Service Learning

Heidi Bachtel and the Washington Trails Association

For my service learning project I volunteered with the Washington Trails Association (WTA). The WTA's mission statement is to preserve, enhance, and protect hiking trails in Washington state. They are passionate about the wilderness, wild animals, and making sure people enjoy both, in a safe manner. This relates to biology in that it focuses on the relationship humans have with the wilderness, wildlife and making the habitats safe for both.

I volunteered on March 19th from 8:30am to 3:30pm at Blanchard Mountain. My crew leader was Arlen Bogaards, phone number (206) 625-1367. On this particular day Arlen wanted to focus on water drainage. Since there had been lots of rain fall recently, there were some small streams that had overflowed and made the trail extremely muddy in certain parts. Our goal was to dig trenches to divert the streams to other areas. 

Here is an image of a stream I dug (by myself). The whole area was a muddy puddle so I had to wade into the flooded area and start digging down deep to form a trench for the stream to flow into.

To prevent flooding in other areas we took preemptive measures and dug some runoff areas from the trail. It's a bit difficult to see in the picture but I used the shovel to scrap and form the trail to have a run off area for water.

*Not being happy with the cold*

This experience was interesting and difficult in a few ways. It was very hard physical labor and it was extremely cold, especially up higher on the trail where there was snow. There were many times, especially after 6 hours when my muscles started to fatigue and my back started to ache, that I wanted to quit. It made me value and respect the other volunteers who participate several times a year in maintaining trails. 

A connection between class material and this project for me was understanding the valuable relationship and impact that humans have on wild lands. Humans can be dangerous and destroy or we can be nurturing and work to improve streams and areas for humans and wildlife. Another aspect was seeing how fast an environment can change due to flooding other natural disasters. It was also enjoyable to see the different species of critters we learned about in class in their natural environment.

Questions after experience.

1) How many hours a year is required to maintain WA trails?

2) If there are no volunteers what does WTA do?

3) What degrees are required to be a salary paid WTA employee?

4) Does the WTA work with any other organizations?