Volunteers Keep Forest Trails Open

As the American frontiers pushed westward, rivers bore the transportation load for a growing nation. As society grew, roads and streets served the public. But in the forestlands of the west, trails were about the only way to get from here to there and back again.

Our dependence on the trail system for migration or commerce faded over the years, but those same trails are today one of our most important infrastructures. The narrow wilderness paths are still among our most important recreational assets, attracting thousands of folks every year.

We are in danger of losing our trails, and that would be a shame.

Congress has cut trail budgets for the forest service, bureau of land management, park service, and nearly all other outdoor recreational agencies. The several states with adequate recreational holdings are just as short-sighted when it comes to funding trails.

If it weren’t for a corps of dedicated, hard-working volunteers, the majority of our best trails would already be nothing but two-foot wide memories.

Among the top groups to show concern for a viable trail system is the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington. Another is the Washington Trails Association. They are two organizations with very similar purposes; to keep our forest trails open for everyone.

The Lewis County members of BCHW have contributed thousands of hours of hard work, pack stock, equipment, and a lot of their own money to keep the trails in the Gifford Pinchot open for you and I to enjoy.

Just a short time ago the BCHW were joined by volunteer crews from WTA to concentrate on a major trail along the Green River adjacent to the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument. A near-record snowpack had impacted the popular trail skirting the blast zone and through old-growth forest.

Green River was a gem of a trail, but on the very brink of extinction by slides, washouts, blowdowns, and the effect of continuing severe weather. The Green River Trails was, and is, altogether too good to lose.

The combined crews of the Lewis County Chapter of BCHW and WTA returned the grand old trail to exceptional condition. As the task was finished and everyone had a chance to survey the effort, it was clear just how much work had been done and how much good it produced.

Drainage had been rebuilt, reroutes built around portions of the trail that had surrendered to washout, the trail surface repaired, and bridges were built over creeks, bogs, and swamps, The Green River Trail was in the best health it had enjoyed for decades.

Here’s a case where the work of two groups had accomplished what neither could have alone; they had resurrected one of the most scenic primitive routes in the region.

Hikers and backpackers might pause for a moment to thank these crews for giving up their own time, equipment, food, and money to restore a trail all of us can enjoy.