WTA Volunteer Wins National Award

WTA assistant crew leader and horse packer Tom Mix was recently honored with a "state trail worker of the year" award from the American Trails Association. This is a well-earned award for a dedicated volunteer in our Olympic Peninsula program.

Tom is a retired Boeing engineer with a passion for trails. His volunteer trail work has taken him to many of the trails in Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. He's certified on both chainsaws and crosscuts, and is known to keep those saws in immaculate condition. The Forest Service has certified Tom to instruct other volunteer sawyers, and his efforts to clear blowdown during the storms of the last two years were a huge help in keeping trails on the peninsula open.

Tom was also instrumental in helping get a $9,000 grant for Olympic National Park to purchase tools for volunteers.

Larry Lack, the trail supervisor for Olympic National Park, had this to say about Tom in his award letter:

"I have personally worked with Tom on numerous projects and he is always well organized and well prepared. On all projects Tom is very safety conscious.  He has a sincere concern for the resource and does quality work. I look forward to working with him for many years."

If that isn't enough, Tom is also a skilled horse packer and a member of the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington. Tom often packs in supplies for WTA's Olympic Peninsula Volunteer Vacations. Without packers such as Tom, WTA wouldn't be able to get work done deep into the backcountry.

Thanks Tom, for a job well done.