6 MAY 2013 | ASHLAND, OR -- The Siskiyou Mountain Club received The President's Volunteer Service Award last Saturday at their annual volunteer appreciation night. The award was given by the Corporation for National and Community Service, and presented by Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest partnership coordinator Paul Galloway.Over the last three seasons, Club volunteers have worked over 3,800 hours to rehabilitate a 28-mile network of trails in the Kalmiopsis wilderness area, where trees killed by the 2002 Biscuit Fire have been falling for over 10 years now.
Each year volunteers work to keep at bay the onslaught of new wind-fallen trees and brushing filling in the trail corridor. They have sawed through thousands of trees that tend to accumulate in the same trail sections each year. All saw work is done with crosscut saws per wilderness regulations.
The corridor should be stabilized by 2020, according to SMC executive director Gabe Howe. "By then most of the trees will be done falling, and the brush will be somewhat shaded out," he says. "If we wouldn't have started work when we did, there would be no active trail through the Kalmiopsis' remote interior."
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SMC volunteers now work on trail conservation projects in the Wild Rogue, Red Buttes, Soda Mountain and Kalmiopsis wilderness areas. We attract volunteers who enjoy time in the outdoors, and carry an emphasis on providing youth development opportunities.