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The Signpost Blog
Grizzlies on the Recovery
In the last few weeks, there's been a fair amount of news about grizzly bears.
In September, a newly completed study of grizzly populations determined there many more bears in northwestern Montana than previously thought. According to the AP article, the U.S. Geological Survey determined there were 765 grizzly bears in northwestern Montana, up sharply from previous estimates of 250 to 350 bears. That's great news for recovery efforts, and could even result in the de-listing of those populations from the endangered species list.
The study even made it into presidential politics when candidate John McCain derided the study (which cost $4.8 million) as an example of pork barrel spending.
Regardless of your thoughts on that issue, it's great to see grizzly populations rebounding. Will the grizzly bear make a recovery in Washington and British Columbia, too? According to the organization Consevation Northwest, there are only about 25 grizzlies in the North Cascades of Washington and B.C. Grizzlies may be a recurring topic in the news in 2009 in Washington--the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has funding to conduct a study regarding grizzly recovery next year.
By the way, Sightline is a great place to get the latest news on environmental issues affecting the Northwest. They're currently in the midst of an e-mail drive: if you sign up soon for their free e-newsletter, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a free eco-friendly trip to Vancouver B.C. Check it out here.
Nana Simone, 1956-2008
It's with a lot of sadness that I write this post. Nana Simone, a great friend of trails and wildlands and an embodiment of the essential spirit of the Wenatchee Foothills died on September 25, 2008. I was privileged to know Nana in my work as WTA's Advocacy Director.
Nana passed away as a result of head injuries sustained in an ATV accident while transporting materials to a work site on the Sage Hills Trail. The Sage Hills were one of Nana's favorite places. I could write all day about Nana's many efforts on behalf of the Wenatchee Foothills, Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and WTA. Suffice it to say that there were very few trail projects in the area in which she was not engaged. She was a ferocious organizer, pulling people passionate about trails and conservation together and sustaining them with her seemingly inexhaustible brio. That she did all this while sustaining a career as an integrated pest management consultant, volunteering for innumerable other organizations, enjoying an enormous network of friends and pursuing every chance to spend time in the outdoors she loved is a testament to her character.
What I remember best about Nana is her wilderness acumen and the great joy she took in the outdoors. I recall hiking with her on the Lower Mad River Trail, in the Entiat Ranger District, barely able to keep up, while she plucked berries one by one from bushes without slowing down. On a winter visit to Wenatchee for one of our annual Okanogan-Wenatchee Potlucks, Nana and others from the Land Trust took us on a snowy sunset hike above the town and into the foothills. I remember how at-home in the world Nana was on that outing.
I benefited more times than I can count from Nana's wisdom, intelligence and large-heartedness. The people who had the good fortune to know her will continue her work on behalf of wildlands and her community.
Hikers wishing to remember Nana may make contributions of time and funds to Chelan-Douglas Land Trust (PO Box 4461, Wenatchee, WA 98807) and the Nature Conservancy of
California
(4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite
100, Arlington, VA 22203-1606).
More on Getting to Hikes By Bus
I spent much of this past summer on a quest to get to trailheads using buses and my trusty mountain bike. You can read my article on getting to trailheads on the bus in the October 2008 issue of Washington Trails magazine.
Unfortunately, there's some sad news for hikers interested in getting to trailheads without a car. The I-90 shuttle that provides service for hikers and bikers between the Cedar Falls trailhead near North Bend and Hyak near Snoqualmie Pass has ceased service due to inadequate permits. This is a shame, because the shuttle was a great way to bike the Iron Horse Trail and gain access to trailheads by bike, including the Pacific Crest Trail. Hopefully it will get up and running next season.
Those who want to get to trailheads by bike and bus still have a lot of options. We've created several resources on WTA's website, including WTA member Dick Burkhart's descriptions of classic Bike-Bus-Hikes plus Julie Van Pelt's list of pros and cons of riding the bus to a trail.
One of the best resources for getting to hikes by bus is the excellent
Metro Bus Hikes website, which describes more than 50 hikes you can get
to by public transportation.
It's a great way to do something for the earth and turn your journey to the trailhead into an adventure!
Web Feedback: We're Listening!
Washington Trails Association unveiled its new Trip Report and Hiking Guide formats nearly a month ago. The change, and some performance hiccups along the way, prompted lots of feedback - both positive and negative.
We want to let you know that we have listened and will be making some changes over the next month or so to improve the way it works for hikers like you. These include:
- Speed - By the end of October, pages should open up much faster.
- Freshest Trip Reports - Most people preferred how it worked before, so we will be emulating that experience as best as we can within the new format. We also suggest that you try out the Trip Report search page, which is ordered chronologically and can be filtered by region and more.
- Using the Back Button - If you've encountered problems using your browser's back button within a search, we're working with our programmers to fix this issue.
- Adding Search by Author - Like a particular Trip Reporter? We'll be adding a search field to Trip Reports that will allow you to search by author. Currently, you can view their entries by typing their name in the Keyword field of the Trip Report search.
- Improving Photo Uploading performance - There have been reported problems when uploading three or four photos to a Trip Report - both the size of the photo and slower connection speeds appear to be the culprit. We're working to see how we could make this work better for people.
- Login Issues - Can't remember your user name or password? Because this requirement is new for Trip Reports, chances are you don't have one. Try registering at www.wta.org/join_form - if your e-mail is already in the system, it will let you know.
- Design Tweaks - WTA will also be making some small design tweaks that you may or may not notice.
- Hiking Guide Entries - Where have the old ones gone? We're working on updating the old hiking guide entries (some were 10 years old!) and including them within the new format. More are uploaded every week.
- New Photo Gallery & Backcountry Kitchen - Look for improvements to these popular areas by the end of the year.
These all should be complete by the end of the year - if not much earlier. In the meantime, we suggest that you use some of your off-season free time to make additions and edits to our redesigned Hiking Guide.
The Hiking Guide includes standing descriptions and information that are written more like a guidebook entry. It's all wiki - so you and other hikers are indispensable in making this the best online source for hiking info around.
Have some more feedback for us? Send an email to: feedback@wta.org.
How to Take a Prize Winning Photo
If you're considering entering WTA's Northwest Exposure Photo Contest for the first time, perhaps you're wondering "how do you take a winning photo?"
I'm glad you asked.
While a "great" outdoor photo is a subjective thing, there are some general rules that set truly great photos apart. Here are some tips to help you create that photo:
• "Frame" what you're photographing. Know what your subject is, be it a mountain, animal, flower or person. Its placement in your frame should be deliberate. Try setting the main subject off center, with something of secondary interest opposite the main subject.
• Get a little closer: Experiment with letting your subject nearly fill the frame. Details are often more interesting than a wide view.
• Work with the light: It should flatter your subject. The intensified colors of morning an evening light are ideal. These times are known by photographers "the golden hours."
• Invest in a good tripod: This results in sharper pictures. Taller and heavier is better, if you can tolerate carrying it on hiking trips.
• Bend at the knees: Don't just stand there and push buttons. Crouch down to get a different angle of that bird on a limb. Try to see the subject for several different angles to see what works best.
• Take your time: Study the composition. Every detail should be important, or it may not belong in your photo.
• But also, learn to be quick on the click. Some subjects (particularly small, furry ones) may not wait for you. Practice taking photos quickly so that you can pull this off when the situation demands it.
Also, learn from others. Here are previous contest winners.
A Trails Organization for Oregon
Washington is pretty lucky to have an organization like WTA to care for its trails, speak up for hikers, and inform people about the great hiking opportunities in our state. Not many other states have their own trails organizations. And until recently, the list of states without a trails organization included Oregon.
There are a lot of fantastic trails in Oregon. On of the most amazing is the the North Three Sisters Loop, which you'll find an article about in the October 2008 issue of Washington Trails, which should be hitting your mailbox in the next day or so. It's apparently a fabulous trail, although throughout the state, the Forest Service is having trouble keeping up with a huge backlog of maintenance.
But help may be on the way. A new organization, loosely based on WTA's model, is taking shape in Oregon. It's called Trailkeepers of Oregon (TKO) and they've made great progress since first forming in June. Interim president Jeff Statt announced in an e-mail that the group received a $20,000 grant from REI to work with the Pacific Crest Trail Association to develop a volunteer skills training program in 2009. The group has also drafted its bylaws, begun holding regular board meetings, raised over $1,000 in donations, and led the first of a handful of volunteer trail work parties this past summer.
Congratulations to TKO, and to our hiking friends south of the
Columbia! Let's keep those trails of the Pacific Northwest in great
shape!
A Great Day for Our Public Lands
The 15th Annual National Public Lands Day brought 82 WTA volunteers out to improve
trails on public lands across Washington State this past weekend. The sun was shining as folks
spent their Saturday or Sunday clearing brush, building rock walls,
and constructing new trail from Spokane to the Olympic Peninsula. Here is a bit of what they accomplished:
Iller Creek Conservation Area in Spokane saw 1,100 feet of relocated trail constructed in one weekend with the help of 19 volunteers.
The PCT near Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River Gorge saw 400 feet of overgrown trail cleared and improved by five hardworking volunteers.
Glacier Basin Trail re-route
at Mount Rainier - 18 volunteers continued to advance the re-route,
digging out stumps, removing rock, and constructing rock retaining
structures to support the new tread.
A group of Bigs and Littles from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound poured their energy into improvements of the popular Annette Lake Trail near North Bend. They constructed check steps and took down snags.
Fourteen volunteers returned to the South Fork Skokomish Trail on the Olympic Peninsula to finish roughing in a new by-pass trail from Laney Camp to the
dispersed camp site near the Upper Skokomish trailhead.
Although a long drive, 18 volunteers found their way to the Bare Mountain Trail
outside of North Bend and continued on some much-needed improvements.
Volunteers installed rock steps, removed large roots, widened drainage
ditches, and removed
mud from one wet section of trail.
On trails at Heather Meadows near Mount Baker, including the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail and Bagley Lakes Trail, nine volunteers fixed drainage and tread, unplugged culverts and repaired braided trail.
Mount Dickerman and Lake 22 Parking Lots Closed
The parking lots at two popular trailheads on the Mountain Loop Highway are going to be closed this fall for upgrades. Both of these trails are very popular, and in one case not much alternate parking is going to be available, so you should consider this before heading out to these trails.
The first is the Mount Dickerman trailhead. The parking area closes today, Sept. 29 and will remain closed until April 2009. Construction will increase the parking lot from 20 spaces to 70 in order to add parking for the Perry Creek Trail. A connector trail is being built from the Perry Creek Trail to the Dickerman trailhead (WTA volunteers have done a lot of work here), and when it is finished, the Perry Creek Road will be closed. The Mount Dickerman trailhead is located on the Mountain Loop Highway at milepost 27.3, east of Granite Falls.
The second closure is at Lake Twenty-two trailhead. The parking area will close approximately Oct. 13 until the end of the year. The parking lot will expand from 30 to 48 spaces, and gain new toilets and signs. Some parking will be available across the highway in the nearby Hemple Creek picnic area. Lake Twenty-two trailhead is located on the Mount Loop Highway at milepost 13.2, east of Granite Falls.
Hikers should plan ahead and expect crowded conditions at these
trailheads until work is completed, especially at Mount Dickerman,
where the Forest Service says essentially no parking will be available
until spring.
Fall is the Time to Learn First Aid
If there's one set of skills I would urge all hikers to take a course in, it's wilderness-oriented first aid (or WOFA). While non-wilderness first aid and CPR courses cover good skills, they deal exclusively with urban/surburban situations where paramedics will arrive within minutes.
Wilderness first aid, on the other hand, teaches you skills to deal with a variety of injuries and medical conditions when you're in the backcountry, hours or days from medical care. These courses generally take two to three days and are extremely informative. These are skills that could save your life or the life of someone else when you're on a hike. The skills covered range from treating a twisted ankle to dealing with cuts, falls, or heat or cold-related injuries.
I highly recommend taking a WOFA course, and many are scheduled in the fall. They're a bit of a commitment, but the skills you learn are worth it. All WTA crew leaders and hike leaders are required to be certified in WOFA, and if you hike regularly, you should too. Here are some upcoming WOFA courses:
Seattle
Remote Medical
October 11-12
REI Flagship Store, Seattle
$165. Register here. Another class is offered in February: info is here. (Added 9/29, Thanks to Mason White for alerting us to this class).
Mazama
Wilderness Medical
Training Center WOFA
Sept 26-28
Wilderness Medical Training Center, Mazama
$225, registration form here or
call (509) 996-2502
Highly recommended, these instructors have trained WTA staff and
volunteers.
Spokane
National
Outdoor Leadership School WOFA
Oct. 11-12
Jepson Hall, Gonzaga University
$185, registration and info at this e-mail or call (509) 313-6396
Tri-Cities
Intermountain
Alpine Club WOFA
Oct 18-19
City of Richland Maintenance Bldg., 2700 Duportail St., Richland
$170, registration and info at (509) 943-5257
The Mountaineers also offers more extensive mountaineering-oriented
first aid (MOFA) courses in the the fall. These are multi-day courses,
and are also a good option for hikers and backpackers looking for
outdoor first aid skills. MOFA courses coming up include Redmond (Sept.
30-Oct. 23), Olympia (Oct. 9-19), Meany Lodge near Stampede Pass (Nov.
7-Nov. 9) and Tacoma (Nov. 8-23). Schedules of Mountaineers current
MOFA classes are here
and more info is here.
Offshore Drilling Fight Spills Over Into Trail Funding
With Congress rapidly cycling to a close in the run-up to November's elections, enormous forces are at play that threaten trail and recreation funding for some of our favorite Northwest places. Oil and gas prices, the potential for a government shutdown, and the possible collapse of the financial industry are all contributing to major challenges facing Forest and Park Service recreation funds.
The administration has promised to veto any
spending legislation emerging from Congress that would increase agency budgets
beyond pre-set limits. This threat has placed Congress in the position of
having to cut critical programs within agencies if they want to increase
funding for other items. This choice does not sit well with many in
Congress and has resulted in a deadlock, delaying the passage of the Fiscal
Year (FY) 2009 budget. Instead funding of the federal government has
occurred through a series of continuing resolutions to fund agencies at the
FY08 levels. Now a new wrinkle has occurred in this ongoing debate, a
fight over drilling for oil in the Outer Continental Shelf threatens to stall
even these continuing resolutions.
The FY 08 budget including a proviso that banned drilling in the Outer
Continental Shelf. Lawmakers supporting offshore drilling have threatened
to block any budget bill unless that ban is revoked in new energy
legislation. Over the summer, spiking oil prices have led many members of
the House and Senate to shift their positions on offshore drilling, leading to
the real possibility of a government shutdown if neither side blinks.
That, of course, places Forest Service programs that depend on
appropriated dollars in jeopardy. It also challenges attempts to pass
2008 supplemental appropriations bill that National Park advocates hope will
contain $2 billion in funding for the National Park System Centennial
Challenge. Further complicating this already muddied situation is the
hope on the part of many conservationists who, while opposing offshore
drilling, hope that a share of revenues from drilling will flow to programs
such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The House has responded by passing HR 6899, a comprehensive energy bill.
The House legislation allocates no new money to conservation programs on the
NPS Centennial Challenge. On the Senate side, prospects are more
challenging as the threat of filibuster looms over any legislation being
considered. That means that members have to line up 60 votes in order to
move any legislation through.
Of course, all of these deliberations have been thrown into shadow by the
looming specter of a massive federal bailout of the financial industry.
The conversation around stopping the bleed on Wall Street has sucked all the
air out of other legislation, although conversations continue between Senate
negotiators on the final form of a comprehensive Senate energy bill.
If all of that leaves you reeling, join the club. This is an
extraordinary time. The House has acted, both on appropriations and
energy, and the ball is currently in the Senate's court. The best thing
you, as hikers, can do is to call Senators Murray and Cantwell and encourage
them not to forget the needs of our public lands management agencies. It
is all to easy to lose sight of what might seem to be small issues. But
in the long term, it is the quality of life in Washington State
that will buoy our economy. Please take a moment to apply some consistent
and gentle pressure on our Senators by urging them to follow the House Interior
Appropriations Committee's lead in increasing Forest Service’s Trail and
Recreation budgets. You can find your Member of Congress and both our
Senators here.
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