On the second to last weekend in Bonners Ferry, it is time for an update on the service work that the team has been doing. This past week Bluno finished the trail building that we started at the beginning of the project. The team has been working side by side a trail crew. We have been removing duff (the top soil of the trail), tilling the path, removing roots and rocks, and then smoothing out the trail. Our site supervisor, Gary, has been great. Working alongside him and the rest of the trail crew has been fun.
To mix things up so that we are not doing the same thing everyday. Our project sponsor has given us some smaller projects to complete. A lot of these projects are hiking behind the trail crew as they chainsaw trees and limbs that are in the way of a trail. When hiking behind the trail crew their jobs would be to remove the limbs as they fall down. Some of the team member have hiked as much as ten miles in one day or more. Other projects have included bucking limbs, splitting wood, and organizing a space what our sponsors call the Bone Yard. One project that Erin and Danielle worked on was changing the flow of a creek to flow into a river. They dug a ditch for the water to flow through. The two teammates moved dirt and rocks to stop the water from flowing in a certain direction.
One of the perks of working with the Forest Service is that we were able to attend their local annual meeting. The whole team piled into Darla (our van) because there were too many of us and we took up too much room in their rented bus. We drove almost two hours to Couer d'Alene. We sat in an auditorium most of the day listening to lectures about the history of the forestry work that has been done in the Idaho Panhandle. We learned about many people who have influence the work of the Forest Service and also the Fire of 1910 that caused a number of problems. It was a great day where we learned a lot and it was nice to see others who work in the forest service.
Bonners Ferry is small but the team has found many things to do around the area. One of the activities that keeps some of the team busy is doing Independent Service Projects (aka volunteer). The team has volunteered at Thriftstore where the proceeds go to the efforts of working and caring for animals. Another place that the team has volunteered for is the Bonners Ferry Historical Museum. The team members who volunteer have been putting newspaper articles about Bonners Ferry into chronological order.
Here is the the last full week here in Bonners Ferry, Idaho
