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| (From left) Joey Mauer, Andrew Caballa, Marina Reckner and Jon Richard lift a retaining log into place on a new section of trail at Ft. Abercrombie State Park while Jaymi Bethea looks on. |
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
FCC CRANKIN'
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| Crew putting the running plank to use in the watery terrain. |
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| Crew chillin at the revamped picnic table at Island Lake Trail. |
Between both entranced to Gibson Cove, all the alder and any other intrusive vegetation were taken out of the pathway that bikers take. This took care of "phase 1" of our three sections we hope to clear. Also notable for bikers and walkers is clean up of the bridge crossing the Buskin River, near the air port. Winter sanding has caused a build up of road debris on the paved path, which is now sparkling clean for pedestrians to enjoy.
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| Getting cozy with the new crew member. |
Saturday, May 26, 2012
FCC diving into week 1
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| Jaymi and Danica Cutting sils for the planks to rest on. |
Kodiak Front Country Crew is off and running this summer. We just finished our first week of work this summer. Our first project is building 138 feet of running plank at the Buskin State park for the bird researchers of the US Fish and Wildlife. The Crew of seven young adults is becoming a stronger crew more and more daily. This is the beginning of a awesome summer to come. We are super stoked on life, and loving on being in the outdoors this summer.
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| First 60 feet of the running plank |
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This week we kicked off our 2012 field season with the ITN Frontcountry Crew. This service-learning crew is composed of seven Kodiak youth led by two adult crew leaders.
Day 1, Tuesday May 22. Today we met at the Von Scheele (VS) lot at 8 AM. It was a little weird meeting everyone for the first time, and some of us didn't know each other. After getting our direct deposit forms and paperwork squared away we headed to Near Island at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center for an introduction to ITN and all the different things they do. Then Andy talked about trails, which is what he tends to talk about more than anything else. That was followed by a bear awareness training video and discussion--because even on the "Frontcountry" crew you're always in bear country in Kodiak!
Later that morning we took in a presentation by Charlie Thorpe, a visiting Leave No Trace master educator from Alabama. Leave No Trace is a wilderness ethic that encourages responsible use of wild lands. Though we don't have the crowds and some of the impacts that go along with them that Charlie talked about, a lot of what he said seemed relevant to life on a resident trail crew, as well as to all the users of our trails. We also talked with Chris Dickey, a regional supervisor with Boy Scouts of America about programs they offer in Alaska. It sounds like there are career opportunities for men and women far beyond scouting. Cool stuff.
After a low-key lunch in the conference room we headed outside--it was really nice out. Andy led a hike on Near island on some trails ITN had built some years before, and talked about the different parts of the trail and what kinds of things require maintenance. There's a whole new language we have to learn. After a morning inside and a walk to stretch our legs we were ready to get our boots wet. Wait a minute, we didn't have boots yet! Nick took us all to Mack's sporting goods where we were issued steel-toed X-tra Tufs and work gloves. But first, we stopped back at VS to go through the tools of the trade. We passed around implements like Pulaksis, McLeods, Digging Bars and Pick Mattocks to get the look and feel of these in our hands, and to learn how to carry, use and store them the right way. We also got safety glasses, ear plugs, and hardhats with our names on them. Sweeet.
We finished the day by visiting our first work site, a boardwalk installation on the Mist Net trail near the USFWS headquarters on Buskin River Road. We hauled lumber donated by the FWS down to a wetland. It looked dry, but we're told it gets super soggy during periods of rain and volunteers need to cross it for a citizen science program. Hmmm...
Day 2, Wednesday, May 23
This morning we met Lesley, who had flown in the night before from Colorado to help lead our crew. We were once again whisked away from Von Scheele first thing and hit the KFRC for more training. Everyone was a little sore after just an hour and a half of work yesterday so we didn't mind too much. Nick told us we weren't ready for prime time trail work yet, but that we'd ease into it day by day.
Our guest instructor was Jim Dillard, the husband of KHS art teacher Bonnie Dillard. Jim is a wizard at Bush Craft, which some call survival skills. He just goes out and does this stuff for fun. He talked about edible wild plants and animals, how to build a shelter, start a fire, and about a jillion things you can do with just a knife. This guy's got some serious outdoor chops. At the end of it we arranged our chairs in a circle and talked about some survival and near-survival situations we'd been in before, and how we might react in an emergency on Kodiak.
After survival training we had lunch in the conference room, then headed to VS to load tools for the Buskin boardwalk. We found out that a rock slide had closed the road, so we returned to Near Island to actually do some of the maintenance items Andy had pointed out the day before. It was good to actually get to use some of the tools we had just learned about. We ripped a few errant stumps out of the trail corridor, cleaned out the inside edge of the trail, and straightened out a Rumpshaker, our term for a bend in the trail with no apparent purpose.
Day 3, Thursday, May 24
This was our first full day in the field. We don't have any more training scheduled for awhile. The crew jumped right onto the Buskin boardwalk project again. Apparently this trail serves a citizen science program where refuge volunteers capture, band, and monitor migratory songbirds throughout the summer. They'll start next month so we want to finish the project quickly and leave the habitat alone again for awhile so things return to normal. We dug holes for sills, filled them with rock and Geoblock, laid and leveled the sills, and screwed 2x12s into the sills as decking. We finished about 60 feet of board walk today.
Day 4, Friday, May 25
One step closer to finishing the Buskin Boardwalk. It rained all day today and now we know why we need boadwalk here. Amazingly, we're still able to work without impacting the soggy soils if we do it carefully. We finished off our first week muddy and wet, but hey, WE SURVIVED! Everyone's getting their groove, getting to know each other, and digging the rain gear on a wet day like today. We took the van back to VS, spruced up that place a little bit, and said goodbye for the long weekend to veg out a little and hopefully to much on some fried dough at Crab Fest.
Day 1, Tuesday May 22. Today we met at the Von Scheele (VS) lot at 8 AM. It was a little weird meeting everyone for the first time, and some of us didn't know each other. After getting our direct deposit forms and paperwork squared away we headed to Near Island at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center for an introduction to ITN and all the different things they do. Then Andy talked about trails, which is what he tends to talk about more than anything else. That was followed by a bear awareness training video and discussion--because even on the "Frontcountry" crew you're always in bear country in Kodiak!
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The crew (from left to right), Joey Mauer, Jaymi Bethea, Danica Majdic, Jon Richard, Marina Reckner Karina Hathaway, Andrew Caballa. Not pictured: Nick Kesling, & Lesley Seale, Crew Leadera |
After a low-key lunch in the conference room we headed outside--it was really nice out. Andy led a hike on Near island on some trails ITN had built some years before, and talked about the different parts of the trail and what kinds of things require maintenance. There's a whole new language we have to learn. After a morning inside and a walk to stretch our legs we were ready to get our boots wet. Wait a minute, we didn't have boots yet! Nick took us all to Mack's sporting goods where we were issued steel-toed X-tra Tufs and work gloves. But first, we stopped back at VS to go through the tools of the trade. We passed around implements like Pulaksis, McLeods, Digging Bars and Pick Mattocks to get the look and feel of these in our hands, and to learn how to carry, use and store them the right way. We also got safety glasses, ear plugs, and hardhats with our names on them. Sweeet.
We finished the day by visiting our first work site, a boardwalk installation on the Mist Net trail near the USFWS headquarters on Buskin River Road. We hauled lumber donated by the FWS down to a wetland. It looked dry, but we're told it gets super soggy during periods of rain and volunteers need to cross it for a citizen science program. Hmmm...
Day 2, Wednesday, May 23
This morning we met Lesley, who had flown in the night before from Colorado to help lead our crew. We were once again whisked away from Von Scheele first thing and hit the KFRC for more training. Everyone was a little sore after just an hour and a half of work yesterday so we didn't mind too much. Nick told us we weren't ready for prime time trail work yet, but that we'd ease into it day by day.
Our guest instructor was Jim Dillard, the husband of KHS art teacher Bonnie Dillard. Jim is a wizard at Bush Craft, which some call survival skills. He just goes out and does this stuff for fun. He talked about edible wild plants and animals, how to build a shelter, start a fire, and about a jillion things you can do with just a knife. This guy's got some serious outdoor chops. At the end of it we arranged our chairs in a circle and talked about some survival and near-survival situations we'd been in before, and how we might react in an emergency on Kodiak.
After survival training we had lunch in the conference room, then headed to VS to load tools for the Buskin boardwalk. We found out that a rock slide had closed the road, so we returned to Near Island to actually do some of the maintenance items Andy had pointed out the day before. It was good to actually get to use some of the tools we had just learned about. We ripped a few errant stumps out of the trail corridor, cleaned out the inside edge of the trail, and straightened out a Rumpshaker, our term for a bend in the trail with no apparent purpose.
Day 3, Thursday, May 24
This was our first full day in the field. We don't have any more training scheduled for awhile. The crew jumped right onto the Buskin boardwalk project again. Apparently this trail serves a citizen science program where refuge volunteers capture, band, and monitor migratory songbirds throughout the summer. They'll start next month so we want to finish the project quickly and leave the habitat alone again for awhile so things return to normal. We dug holes for sills, filled them with rock and Geoblock, laid and leveled the sills, and screwed 2x12s into the sills as decking. We finished about 60 feet of board walk today.
Day 4, Friday, May 25
One step closer to finishing the Buskin Boardwalk. It rained all day today and now we know why we need boadwalk here. Amazingly, we're still able to work without impacting the soggy soils if we do it carefully. We finished off our first week muddy and wet, but hey, WE SURVIVED! Everyone's getting their groove, getting to know each other, and digging the rain gear on a wet day like today. We took the van back to VS, spruced up that place a little bit, and said goodbye for the long weekend to veg out a little and hopefully to much on some fried dough at Crab Fest.
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