Cold can't stop Kentucky volunteers

Across the region, cold has not kept SAWS crews and volunteers from making a difference this winter. On a cold December day, where temperatures barely cleared freezing, twenty-one volunteers made their way out to the Cumberland District of Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky to lend a hand.

Kristy Ealdwine, Kentucky Volunteer Coordinator, was able to leverage the impressive turnout by splitting the crew into 3 separate teams to maximize efforts that day. Two crews loaded up their crosscut saws and hand tool to open sections of two different trails in the Clifty Wilderness. By dividing the work, the teams were able to clear a combined total of 38 trees in a 1 mile stretch of Osborne Bend Trail and a 0.5 mile stretch of Swift Camp Creek Trail.

Volunteers putting in work with the crosscut saw to open a trail section.

The third team went to work replacing a bridge on the Martin’s Fork section of Rough Trail. As the previous bridge’s condition deteriorated, hikers began fording the stream. This type of foot traffic can increase streambank erosion, putting unnecessary dirt into the waterway. Volunteers installed a new split log bridge at the crossing. While they were able to use on-site materials, the weight of the red oak logs made them difficult to carry and set in place. Despite this difficulty, the tenacious crew completed the entire project in a single workday.

As usual, Ealdwine walked away from the event impressed by everyone that came to help.

"The best part about the volunteers is the energy they bring and how fun they are to spend the day with,” said Kristy. “They are eager to learn and teach anything from new trail work skills to identifying a native tree or mushroom.”

Logs for the bridge first had to be split and then moved into position over the creek.

What many people do not realize is that the benefits of volunteering go beyond the work completed. Recent storm damage recovery agreements with the U.S. Forest Service have required match that SAWS must provide to access funding. The 164 hours of work put in by these crews are valued at close to $6,000 in in-kind service. SAWS leverages this value to unlock three times this amount in federal dollars to fund staff work, meaning this single volunteer day had a value of at least $23,000.