Community invited to help on trail project
Bonner County Daily Bee | UPDATED 2 weeks, 4 days AGO
SANDPOINT — The Northern Rockies Trail Project, together with local recreation and conservation partners as well as state and federal land managers, is inviting community members to participate in National Public Lands Day on Saturday, Sept. 26, in the Maiden Rock and Blacktail area south of Sandpoint.
Volunteers should arrive at 8:30 a.m. for coffee, donuts and check-in, with work assignments and departure for project sites beginning at 9 a.m. Work is scheduled to conclude around noon, followed by a volunteer barbecue and beverages from noon to 1 p.m.
All volunteers must meet at the staging area rather than the Maiden Rock trailhead.
The staging area is located on state land at the junction of Blacktail Road and Forest Service Road 230. GPS coordinates are 48.11463, -116.58851. Participants are asked to look for Northern Rockies Trail Project signs and volunteers at the staging area. All volunteers will check in there before being assigned to projects and shuttled to work sites as needed. Parking at individual project sites is extremely limited.
Approximately 60 volunteers are expected to work on projects throughout the Maiden Rock and Blacktail trail system. Planned work includes rebuilding and reinforcing eroded switchbacks, improving rocky trail tread, brushing trail corridors, reinstalling signage, completing trailhead improvements and improving Trail 117 toward Blacktail Mountain.
Organizers say no trail-work experience is necessary. The Northern Rockies Trail Project, working in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, will provide tools. Volunteers should bring water, gloves, sturdy footwear, weather-appropriate clothing and any equipment and safety gear needed for their chosen project.
The event brings together recreation and conservation organizations, volunteers, professional trail crews and state and federal land managers for a morning of hands-on stewardship. Organizers say the goal is to bring people together around public lands.
"These lands belong to all of us. Caring for them does too," said Northern Rockies Trail Project Board Chair Emily Strizich. "National Public Lands Day is a chance to put that idea into practice."