Browning: Local Forest Service workers need our help
Valley Voices
For those of us who love our public lands, it’s easy to feel helpless these days. There is the constant newsfeed about public lands being opened up for drilling, logging, mining, and even sale to the highest bidder or transfer to the states.
Meanwhile, our own local Forest Service office in Minturn has not been unaffected. All of the so-called “permanent” summer Wilderness Rangers were summarily let go last month, although some may have been reinstated by court order. But some had already moved on and the future status of those who were reinstated remains very uncertain. Morale is understandably low. Our local Ranger District needs our help and love more than ever. It’s time to show them they are appreciated.
These losses will come home to all of us in the shape of blocked trails, trashed-out campsites, harm to wildlife, and increased wildfire risk, to name just a few. But please don’t just feel disheartened and depressed. The last thing we should do is wait until our favorite trails become impassable or our favorite lakes get trashed out. Let’s all do something.
Fortunately, several local nonprofit groups in Eagle County help the Forest Service maintain our local national forests and wilderness areas. Without the Forest Service’s normal summer crews, volunteers from these nonprofits are needed more than ever, so join one.
Love our local wilderness areas? The Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance works to help the Forest Service preserve, protect, and maintain them. Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance trains volunteer wilderness rangers to hike wilderness trails and host trailhead tables to educate the public about protecting wilderness, convey Leave No Trace principles, and conduct wilderness trail maintenance and cleanup efforts. This year’s volunteer wilderness ranger training day is Saturday, May 31, in Silverthorne. You can learn more and sign up at WILD4ESWA.org/event-details/2025-vwr-training. The registration deadline is May 1.
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Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance’s certified sawyers and their sawyer helpers clear the hundreds of trees that fall across wilderness trails every winter. Chainsaws are not allowed in wilderness, so Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance sawyers use handsaws and two-person crosscut saws for bigger trees. This summer, Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance is offering four llama-supported backpack trips into wilderness lakes to clean up trash and illegal fire rings. Many single-day work trips are available as well. You can sign up at WILD4ESWA.org/volunteer. Learn more about these and other Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance volunteer opportunities at its open house at Etown in Edwards on Thursday, April 17, from 7-9 p.m. You can sign up at WILD4ESWA.org/eswa-events.
Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance also works to maintain and improve biking, hiking trails, and off-highway vehicle trails in Eagle County. Learn more about their many volunteer opportunities at VVMTA.org/volunteer/.
So, don’t just sit around and complain as our public lands and local wilderness areas are threatened. Sign up with Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance or Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance to volunteer this summer. You will meet like-minded folks, spend quality time in the great outdoors, and feel good that you are doing something to help. Let’s all step up and help the Forest Service protect our public lands.
Mike Browning lives in East Vail and is on the board of directors of the Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance, a local all-volunteer nonprofit that works with the U.S. Forest Service to help maintain, preserve, and protect the wilderness areas in Eagle and Summit counties. He also works with the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance.
