Student Conservation Association - Recovery Corps Members Participate in 50th Anniversary Activities

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Recovery Corps Members Participate in 50th Anniversary Activities

June 26, 2007
Mike Wagner-Gallucci, Mount Rainier Recovery Corps member
Corps members teach Board Members about safety

With week five already behind me it seems as though this experience will be over before I am ready for it to be. This week offered a wide variety of experiences as well as the opportunity to learn a lot more about the Student Conservation Association. I was able to spend a few days at Paradise, visit Seattle one evening for the SCA’s 50th anniversary celebration, and also spend the afternoon with the SCA board. With week five already behind me it seems as though this experience will be over before I am ready for it to be. This week offered a wide variety of experiences as well as the opportunity to learn a lot more about the Student Conservation Association. I was able to spend a few days at Paradise, visit Seattle one evening for the SCA’s 50th anniversary celebration, and also spend the afternoon with the SCA board.
Three of the days this week I was able to work at Paradise. Two of the days I had the chance to work with the trails. There is still a lot of snow covering the trails up there and in some places the trails need to be remarked in order to keep people from walking on the Paradise meadows. We also shoveled a bench cut into areas that are still under snow along steep slopes. This is done to have safe trails to cross and limit the risk of slipping and sliding a long distance downhill. I also was able to have some cool meadow rover training at Paradise. Basically the duties of a meadow rover are to educate visitors about the importance of staying on the trails as opposed to walk through the extremely fragile meadows. The problem with walking through the meadows is that the plants have a very short growing season and even one person can severely damage many plants that take a very long time to regenerate.
We also completed the rock wall project that we have been working on for the last couple weeks. Being there for the beginning of the project and the end of the project, I was really able to visualize how great of a job was done. The trail just looks amazing and is in much more inviting for visitor travel. Later that evening I had the opportunity to spend in Seattle for the anniversary celebration of the Student Conservation Association. Our two supervisors, a crew leader, and myself and another intern were lucky enough to attend this event. Many great people had a chance to speak during this event, some of which were Liz Cushman Titus-Putnam (SCA Founding President) and Dave Uberauga (Mt. Rainier Superintendent); two people who are responsible for the Mount Rainier Recovery Corps being here today.
To top off the week, we had a visit from the SCA board of directors along with many other great people of SCA. We had the chance to sit down and have lunch while talking about our experiences thus far at Mount Rainier. After lunch we split up into three different groups. I got to attend a hike of the Rampart Ridge trail with several of the board members. During the hike we had a chance to chat more about SCA and how we fit in as the Mount Rainier Recovery Corps. It was an all-around great week and I can’t wait for what next week has in store for me.

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