National Outdoor Leadership School - Index

National Outdoor Leadership School - brochure - Index

FIELD NOTES
A Call to Conservation
Grads Hit the Trails with the Colorado
Fourteeners Initiative and Wilderness Volunteers
BY JESSICA FULLER
Whether inspired to give back to the environment
or simply to get the chance to spend
more time outside, NOLS alumni have taken to the
trails in our nation’s backcountry playgrounds. Among
the organizations dedicated to restoration and protection
of popular hiking trails throughout the U.S. are
the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) and Wilderness
Volunteers, two nonprofit programs that NOLS
grads in particular are working with to put their
NOLS education to work.
Founded in 1994, CFI serves to protect and preserve
the natural integrity of Colorado’s 54 peaks that
tower at 14,000 feet or more in the Rocky Mountains.
Once a goal of a select few, the “Fourteeners” have seen
a boom in the past two decades of those trying for
their summits: 500,000 climbers and hikers a year,
with close to 400 on any single summer weekend.
With that many feet pounding the ground, it’s not
surprising there is trail work to be done.
“As one who has experienced the backcountry as
a hiker as well as a trail worker, I think it is essential
for anyone aspiring to be an outdoor educator to understand
the what, why, and how behind trails,” explains
Carrie Childs, a CFI site coordinator and
2002 NOLS Semester in the Rockies grad. “It is easy
Ulrich Boegli
Jessica Evett
to take trails for granted or to get annoyed about
human-made structures in a ‘pristine’ environment,
but it is important to know why those structures are
there and what those ‘pristine’ areas would be like
without them.”
Whereas CFI has a
specific target of trails to
the tops of the Fourteeners,
Wilderness Volunteers
works with public
land agencies nationwide
to do over 40 different
trail work assignments in
various places, including
such diverse locales as
Denali National Park,
Acadia National Park, the Boundary Waters of Minnesota,
and Cumberland Island in Georgia. After
meeting on their 25 & Over Brooks Range Backpacking
course in 1999, Peter Bergstrom and Ulrich
Boegli were looking for ways to relive their NOLS
backcountry experience with both the safety and company
of a group. They did their first volunteer trip
with Wilderness Volunteers in the Green River area of
the Winds and have never looked back.
“Unless those who enjoy hiking
and climbing on public lands
engage in active stewardship,
we risk inadvertently degrading
the resource over time through
the sheer force of numbers.”
SPRING 2008
NOLS grads take their education one step further by
volunteering for Wilderness Volunteers (far left) and
the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (left).
15
Because of the NOLS experience, each man was
able to take a leadership role within his volunteer crew
to help make sure work was being done safely and efficiently.
“Because of NOLS, I think I’m a lot more
sensitive to what’s going on with the people around
me. Are they working safely? Are they about to get into
trouble? Are they drinking enough water?” Peter says.
“I wouldn’t be doing Wilderness Volunteer trips if I
hadn’t taken a NOLS course.” Peter and Ulrich, joined
by different family members, have since met up nearly
every year to do a Wilderness Volunteers trip.
CFI intern Meghan Luke, a 2001 Semester in
Patagonia grad, also put her backcountry experiences
to good use while taking GPS data on 15 different
mountains. “My NOLS skills were always front and
center when I was in the field with CFI. LNT was particularly
important—we didn’t want to make problems
that we were trying to fix any worse!” she says.
The presence of both programs also helps to educate
visitors about how to lessen their impact on the
area. Anya Byers serves as CFI’s restoration manager
and will be taking a LNT Master Educator course
through NOLS in April. “Gaining this certification
through NOLS will allow me to lead trainings about
alpine-specific minimum
impact practices for all of
CFI’s seasonal employees
and volunteers. It seems
like a very easy way to
make a big difference to
the mountains of Colorado.”
Along with strong
leadership and backpacking
skills, all seasonal employees
at CFI are required
to have Wilderness First
Aid certification, and about 70 percent get their training
through the Wilderness Medicine Institute.
Volunteers for both programs represent a wide
range of ages and experiences. Participants for Wilderness
Volunteers, ranging in ages from 18 to over 75,
sign up for six- to seven-day trips. Volunteers pay a
small fee and provide their own camping equipment
and transportation. CFI organizes projects as short as
one-day service trips to the ongoing “Adopt-a-Peak”
program and offers summer internships.
And while many participants simply relish the
chance to explore a place with challenging hikes and
mind-blowing views without spending a fortune, the
work done in these places is vital to allowing future
visitors to share the same experiences. CFI volunteer
coordinator Jessica Evett, a 2004 NOLS Teton Valley
Winter Outdoor Educator grad, emphasizes the importance
of these programs: “Unless those who enjoy
hiking and climbing on public lands engage in active
stewardship, we risk inadvertently degrading the resource
over time through the sheer force of numbers.”
To learn more and join in, visit www.14ers.org and
www.wildernessvolunteers.org. Also, check out NOLS
grad Chris Davenport’s Ski the 14ers: A Visual Tribute to
Colorado’s 14,000-foot Peaks from the Eyes of a Ski
Mountaineer, which documents his successful ski descent
of all 54 Fourteeners in 2006. A portion of the proceeds
from the sale of each book goes to CFI and the CO
Avalanche Information Center.