When Louvenia Magee first attended a Monthly Stewardship Day with Siskiyou Mountain Club, she admits that it was "intimidating jumping in not knowing anyone.”
But she found that “the volunteers were all so interesting and knowledgeable. Nobody cares what you know" or how much experience volunteers come with. "They just care that you’re on the team. Everybody is willing to teach you."
These short trips run from early morning to late afternoon and volunteers carpool to the trailhead, showing up with little more than some long sleeves, long pants, and gloves. The rest of the gear is provided. Most participants have little experience, but program manager Trevor Meyer has the knowledge to instruct them on how to perform trail maintenance properly and safely.
These small crews put in long hours, but one day of work can only yield so much. Trevor's April 30 trip to the Fremont-Winema National Forest, for example, saw only 4.1 miles maintained, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of miles of trail in the area that need service.
As the Forest Service continues to see budget cuts and reductions in staff, one might ask how a motley crew of inexperienced volunteers could ever replace what has been lost over decades of staff attrition.
The answer – at least in one small pocket of the Cascade Range – lies in collaboration. A key player in the region is Heather Berg, a retired member of the Forest Service who now serves on the board of the Klamath Trails Alliance.
“In so many ways, she’s looking out for us and foreseeing the opportunity to involve other organizations,” Trevor says. “I definitely feel grateful for and respect her abilities to connect people across a big area with varied interests.”
These partners include the Klamath Trails Alliance, the Fremont-Winema National Forest, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, and the Sourdough and High Desert Riders Chapters of the Backcountry Horsemen of Oregon.
Heather’s goal from the beginning was to bring “all those user groups together so we can work collaboratively for the mutual benefit of public lands access.”
“The more we work together,” she says, “the more we can get done. A snowmobile trail is also a cross-country ski trail, which also can be a summer trail. Why aren’t all those groups working together? And now we are.”
2026 provided uniquely warm and dry conditions that were advantageous for trail work. Planning spring trips to high elevation zones meant that all the partners involved could “hit the ground running early.”
Momentum carried through the summer, when Siskiyou Mountain Club dispatched a large crew of Wilderness Corps interns to the Sky Lakes Wilderness. It was an eight-day marathon effort that began at the Cherry Creek Trail #3708 and Nannie Creek Trail #3707.
Generously supported with supplies from Betty Applebaker and the High Desert Riders Chapter of the Backcountry Horsemen of Oregon, the crew was able to punch deeper into the Wilderness.
Pack support “makes a big difference,” Heather says. “You can work extra because you don’t have to carry food or tools on your back.”
Emboldened by additional provisions from the High Desert Riders, the Wilderness Corps was able to cut 141 logs and remove 16.6 miles of brush, maintaining a total of 19 miles of trail in the southern half of the Wilderness.
This included the Sky Lakes Trail #3762, Snow Lakes Trail #3739, Divide Trail #3717, the Isherwood Lake Trail #3729, as well as a small portion of the Pacific Crest Trail #2000.
Meanwhile, short volunteer trips covered other areas, both frontcountry and backcountry.
With increased hours and personnel, Heather is pleased to have tackled not only routine maintenance but also ensuring “long-term sustainability and improving tread and drainage.”
For her part, first-time volunteer Louvenia spoke highly of using the crosscut saw on trail. “Every tree you come upon is a new project that you get to think through as a team,” she says, adding that, “It’s very satisfying to be able to look back on the work we’ve done over the course of the day.”
While working on the Mt. Mcloughlin Trail, Louvenia was able to meet and work with Ian Stone of the Fremont-Winema National Forest and members of the Klamath Trails Alliance.
The value of these collaborative volunteer trips became clear in the metrics. By September, 2026, 99% of all 177 trail miles had been maintained in the west zone of the Klamath Ranger District.
Siskiyou Mountain Club’s contributions account for 3,323 hours of work, the removal of 678 logs, and the maintenance of 73 miles of trail.
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April 30: Pacific Crest Trail
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June 18: Mt. Mcloughlin Trail
- July 20-21: Rye Spur Trail
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July 30: Pacific Crest Trail
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August 1-2: Sky Lakes Wilderness
- August 10-17: Sky Lakes Wilderness
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August 15-16: Pacific Crest Trail
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August 20: Pacific Crest Trail
- September 8-11: Sky Lakes and Mountain Lakes Wilderness
On September 17, Trevor organized one last Monthly Stewardship Work Day on the Fremont-Winema National Forest for the 2026 season. It was going to be a strenuous day of digging water bars on the Mt. Mcloughlin Trail, and volunteers from both Siskiyou Mountain Club and the Klamath Trails Alliance expressed interest.
In Heather’s opinion, this type of work is “one of the hardest things to do, it’s very taxing and monotonous … I was just in shock that so many people showed up to do the hardest work that we had to do. And everybody said, ‘hey, when are we going to do this again?’”
We’re immensely grateful to our collaborators across many organizations and agencies, and can’t wait to continue this work next season.
If you're interested in taking part in the maintenance of trails on your public lands, sign up for one of our Monthly Stewardship Days today. You can check out the full calendar at siskiyoumountainclub.org/pages/calendar. Or send a message to trevor@siskiyoumountainclub.org to get on a special email list so you'll be notified about our next trip.
Long Live the Backwoods Trails.
