#mrnpa

Summer is on the way, and the first volunteer group of the season has already been out on the trails! Last Saturday the Mount Rainier National Park Associates assembled for their first of at least six volunteer projects this year, this time at Carbon River to repair winter storm washouts along the Carbon River Trail. A large group split up into smaller teams to work on spots spread out across the first three miles of the trail, filling in holes and clearing routes through stretches temporarily reclaimed by the river.

Happy Autumn, Volunteers! Here is a summary of our annual volunteer numbers for 2020:

Hours: 43,760.5 VIPs: 1,198

For comparison, here was 2019:

Hours: 69,481 VIPs: 2,420

Group volunteer participation was down especially dramatically this year, with a total of 314 people contributing 8,907 hours, when in a typical year we'd have twice that many people participating through WTA alone.

Overall, our volunteer numbers are 49.5% of what we reported in 2019, and volunteer hours are 63.0% of last year's.

The numbers are helped a bit by normal participation in October 2019 (since our report is by fiscal year, October through September) and over the winter pre-COVID (in spite of limitations from weather and the landslide that closed SR706 for a few weeks).

Many programs did not happen this year, or to a much more limited extent. The trails volunteer program, normally our most robust due to our partnership with WTA, was limited mostly to Northwest Youth Corps crews this year. In many programs, people chose to stay home due to COVID-19 risk, especially volunteers who belong to at-risk populations. Some programs that normally work with full-time volunteers or interns did not happen because we didn't have housing available. The Amphibian Survey citizen science program, like the WTA partnership, did not occur because we did not have housing for the supervisor.

At the same time, other programs continued, and adapted to offer safe alternatives for training and procedures, and the volunteers who did show up stepped up in a big way. We had only half our usual Meadow Rovers this year, but they turned in three quarters of last year's hours and 90% of last year's visitor contacts. The MeadoWatch and Cascades Butterfly Project citizen science programs remained robust, and a new bat survey program was welcomed enthusiastically by volunteers. (About a quarter of our volunteers participated in one or more citizen science projects.) And of course Mountain Rescue and Nordic Patrol were instrumental this year, not only with Search and Rescue but also Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) out of the new SAR Cabin.

Partners continued to help make it all happen: Washington's National Park Fund, the Mount Rainier National Park Associates, the Northwest Youth Corps, the Student Conservation Association, the University of Washington and The Evergreen State College. Other partners like WTA, The Mission Continues, and Starbucks couldn't safely participate due to the Pandemic but have expressed eagerness to return as soon as it's safe to do so.

We all hope for a more normal year next summer!

Total Volunteer Hours: 60,490

(For comparison, 2020: 43,761; 2019: 69,481)

Total Number of Volunteers: 1,629

(For comparison, 2020: 1,198; 2019: 2,420) 

Recurring volunteers: 633

Group volunteers: 996

Value of volunteer labor, based on estimates by Independent Sector: $1.74 million

Funding from Region: $15,622

Funding from WNPF: $53,303, matched by the Centennial Match program for a total of $106,605

Youth Partnerships Program (YPP) funding: $26,724

ONPS funding: Approximately $130,000

Hours by Program:

Administration: 100

Campground Hosts: 2,042

Cultural Resources: 1,127

Interpretation: 13,730

Maintenance (including Trails): 21,396

Natural Resources: 4,501

Protection: 15,906

Training: 2,242

Some individual programs:

Amphibian Surveys/Aquatics: 389 hours, 15 people -- much less than pre-pandemic, but like last year we did not hire an intern to coordinate the program.

Cascades Butterfly Survey: 1,114 hours, 18 people

MeadoWatch: 759 hours, 67 people

All Citizen Science combined (including wildlife surveys and archaeology): 2,609 hours, 144 people

Emergency Roadside Assistance (Raven): 1,692 hours, 4 people

Meadow Rovers: 10,000.5 hours, 216 people

(Plus 560 hours of substitute Meadow Rover Coordinator volunteer hours, mostly at Sunrise, by 11 people)

Nordic Patrol: 3,581 hours, 53 people

Revegetation: 702 hours, 60 people

Backcountry/Frontcountry Patrol and WIC: 10,234 hours

Trail Maintenance: 20,697 hours

WTA: 6,809 hours, 573 people)

(includes 11 youth crews or week-long projects and 6 community groups)

National Public Lands Day: 73 people, 54 of them under the age of 18

Programs basically back to normal include trail maintenance by WTA and youth crews; Meadow Rovers; backcountry patrol; Nordic Patrol; and Emergency Roadside Assistance (Ravens).

Programs still reduced due to Covid include citizen science, especially amphibian surveys; interpretation and astronomy; projects by community groups (trails, general maintenance, and campground maintenance); revegetation and greenhouse; Adopt-a-Highway; and internships through SCA and the Scientists-in-Parks program. Lack of housing continued to reduce our number of full-time volunteers and interns. We look forward to the future return of groups like The Mission Continues once the pandemic has receded.

Community partners this year included:

Backcountry Horsemen (trail maintenance)

Boy Scout Troops (271 hours by 44 people in 4 troops -- all "Boy Scouts," but not all members were boys; trail maintenance, revegetation, and ropes & rebar)

Geologic Society of America (1 Scientist-in-Park--usually we have several)

Joint Base Lewis-McChord (trail maintenance)

Mosaics in Science (1 intern--usually we have more)

Mount Rainier National Park Associates (805 hours by 50 people on 6 dates; trail maintenance, revegetation, and exotics removal)

Mountain Rescue Association (SAR and PSAR)

Olympia Mountaineers (trail maintenance)

Northwest Youth Corps (NYC) (trails: 3 Rainbow Crews, 1 ASL crew, 1 all women crew, and 1 Sound to Summit crew)

Peninsula School District JROTC (litter patrol)

REI (one small group doing revegetation--usually we have several with trails as well)

Student Conservation Association (SCA) (4 interns--usually we have more--and 1 youth crew)

Sierra Club (trail maintenance)

Starbucks (trail maintenance)

University of Washington (MeadoWatch)

Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) (trails)

Washington Trails Association (WTA) (drop-in trail work and two week-long youth projects)

Washington's National Park Fund (also a critical fundraising partner)

Yakima High School Outdoor Club (trails, revegetation, and ropes & rebar on National Public Lands Day)

On Saturday, April 24, a dozen volunteers from the Mount Rainier National Park Associates gathered at the Twin Firs Trail, just west of Longmire, for a day of trail maintenance. They shored up a streambank next to the upper stream crossing, prepared a new kickrail for the lower stream bridge, and roughed out a short reroute around a muddy section of trail. The weather was cool and damp, but spirits were high, making this a perfect way to kick off the summer volunteer season!

The Mount Rainier National Park Associates (MRNPA), one of our longest-standing volunteer groups, has once again returned to the park! They usually begin their monthly trail work season in April, but of course this year everything is different. For July, they and our reveg/deveg crew were able to work out a feasible, safe way for them to be able to come back and volunteer. July is de-veg month for MRNPA—that is, exotic plant removal. The work party took place again this year in the Carbon River Ranger Station area on the Thompson property (adjacent to the ranger station). They (about 10 MRNPA volunteers), led by our own invasive plant removal staff, removed several types of pesky invasive plants in the area as well as in a different area about a mile away.  

Greetings,

The next Mount Rainier National Park Associates volunteer work party will be Saturday, July 14th.  This will be the annual Mount Rainier National Park Associates Exotic Plant Removal work party, which we refer to as the "Deveg". We will be working on the Mowich Lake road.

To participate in the Exotic Plant Removal work party there is no need to know about native plants.  The NPS crew members we will work with will teach you which plants to remove, and they will be able to identify for you all the native plants in the area.  There will be no heavy tools (like shovels and pulaskis) to carry and use.  Safety helmets and safety glasses are not required.  But if you have a bright safety vest that you can wear, please bring it.

Things you should bring are work gloves, a small digging tool like a hand trowel, or your favorite weed removing tool, your lunch, plenty of fluids to drink.  A warm jacket would be good to include and a sun hat and sunscreen.

We will meet between 8:30 and 9:00 AM at the Paul Peak trailhead parking lot on the Mowich Lake road.  Be ready to move out at about 9:00 AM and expect to end the day about 3:00 PM.

If  you plan to attend this work party, please visit our website and send me an email indicating that you are coming and give me the number of volunteers you expect to accompany you.  I need an estimate of the number of volunteers who will attend.