Of Bridges and Ravines

Have you ever pulled a 1 ton bridge out of a 50 Foot Ravine?

Yea. We hadn't either.

Community Change Action Plan

As an exercise in citizenship, TS Crew has been asked to sit down and draw upon the tools given to us through our Place Lesson pamphlet and resulting discussions, to devise a Community Change Action Plan. A step by step guide to making a difference in your community is strikingly bureaucratic to me, and perhaps a somewhat boring and ineffectual way to motivate the more complacent person, but as an education piece it merits attention, especially in light of the upcoming presidential election. Change is a resoundingly popular word this year, being given, as we have, the opportunity to change the executive power that guides this country.

So what will you do with the power to change?
Brett and I were assigned to address the issue of Wildland Urban Interface. The expansion of the WUI in recent years has challenged wildfire management and has created an environment in which fire moves readily between structures and vegetation, threatening people who live in its path. The USFS operating budget has become strained by the costs of protecting the growing demographic in the wildland.

As an individual I am paying taxes to my local fire department to protect me, and I'm paying taxes to the federal government to protect my forests but not the structures that don't necessarily belong there. So what can be done to address this issue? Brett and I proposed an additional tax to those living in the wildland area. Homes in the WUI must pay an additional tax on their property. Additional Brett and Zoe proposals are to introduce a bill which requires WUI properties to maintain "defensible space" and to protect WUI firefighters from being sued over property damage incurred while in the act of protecting a structure. All of our proposals (we came to discover) have already been introduced and have made their way all the way to teh US senate via two California Senators. Montana, meanwhile, has its own state legislation requiring an additional annual tax of $50/home and $30/ 20 acres have made their way to the US senate.

WUI is not (to be honest) of large personal concern to me. It is something that I believe matters and needs to be addressed, but if I have learned anything through this lesson, it is that the issue that drives you to make a change must be something that you care deeply about and that you have researched heavily, from as many quality sources as you can access. This will allow you to make a quality assessment of the issues of your community, and from there will give you the tools to make a difference.

Ah, it's good to be a citizen.

Job Well Done

Team Sunshine has turned out an immaculate trail. Given 6 days to brush and grub, our trail on Hughes Ridge looks fresh and thoughtfully made.

Having grown as a crew and as individuals throughout the past 3 or so months, our goal during this hitch was to initiate a "leader of the week" program, in order to achieve, as Jack (our CL) would say, a democratization of the crew. Given the chance to step up as crew leader, and with a generous amount of time in our favor, every member of our crew thoughtfully established goals and lined out workdays. And while the job ahead of us wasn't always as clear cut as we may have liked it to be, our output was something worth being proud of. And we are. In 15 days we cleared 150 trees, brushed two miles of bushes, and grubbed some 300 yards or more.

Good Work S Crew!!!!

Spit Spat.

150 trees down, 0 to go!

TS Crew has successfully completed the clearing of 150 trees from the Hughes Wilderness Trail at a rate of 25 to 30 trees per day. We are proud of our accomplishments.

Our next goal will be to brush much of the 2 mile huckleberry-choked trail (and perhaps some of those huckleberries will end up in our tummies), and to grub some trouble spots.

Keep on keepin on.

The Salmo-Priest Wilderness

"Wilderness," according to the Wilderness Act of 1964, is
...an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain...

From September 1st to September 16th, Team Sunshine will hunker down in the northeastern most corner of Washington known as the Salmo-Priest Wilderness.

During our first experience in the a national wilderness, we will face a new set of interesting public land use rules and regulations. A wilderness is a federally protected area of public land, within either a National Forest or Park, which acts as a sanctuary for flora, fauna, and watersheds. There is a strict adherence to LNT practices in the wilderness, where anything with a motor (cars and chainsaws alike), and even bicycles, are not allowed.

So what is our first challenge? To clear 150 fallen trees from the trail on Hughes Ridge.

With cross cuts.

Wish us luuuuuuuck :)

GO TEAM SUNSHINE!