What are we up to?

TS Crew has been hiking the Swiftcurrent trail to Piegan Pass in Many Glacier, in order to do a reroute of a popular horse trail. The horse trail has been eroded and rutted out throughout the years and is now being revegged and a new switchback will replace part of the old trail.

Creating the new path while closing down the old one involves a number of jobs!!!! First is to return the old trail to a natural state by preventing its use in the future. In order to collect sediments in the eroded trail, logs are peeled and placed perpendicularly into the old trail to act as dams, known as checks. These checks collect sediment and fill the trail.
Areas between the checks are filled with pine needle branches, rocks, duff, and vegetation in order to prevent people from using the old trail. Some checks, called "natural checks" are left unpeeled and at an angles in the old pathway to appear as if they were a natural occurrence.

Then, of course, NEW trail is cut!!! The retread on our trail is a large switch back which criss crosses the old trail for a distance of about 100 yards. The new trail will be manicured and branches will be removed from around it so that hikers and horseback riders can enjoy it again!




So now we face the question. What does our job closing an old trail and cutting a new one mean for conservation? We found ourselves asking this question as we cut down and peeled trees, removed roots, and sawed limbs in this majestic and fairly untouched national park. By opening up new trail we are actually preserving vegetation surrounding the old trail. As trails become less usable, people take the next easiest route, which is typically to the left and right of the rutted out trail. The trail becomes larger as it becomes more and more damaged in the center. The species around the trail become damaged and diversity diminishes from 20 species at 100 meters from the trail to just 7 next to the trail. Reducing the potential for this damage is certainly a measure of conservation! Cutting a new trail will reduce this impact on surrounding species and hopefully enable the conservation of the plant species of this park!!!

TS Crew is happy to make a contribution :)

Creatures!

TS Crew have their eyes and ears open having seen, to date, three moose and two bear among other wildlife on their great Glacier adventures!!!

EAST GLACIER!!!!

TS Crew will be cutting tread in East Glacier from June 23 until July 2!!!!!!

TS Crew is PSYCHED to work in GLACIER!!!!!

Striking a Balance

As members of the MCC it is our goal to understand the multiple uses of our public lands. Our latest trip to the Forest Service's Tally Lake Ranger District has certainly been an insightful opportunity for TS Crew in this regard.

While it is commonly believed that National Forest is protected land, left unscathed by extraction, these forests are, in reality, regularly logged by private companies who are often contracted through the forest service!!!! While this may strike you as ironic, the Forest Service must strive to regulate forestry in order to protect both people, and forest, striking a delicate and seemingly contradictory balance. This balance is forced to be maintained due to the development and growth adjacent to the fire-prone forests, known as urban interface. While populations grow around the forests, controlled timber reduction and controlled logging are also established as a means of reducing the potential for the forests to be susceptible to widespread fire.

The Forest Service refers to the practice of fuel reduction, and controlled logging as The Healthy Forest Initiative.

We approach a new generation dedicated to conservation rather than extraction of our public lands. This is an encouraging trend. The value of preserving our public lands can actually be measured by the economic boom of surrounding regions. While the quality of human life can now be measured by the preservation of our lands, we should also recognize that economic boom means development and development is really an antonym, in this case, to preservation. We too, like the forest service, must recognize a balance by reducing interface therefore preserving our majestic forests.

Spreading Light On New Habitats!

In the past two days the Sunshine Crew has planted 1100 plugs including maple, serviceberry, willow, and elderberry in the Nelson Miller and Mid Logan units! The units are controlled burn sites. The purpose of these sites is to remove fuel thereby reducing the danger of wildfires, and to encourage regrowth of new plantlife. The new plugs will provide food to the local wildlife.

Some plants have been staked and recorded in order to monitor their growth throughout the coming years.

We have also begun marking wildlife snags. Wildlife snags are dead trees which are ideal wildlife habitats. Marking the snags will protect them from becoming firewood. If you would like to know more about wildlife snags, check it out here!

TALLY HO!!!!!!

If you're looking for sunshine look no further than Flathead National Forest where the TS crew is beaming!

During their five day spike the Sunshine Crew will plant shrubs in the Mid Logan and Nelson Miller units of the Tally Lake Ranger District.

The TS Crew will also be monitoring fuel reduction sites and marking wildlife snags. The decaying Ponderosa Pine, Black Cottonwood, and Western Larches will be protected from logging in order to preserve habitats for local wildlife!

TS Crew would also like to welcome a new member, Steve!!

Wrap Up

The Sunshine Crew has completed it's June 2nd-June 11th hitch at Silverbow Creek.

The Crew planted some 20,000 maples, willows, grass plugs, and more! These plants will contribute to creating a new habitats in the silverbow creek floodplain for future inhabitants, and will also prevent erosion of the rerouted creek's banks.


The sunshine crew endured 60 pound plantbags, knee deep mud, and everything short of a
monsoon, and are proud of their achievements!




Thank you to our sponsors and GOOD JOB CREW!!!!

Eternal Sunshine of the not so spotless weathermap

Well it's June in Montana, so naturally it's snowing, hailing, raining, and thundering, all in the same day. Team sunshine has also come up against death grip mud and two left boots. However morale is HIGH for TEAM SUNSHINE after a much welcomed visit to a laundromat.


Team Sunshine has planted (to date), more than 4,000 trees after having received hoe dag training from Abe, the most talked about tree planter of the west, known famously for having planted 10,000 grass plugs in one day. Abe's so cool.

SBC: A Superfund Success Story

Team Sunshine will spend it's first spike at the Silver Bow Creek SUPERFUN(d) site in Ramsey Montana.

The TS will spread its light on the void Silverbow Creek Floodplain, where they will be planting up to 20,000 trees during their stay.


Tailings and Mine wastes have contaminated the creek's floodplain since the late 1800s, originating in the nearby and (in)famous town of Butte, Montana. The toxicity of the contamination has reduced wildlife to nearly 0, for a range of 23 miles, making this the largest restoration project known to exists. The TS is excited to take part in this unprecedented effort.

If you're interested in more about this project check it out here!

Creation

In the beginning there was void. As well as mining tailings, large trucks with 40 yard blind spots, plant bags, hoe dags, and a lot of mud. Then the great orb said "LET THERE BE SUNSHINE!" In their waders, boots, and PPE, Team Sunshine rose from the rays of the great orb.






And so began the ventures of Team Sunshine.