Mount Rainier Recovery

The first season of the Mount Rainier Recovery program came to a triumphant close in September with a final, festive day of hands-on service and celebration. Some 150 enthusiastic individuals showed up on this chilly northwest autumn day to honor the park on National Public Lands Day by donning their warm layers and setting out to do one more favor for the mountain. Find pictures and stories soon on the park's volunteer blog page!

After a celebratory barbeque dinner, Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga addressed the group, expressing deep gratitude for everything that the attendees and hundreds of other citizens have done to help the park this season. Here are some of the impressive numbers:

• Total Volunteers: at least 1,724
• Overall hours of service: over 84,038
• Estimated value of volunteer work: exceeding $1.58 million
• Portion of trailwork completed by volunteers: over half

SCA played a significant role in the success of the volunteer program.  Here's a sample of what SCA members and the volunteers:

• Hands-on conservation service provided by SCA:  exceeding 27,700 hours
• Volunteers coordinated and led by SCA's Mount Rainier Recovery Corps: 701
• Wonderland Trail reroute constructed:  5,400 ft.
• Trail brushed:  55,670 ft.
• Mineral soil hauled and installed:  many tons
• Campsites cleared/maintained: 346
• Person-days of Meadow Protection: 69
• Seedlings planted: more than 2,000
• St. John’s Wort eradicated: 12,596
• Oxeye Daisy eradicated: 10,422

SCA is proud and honored to have been a leader in the historic Mount Rainier Recovery effort this year, and we are already working to build on this momentum toward even greater accomplishments at Mount Rainier in the coming year. We would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to all of you have contributed your time, energy, or savings to SCA and the Mount Rainier Recovery program. See you next year!