#crow vecchio

The highly capable and eminently professional staff of the Volunteer Program would like to wish you and your families the best of the season. Now, let it snow!

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It's time for another Adopt-a-Highway litter patrol, and Crow is looking for ten people who are willing to commit approximately two hours to this community service project. Duration of the event depends on the number of people who sign up...the more, the merrier (to a maximum of 12). In 2012, Mount Rainier's Volunteer Program partnered with the Washington Dept. of Transportation by contracting to keep the two-mile section of SR 706 including the Park's Tahoma Woods frontage free of litter. In exchange for our services, Park volunteers are acknowledged by two big blue signs placed at either end of the patrol area. These signs benefit us by bringing our volunteers and volunteer program into the public eye, encouraging even more people to volunteer in the Park. We will be gathering at Park Headquarters at Tahoma Woods, three miles east of Elbe on SR 706 on Saturday, September 6 at 10 AM, and work will go forward rain or shine. "Long-armed grabbers," litter bags, gloves and safety vests will be provided. You are welcome to bring your own gloves if you prefer. In order to participate in the upcoming patrol, volunteers who have not already done so are required to watch a short training video which features a very young and goofy Bill Nye ("the Science Guy"). The video can be found on the DoT's website at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/operations/adoptahwy/ To sign up for this Adopt-a-Highway event, contact me (Crow) at [email protected] no later than September 1 to confirm that you've watched the video.

If you are camping in the Longmire Stewardship Campground, you can thank the Webelos of Troop 850 and their parents for helping clean up the winter storm debris. The seven young men shown in this photo alongside Volunteer Coordinator Crow Vecchio and Campground Hosts Jim and Lorraine Cherry were as hard-working, enthusiastic batch of workers as anyone could want. Armed with only with rakes and spirit, they gathered downed branches from around the platform tent sites and carried them far, far away into the forest, distributing them as Nature would have done. It was my pleasure to work with these young gentlemen who, to everyone's delight, presented several humorous skits after their duties were completed.

Our feature volunteer for May is Petrina “Crow” Vecchio who is and has been involved in many aspects of the Park’s volunteer program. Crow got interested in volunteering at Mt. Rainier when she was a young child. Her uncle was a Ranger at Lake James who took her with him (with the superintendent’s permission, of course) on a tour of duty. “I fell in love with Carbon River right then. I always knew I wanted to work in the Park.” She officially started volunteering in the Park in the late 70s. Prior to that, she has a history of helping any visitors planning hikes or needing help with plant identification. She worked at the Carbon River Entrance/Mowich winter and summer for three years, and the winter duty was the “most glorious assignment” she ever had. She would snowshoe in to her cabin assignment for 10 days at a shot where the temperature inside was usually colder than outdoors. She would take a chair outside in the snow, all bundled up, and sit there in the sun reading in temperatures as low as 17 degrees! These days she is busier than ever working in the Volunteer office, and is also a member of the Park’s Safety Committee. She writes a regular column on the Park’s Facebook page as well as blogging on the Volunteer blog. Crow has edited material for handbooks and handouts, plus she has written some of the material. She is very involved in the cleanup and restoration of the Longmire Stewardship Campground and leads the Mt. Rainier Volunteer crew Adopt a Highway Litter Patrol! One of her most interesting assignments was to find a “lost” hydroelectric dam on the Paradise River so that it could be taken off the Federal Register. Yes, she found it! According to Crow, she will turn down no assignment except plumbing! She did enough of it at Carbon River and claims she will NEVER do plumbing again! What satisfies her most is working for “my Mountain”. “If I have a purpose it is to make people aware of Nature any way I can, whether that’s with photos and descriptions of lichens, talking to them about the Wonderland Trail” … all part of the legacy she hopes to leave behind! Crow also volunteers in other nature programs such as the Nisqually Land Trust and the Invasive Plant Council. When she is not volunteering she is an avid kayaker, bicyclist, hiker, Angry Birds fan, Trekkie, mom to two cats and has studied crows and ravens all her life, hence the nickname Crow. On a special note, as a volunteer she participated in the Park’s Winter Fitness Challenge, packing in 1514.5 aerobic-equivalent miles from January 7 to March 30! This earned her the title of “Iron Ranger” as she outpaced National Park employees from throughout Washington State! - Jean Millan

Litter is an ongoing problem, and we want to have our gateway to the Mountain looking nice for our Fourth of July visitors. Therefore, we'll be conducting another litter patrol on Saturday, June 29 as part of our partnership with the state Dept. of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway program. They limit us to twelve participants, so if you're interested, sign up soon! Gloves, safety vests, bags and "long-armed grabbers" will be provided. Hard hats are optional, so if you want to wear one, bring your own. New participants must watch a five-minute DoT training video, available on line at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/operations/adoptahwy/. Please contact Crow at [email protected] if you want to sign up!

Storm debris has been accumulating in the Longmire campground for many years, and the customary means of disposal (dispersal) had proven to be less than effective. A ring of downed limbs and branches was building up behind the campsites faster than Nature could accommodate. Last year, two teams worked to bring the debris forward where it was hoped crews could be brought in to load it into drop boxes for removal, or alternately, that it could be chipped and distributed into the campground environment. For the last two weekends, Volunteers have been hard at work clearing away the piles created by last year's work parties. On June 8, geocachers participated in their annual "CITO" event at the campground, and today (June 15), another team of nine individual volunteers gathered near the platform tents at 9:30 for a second assault. Four hours later, two 15-yard drop boxes had been filled to capacity, accounting for approximately 75% of the debris. In another move to alleviate the problem of debris accumulation, volunteers and paid employees staying in the campground have been given permission to utilize wood from the piles for campfires. Some larger pieces have been stacked at various convenient locations. Please note that gathering of other wood in the campground is still prohibited! You may only use the wood which has been piled or stacked by the work crews. Crow's personal gratitude as well as the Park's goes out to all the hard-working folks who have pitched in (literally!) on this project. Longmire Campground is now a much more pleasant environment, thanks to you!

The winter snows brought down a lot of small limbs and other debris in the Longmire employee housing area which now needs to be collected and removed from the compound. Dale Harvard has put out an urgent call for volunteers to help with the clean-up. If you are interested in participating, we'll be gathering in the housing area at 10:30 AM on Tuesday May 28th. Bring gloves if you have them, and of course be prepared for any kind of weather. The project is expected to take no more than four hours. Please RSVP to Crow at [email protected] by May 23.