This has been our crew’s mission statement and our sponsor Eric’s mantra for the past three weeks. He repeats it when we are hanging our heads a little or looking especially bored or tired. He also likes to remind us the correct way to put a plant in the ground: green side up. So far, no one has gotten tired enough on the job to forget how to plant right-side up, but we have been almost that tired.
When we first arrived at the Forest Service office in Hungry Horse, our willow and dogwood shrubs had not arrived. Instead, our head sponsor Dean assigned us a trail to clear on Demur’s Ridge, which is located west of Glacier National Park in the Flathead National Forest. We hiked up the Forest Service’s trail leading up the ridge and removed logs using cross-cut and saddle saws. In two days, we finished the 1.5-mile stretch from the bottom to the summit, and afterwards enjoyed the 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains. As a crew, that was our first real reward for working hard, and it was even more enjoyable for the myriad of landscapes around us, from snowy peaks to rolling mountains to entire ridges that have been struck by fire in the last few years.
Our sponsor for those two days Darrin wanted to take our crew on a loop so as not to travel back the same way we came. But Darrin was not familiar with the trail ahead and its rapid losses and gains in elevation and steep downhill slopes. We exerted ourselves to absolute exhaustion that day, our second day of trail work, and every crew member, including our leaders, ran out of water. None of us were physically prepared for such a hike, and, worse, we were mentally unprepared. I was tired by lunch, and I hoped the day would end soon after. Our last crew member reached the bottom of the ridge at 7 p.m.
I think I can speak for most of my crew in saying that that day was the most honest exemplification of our MCC experience thus far: hard work, a great view, and more hard work when we thought the hard work for the day had ended. Even after ten hours of labor, there is always a kitchen tarp to pitch, a sump to dig, or a dinner to be made. But, so far, the hard work has been satisfying, and who can complain with such a beautiful work environment? Our office for the last few weeks has been The Flathead National Forest.
We finished planting this week, and we are sad to leave Eric and John, our other sponsor. Eric is a “shrubologist” and John is a geologist for the Forest Service, and together they have taught us about the rocks and flora in the area. Our project’s purpose, namely saving the fish one shrub at a time, involves planting willow and dogwood shrubs at drainage sites on roads that have been decommissioned to provide bear habitat. The shrubs prevent erosion at these drainage sites and prevent sediment from entering the water. High sediment volume impedes several fish species’ ability to feed and to reproduce properly. Eric estimates a 70 percent rate of survival for our willow plants and a 30 percent rate for the dogwoods, which require a very wet environment and are more fragile than the willows.
Next week, we are moving on to a new project connecting Forest Service trails in the Swan Mountains to create a network of trails for mountain biking. We are excited about our first ten-day hitch and working a July 4th cookout. We also can’t wait to bring our bikes out and ride down the trail we’re going to build.
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