Not all my training is pure hiking. On Thursday, July 17, I completed my fourth volunteer mission with Trailkeepers of Oregon as we worked to restore trails in the Columbia Gorge that have been closed since the devastating Eagle Creek Fire, which burned over 50,000 acres in 2017. Eight years later, two key trails remain closed.
Thursday, I joined a crew of seven working on the Tanner Butte Trail (Trail #410) which has all but disappeared as underbrush has covered the trail and grown tall. On our crew last week, a couple of our team pushed their way through the underbrush for close to a mile marking where the trail should be with colored ribbon.
It was easy to see where our work from last week stopped, as we abruptly hit a wall of vegetation. The photo below is the “before” shot of what the trail looked like before our efforts began.
The work mainly consisted of using large lopping shears to take down the tall brush. Then fire rakes were used to pull up some of the underbrush and expose where plants had taken root in the trail pathway. Then it was work and hands and knees to clip the small brush (blackberry, Oregon grape and other viny plants) from the trail. We also encountered two trees that had fallen across the trail. As we had not planned for these, the largest saws we carried were 21” hand saws, which meant each tree (larger around than a telephone pole) took an hour or more for a two person team to cut a gap for the trail.
After a full day’s work in the sun, we made about 100 yards of progress. Just six more miles – and several more years – and this trail may be reopened. I do want to stress that the trail remains closed to the public and the gate at the base is locked. We were working under the authority of the US Forest Service, which allowed us to pass through the gate.
If you love the outdoors, I encourage you to consider volunteering for a trail crew or making a monetary donation to help fund TKO’s work. Cuts in federal funding have left a $500k gap in TKO’s budget for this year. Any contribution of time or treasure is appreciated.
One cool thing about our trail crew this time is that we had two women on vacation from New Hampshire who joined us. They were touring Oregon for a week and one of them worked for a company that awarded extra PTO for doing volunteer work. It was great meeting them and having them donate a day of their vacation to restoring this trail.