WTA Celebrates National Public Lands Day

More than 150 volunteers came out on work parties with WTA this past Saturday in celebration of National Public Lands Day.

For many regular WTA volunteers, it was just another normal day out on the trails. But unlike most days, on Saturday they were joined by thousands of other volunteers across the country. People in Washington and beyond put aside their everyday work to come out and help maintain public lands in a national event that has been going on since 1994.

It was WTA's single biggest day on trails this year, with a total of 13 work parties scheduled for the day.

At Mount Rainier National Park, not only were volunteers celebrating national public lands that day, but they were also celebrating the completion of the second section of the Glacier Basin Trail. The park hosted a re-dedication ceremony for the trail that morning, with Acting Superintendent Kevin Bacher addressing a group of more than five dozen people. Afterwards, more than 30 WTA volunteers got down to work on the Wonderland Trail. "It's a great day to promote volunteerism," said Alan Carter Mortimer, Field Director for WTA.

Meanwhile, over at South Fork Skokomish River, a crew was tackling the reroute that a previous work party had begun. As they brushed huckleberry limbs back and worked on tread, a representative from the Olympic National Forest came out to tell them how much the agency appreciates their work.

To get kids involved in National Public Lands Day, WTA also hosted a family work party at Cougar Mountain on the Indian Trail. Thirteen kids and parents came out to help decommission the old trail by planting 50 species of plants and covering them with woody debris, leaves and other organic material.

On the whole, National Public Lands Day was a huge success, drawing lots of volunteers out to accomplish some quality trail work while celebrating the beautiful land that we share.

WTA thanks our many volunteers who donated their time on Saturday and during all of 2011. You can check out the work from each of the 13 WTA National Public Lands Day work parties by hiking these trails:

• Bagley Lakes - Mount Baker
• Cougar Mountain - Issaquah Alps
• East Fork Lewis River Trail - South Cascades
• Evergreen Mountain Lookout - Stevens Pass
• Gray Wolf Trail - Olympics
• Holden Village area trails - Lake Chelan
• Iller Creek Trail - Spokane area
• Lake Christine - Near Mount Rainier
• Lingering Loop - Tiger Mountain
• Lone Fir Trail - Methow
• Mount Catherine Trail - Snoqualmie Pass
• South Fork Skokomish - Olympics
• Wonderland Trail - White River to Sunrise - Mount Rainier National Park

>> You can still sign up for WTA work parties. We're on the trail six days each week. Check out our schedule for upcoming locations.