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Wednesday, August 12, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Wilderness stewards seek volunteers
By Diane goble
Correspondent
Unless you frequent the
wilderness, you might not be
aware of how much needs to
be done during the season to
keep it visitor-friendly.
Friends of the Central
C a s c a d e s Wi l d e r n e s s
(FCCW), in partnership
with the Deschutes and the
Willamette National Forests,
are there to help get that
work done. FCCW is an all-
volunteer nonprofit organi-
zation founded in 2014 by
Molly Johnson to promote
public awareness of wilder-
ness and wild lands through
educational programs, build-
ing constituency among local
communities to support wil-
derness stewardship practices,
and engaging in a variety of
boots-on-the-ground work to
maintain and improve wilder-
ness character.
Those who enjoy hiking
the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness,
Mt. Washington Wilderness,
Three Sisters Wilderness,
Diamond Peak Wilderness and
Mt. Thielson Wilderness, can
do so with a sense of purpose
as FCCW volunteers monitor-
ing and maintaining trails and
some 4,200 campsites, check-
ing wildlife camera setups and
collecting samples for wildlife
research, erecting trail mark-
ers and regulatory signs, and
keeping track of changes over
time, in partnership with the
Forest Service, which only
has six wilderness rangers
to cover the entire Oregon
Cascade Crest.
This data collection will
affect wilderness management
Sisters
Acupuncture
Center
plans for years to come.
One important aspect of
wilderness management is
mitigating the human impact
on vegetation, water and ani-
mal life along the trails and
in the campgrounds, around
the lakes or wherever people
venture. The program is based
upon The Wilderness Act of
1964, which recognizes a wil-
derness “as an area where the
earth and its community of
life are untrammeled by man,
where man himself is a visitor
who does not remain.”
“Pack it in, pack it out.”
this means all your trash,
including food, plastic bags
... human waste and vomit
... and, yes, dog poop.
As good stewards, we
are guests who are politely
reminded: “pack it in, pack
it out.” This means all your
trash, including food, plas-
tic bags, snack wrappers,
cigarettes, human waste and
vomit, toilet paper, baby dia-
pers, personal hygiene prod-
ucts, used condoms, and, yes,
dog poop. Consider the next
family who comes after you
leave and leave it like you
would hope to find it.
Johnson, who is president
of FCCW, said, “Even banana
peels and orange rinds don’t
disintegrate. People aren’t
doing the animals any favors
by leaving their uneaten food
behind. In fact, it can also
attract predators to the area.”
Eyebrows
looking
rough?
The organization is look-
ing for donations to support
their public-awareness pro-
grams, and not just financial,
but equipment. They use all
hand tools, no power tools,
for cutting and digging sign
posts, affixing signage, chop-
ping trees that have fallen
across the trails, raking camp-
grounds, moving rocks, etc.
They also need backpack-
ing supplies and lots of trash
bags to haul out what unaware
hikers leave behind, much of
which attracts flies, mosqui-
toes, and other insects, which
can spread disease, pollute the
streams and lakes, and take
away from the enjoyment of
those who follow.
This is FCCW’s second
field season for boots-on-the-
ground stewardship work to
maintain and improve wilder-
ness character. You don’t have
to become a member to go on
one of their hikes, and there
are hikes for all levels of hik-
ing. You just have to have a
willingness to work and pick
up some yucky trash along
the way. Forest rangers take
groups of six to 12 people on
four- to six-day hikes. They
provide education about the
state of the wilderness and
what is being done to protect it
while balancing the impact of
man vs. nature along the way.
And they tell a lot of good
stories.
Participating in one of
these trips will likely raise
your awareness and, in turn,
you are more likely to teach
others to become stewards
for our wilderness environ-
ment. Summer recreational
use in the area has increased,
Call
Theresa
today!
A local nonprofit provides stewardship on local forests.
particularly along the PCT
since this summer’s block-
buster movie “Wild,” and with
a very extreme fire danger all
around us, visitor informa-
tion about wilderness hiking
is even more important. The
more you know, the more
likely you are to educate your
friends and guests.
Go to the Friends of the
Central Cascades Wilderness
website for more information
at www.CentralCascades.org.
You’ll find a calendar of their
upcoming hikes this summer
to the final hike of the year
in late October and informa-
tion about how you can get
involved and what to bring.
They supply all the tools.
They need volunteers for
the on-the-ground work, but
they also need computer help,
website maintenance, sign
wood workers, grant writ-
ers, help with public educa-
tion, and administrative work.
Contact Molly Johnson at
info@centralcascades.org.
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