meaning that it is wheelchair accessible.

A few weeks later I again joined Harold at the Tinkham Discovery Trail. We spent the first few hours installing a new sign for the trail.


Our focus for the rest of the day was "winterizing" the trail, or preparing it for the flooding and snow that comes during the winter months. So, we spent our time examining and repairing spots on the trail where water, the trail crew's enemy, can collect and cause damage to the trail. It is a constant battle for groups like VOW to construct and maintain trail in Washington State during the spring and summer months only to see the winter months undo much of the work that has been done.

This has been especially true this year with the flooding that happened in November.


So come out to our I-90 corridor projects at Tinkham Discovery Trail, Gold Creek Pond Trail, and the Ira Spring Trail. This weekend, April 21st, we will be having our first work party at Tinkham. Check out our calendar for more dates and information.

-Sean Bulthaup