Wilderness trails get attention

SPOKANE Although the summer hiking and recreation season is behind us, plans are beginning to organize volunteer work crews to clear hiking and equestrian trails for next season, continuing the trail maintenance efforts in the Salmo Priest Wilderness Area near Metaline Falls on the Colville National Forest.

Early in the season in 2010, volunteer crews with the Washington Trails Association (WTA), a non-profit hiking and volunteer trail maintenance organization, as well as U.S. Forest Service trail workers and volunteers from other groups cleared downed trees, debris and brush from trails and made improvements to trail features to ready them for hikers, hunters, and equestrians. Using traditional hand tools such as crosscut saws, Pulaskis and shovels, volunteers and Forest Service workers built and repaired trail bridges and cleared a winters worth of downed trees and branches off the trail.

The use of chainsaws is not permitted in designated wilderness areas, and WTA doesnt use chainsaws on volunteer work parties. The Salmo Priest Wilderness is Northeast Washingtons only wilderness area, and is increasingly popular with hikers, backpackers, berry pickers, horseback riders and hunters.

Volunteers with WTA were joined on the ground by folks from the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington, the North Idaho Mule Club, and a Forest Service trail crew. Volunteer trail maintenance is fast becoming established as a solution for cash-strapped land management agencies to keep their trails open to outdoor recreationists. For the past five years, Washington Trails Association has joined with other hiking and conservation groups such as the Spokane Mountaineers and Conservation Northwest to connect trail users with stewardship of the lands they recreate on.

"It feels really good at the end of a day of trail maintenance to look at the puncheon you built or the trail you cleared and know that you are helping other people get out and hike," said WTA volunteer crew leader Jane Baker of Spokane.

Baker has personally led many projects where dozens of people were able to give back to the outdoors with a day of trail work, from parks near Spokane to the Colville National Forest.

"We emphasize safety first, then fun, then getting good work done, she said. Its important to us that volunteers have a great experience out there, because that way, we know they'll come back to help again."

Since WTA volunteers began helping out on the Colville National Forest, access to the Salmo Priest Wilderness has improved every season. Nearly all of the trails in the Salmo Priest have been cleared and maintained in the past few years, and the Forest Service noted that this season the trails were open for foot and stock travel very early in the summer.

WTA trail volunteers tackled six projects in northeast Washington this past summer.

"We did a lot of work on trail tread and trail features like old bridges that make the trail safer and more enjoyable to hikers and horseback riders," Baker said.

WTA also helped complete a new 5-mile hiking trail volunteers started several years ago on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge.

More than 2,000 volunteers from across the state came out for at least one day of trail work with WTA in 2010. The organization is on pace to top 100,000 hours of volunteer service on trails this year. Scouting for work locations and new trail projects in 2011 is already well underway.

WTA will once again have several weekend and week-long trail projects for volunteers in Eastern Washington next year, Baker said. Trail work is fun, rewarding, and gets you outside in the wilds. "Come out for a work party with us sometime and meet some great people, learn new skills, stay fit, and make a tangible difference in the safety and enjoyment of hikers."

Get more information on volunteering or explore local hikes online at www.wta.org, or call WTA at 206-625-1367/