#americorpsweek

The last full week in Redding was a daunting one. Mixed emotions were flowing through the team after coming out of the team meeting last Saturday about how to approach the final weeks. Bits were shared about “making the days count” and “don’t count the days”. It was also mentioned to “not smell the barn”, an expression used to draw attention towards the time before the end of something. To elaborate, as time goes on things seem habitual and details fall to the wayside as the tunnel vision blinders go on when an end is in sight.

 The work week started off with the anticipation of rainy weather. For about a week or so now, Verde uno had been warned about lack luster weather throughout the week. Joseph, our team leader, prepared a list of rainy day work and prepared to start crossing things off the list on Monday.  It actually turned out though that we were in for a treat as the day cleared up and the team was able to put some more work onto the Homestake/Trail 58 trail.

While the majority of Verde uno worked on their trail, Edison and Clara had the opportunity to shadow the Geographic Information System (GIS) Intern, Dave, at the Redding BLM Office. He gave a basic overview of the workings of GIS, demonstrated how it is implemented in the field and explained why it is important when managing public lands. The two corps members were sent out with Nicaylen, also a GIS intern, to map the Homestake Trail. Here Nicaylen demonstrated how to use the Trimble GPS device to collect trail data. They walked the entire trail while also practicing how to mark landmarks such as the two bridges the team built. After successfully plotting and saving the data, Edison and Clara went back to the office and worked with Dave in editing the collected data to create a comprehensive map of the Homestake Trail. The map includes: The Homestake Trail, relevant roads and waterways, points of interests. The map has been uploaded to the Bureau of Land Managements collective GIS database.

 Tuesday marked the last day Verde uno would set tools down on the trail during their stay in Redding. With that fact looming amongst their minds, it was of the utmost importance to finish the trail as much as possible before leaving indefinitely. Once all conceivable work was completed, it was time to test ride the darn thing! BLM Redding let us borrow their mountain bikes to test out Verde uno’s trail. Test riding the trail brought the work full circle as team members were able to build then ride their own mountain bike trail. Hopefully the outdoors community will continue to enjoy the work the team accomplished during project round 2.

 The rest of the week brought in heavy rains, but that didn’t stop the team from working. Wednesday and Thursday provided long days of maintaining trails in the Swasey Recreation area and the Chappie-Shasta OHV area. The team addressed water drainage issues on these trails and removed debris that had blocked the trails such as downed trees, large branches and inconveniently sized rocks (larger than baseballs). Despite the less than ideal conditions, the team had surreal hikes in the clouds and unique views of Shasta Lake that they would have not had otherwise if it weren’t for these rainy day tasks.

 Finishing off the week in Redding actually was mildly exciting. Friday the team had the opportunity to attend an AmeriCorps Work celebration that was hosted by the Shasta County Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council. There was food, a raffle and stories to be shared of AmeriCorps experiences through out the year(s). On Saturday the team was invited to volunteer at the Kid’s Fishing Day hosted by the California Fish and Wildlife. The event was anticipating at least 200-300 kids but unfortunately was met with severe wind and rain all day and resulted in a low turn-out and tough conditions for its volunteers. However, Verde uno had its saving grace that evening with a spaghetti social at their project sponsor’s home.