FSPW celebrates 14 years and prepares for summer trail season ahead

Submitted by

Sandy Compton

 

January 14 marks 14 years since a small group of visionaries sketched out a plan to advocate for designation of Scotchman Peaks as a National Wilderness. From that small beginning, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness now claims almost 8,500 Friends. A lot has happened since, a great deal of it good and some not so good, but FSPW is still working toward that same goal.

To mark the work done since January, 2005, FSPW will host a celebration on Sunday, January 13 from 3 to 6 pm at the Pend Oreille Arts Council gallery on the second floor of Cedar Street Bridge in Sandpoint. The party will feature live entertainment from John Hastings and The StoryTelling Company— including a visit from Chuck Bob Svensson, the environmentalist logger — a silent auction of eclectic wild items, a raffle with very cool prizes, including new FSPW fleece hats and other FSPW swag, a no host bar and complimentary light appetizers.

The Friends not only advocate for Congressional designation of the recommended Wilderness, but have also made a big investment in outdoor education, trail stewardship, weed mitigation and habitat restoration in the Scotchmans.

Come help FSPW celebrate 14 years.

The trails in the Scotchman Peaks might be snowed in this month, but Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness (FSPW) and their partners in trail maintenance are making plans now for the summer trail season.

Each year, FSPW staff and volunteers partner with the Forest Service and other organizations to help maintain and construct trails in the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. The recommended wilderness contains trails in three ranger districts on two National Forests; Three Rivers and Cabinet Ranger Districts on the Kootenai National Forest and Sandpoint Ranger District on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

“The Scotchman Peaks Allstars work on trails in each District every year,” FSPW program coordinator (and trail crew boss) Sandy Compton said. “Last year, over the five month season, we put in 372 volunteer hours and 136 staff hours, did just over 12 miles of brushing and tread repair, reworked a couple of stream crossings and built or cleared a couple of hundred water bars. We would have done more, but a couple of projects we had planned were cancelled because of the Cougar Fire in the Lightning Creek drainage.”

FSPW and trail partners in the Forest Service meet in the late fall each year to determine what will be done during the next year, with a multi-day project planned annually that rotates among the districts.

“Next summer, we have two big projects that are pretty exciting,” Compton said. “A group from Wilderness Volunteers is coming to do some badly needed maintenance on upper Little Spar Creek Trail #142 for a week in July.

On the Cabinet District, Hamilton Gulch Trail #997 and Star Gulch Trail #1016 will benefit by the skills of the FSPW trail crews.

“Our crews do a great job,” Compton said. “We supply them with good tools and training and after-work refreshments, and they respond with enthusiasm to the work. One of the most satisfying things I can think of is walking back through the work we did at the end of the day and see what we accomplished. That and having a group of hikers say a heart-felt ‘thank you’ to the crew make all the work worth it. If you love trails, I invite you to join us”

FSPW will soon begin posting the upcoming trail work schedule on their website at http://www.scotchmanpeaks.org/stewardship/trail-projects/