Blues Crews workers celebrate 3,000 hours of volunteer labor

What's better than working hard amongst friends to improve outdoor access for the public? Getting to enjoy the Blue Mountains themselves. We live beside the most incredible natural area that welcomes us, via trails, to precious restorative beauty.

But those trails need attention and sweat. Not blood or tears, but some good healthy sweating. Last week I had the privilege of working beside some of the hardworking members of the Blues Crew, a team of volunteers established by the Blue Mountain Land Trust. The Crew helps the U.S. Forest Service and other natural resource agencies clear trails throughout the northern Blue Mountains. 

This week the group is celebrating exceeding 3,000 hours of volunteer work in 2019 on behalf of the Corps of Engineers, Malheur National Forest, Umatilla National Forest and Blue Mountain Audubon Society. More than a hundred volunteers provided the work without a single injury.

Granted, it was a perfect sunny crisp day when I was up there, which always helps while doing trail work in the mountains. We headed to the Horseshoe Prairie Nordic Ski Area. Many hours of planning with maps and previous scouting were involved prior to getting to the site in order to do the work. The day's objectives were to clear trail obstacles and line-of-sight issues for cross country skiers and snowshoers in order to ensure confidence in spotting trail markers and to reduce the risks of outdoor enthusiasts becoming lost or injured along the way. 

It was assumed this was the last trail work of the year before the first expected snowfall in a couple days and we hopped out of our vehicles ready to get things done. We carried ladders to enable us to get high enough to cut limbs blocking views, and to place and fix directional signage-blue diamonds and arrows-on tree trunks so they would be visible after the snow piles up. Too low, and they would be buried, leading to a risk of people getting confused about the whereabouts of the trail. Blues Crew members carried assorted hand tools and small chain saws-this was not a designated wilderness--for cutting logs and overhanging branches that could pose problems.

Everybody had plenty of ideas for improving safety and directional assistance. Some discussions even led to friendly arguments, testifying to the commitment these folks are making to ensure good experiences for visitors to the mountains. It sometimes got down to deciding between mere inches of placement, or how best to improve line of sight on a winding trail by adding or replacing diamonds and arrows. 

If you have had the misfortune of getting turned around in the mountains late in the day and have developed a mild panic looking for signage, you can thank Forest Service staff and the Blues Crew for making it as easy as possible to get your bearings.

The goal for each outing is to keep trails open, and to make it more inviting for people to use them. Clearer trails promote their use and maintaining them helps prevent losing the trails altogether. People need to believe a hike or ride, or ski is possible without undue risk, and the trails have to receive thoughtful maintenance. Due to repeated funding cuts, the Forest Service cannot maintain the trails and thus they are steadily less and less passable or disappearing altogether under natural growth, erosion and downed trees from weather and other forest dynamics.

Blues Crew members, working in conjunction with the Forest Service, can cut logs, clear brush along the sides of the trail, and fix the walking surface of the trail. Depending upon the planned work project, crew members carry cross-cut saws, McLeods-a combined rake and hoe-Pulaski's, chain saws and hand saws, hammers and pruners and other tools. Crew members also bring lots of water and big lunches.

The Blue Mountain Land Trust Recreation Committee Chairman Greg Brown formed the Blues Crew in 2018 and volunteers' put in more than 1,000 hours that first year with assistance from Kiyo Fujishin and Larry Randall from the Umatilla National Forest.

Mountain trails problem-solving is a mix between having a knack for improvising with whatever time and materials are available, acquired skills and careful, uplifting collaboration with the team. What is "uplifting collaboration"? My phrase. Having fun being productive. 

Linda Herbert, president of the Blue Mountain Land Trust, and a veteran of many trail projects, quickly sized up a tricky directional signage situation on this outing-a tall post had fallen over right where an arrow should indicate the need for a hard-left turn to stay on the trail. There were no close by trees to use for nailing up an arrow, we were out of replacement stakes, had no shovel to dig another hole, and if we simply walked away without solving the problem there was a pretty good chance that somebody coming along the trail could wander off to points unknown.  

Linda was unwilling to leave without solving the problem. We brainstormed. There wasn't an obvious way to get the pole secured. Chris Howard and Nathan Vivant had been working nearby cutting logs to clear a trail and had left some four-foot-long rounds. The collective lightbulb lit up simultaneously and we went and rolled the rounds to the best visible place for hikers to see the pole, nailed an arrow to the top and stabilized it sturdily with the heavy rounds-we couldn't dig a hole-so it wouldn't fall over.  

We termed the problem solving "Rubin' it" or, for younger folks, "MacGyverin'", from the notoriety of Rube Goldberg machine inventions (for those a bit older) and from the popular television show, MacGyver, with a character who improvised solutions each episode.  A bit unconventional but the first few snowfalls and a few melts forming ice and the pole would be locked in tight with the stacked rounds all winter.  A visit next spring with additional tools and materials would improve on the fix. The sun was getting low and we headed back to our trucks evaluating our work along the way one more time, engaging in more thoughts on future trail improvements, cutting away a few more branches we decided would block safe vision, and feeling damn good about the day.

Anyone who wants to lend a hand and help out on trails, skilled or otherwise, is encouraged to join the Blues Crew. Sign up at bmlt.org or contact them at 509-525-3136 or bmlt@bmlt.org.