Volunteering and the media

People have been hiking, biking and skiing into the park over the past few weeks. Last weekend, one ranger counted over one hundred souls trudging up the Nisqually road towards Paradise. Many inspected the flood damage near Sunshine Point and Kautz Creek; a few hiked up the Westside Road; some even made it to Longmire! As far as I can tell, no one made the summit.

Many of you have expressed a sincere desire to help with the flood recovery. There are a number of organizations mobilizing to accept donations and provide volunteer support. If you would like to donate money OR time, here are three possible ways:

Student Conservation Association: Through them, students pursue internships in resource management and protection. Many projects directly benefit trail restoration, campsites improvement, and bridge reconstruction. SCA has a web page dedicated to the Mount Rainier flood of 2006 here.

Washington Trails Association: This is one of the largest volunteer trail maintenance organizations in the country. As the name suggests, they specialize in making trails accessible to the public. Pretty cool eh?! If you hike in the Pacific Northwest, check them out.

Washington National Park Fund: "The Fund" is dedicated to preserving and protecting the national parks of Washington State. They directly support projects in the Olympic, North Cascade and Mount Rainier.

In other media, I found these tidbits: an editorial in the Seattle Times (scroll down) and the News Tribune poking some fun at me.