Big Hand for Volunteers (was) RE: [at-l] The Cost Of Removing OneBlowdown From The AT

[nealb@midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

Seriously, let's give all the vols. a big hand for the work they do.  If we
depended on the governments (US and states and local) for trail building and
maintaining, we would not have the AT or anything like it.  We might have a
trail, but hardly anybody could or would hike it.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Mauldin [mailto:rainmaker@rabun.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 11:14 AM
To: ATL
Subject: [at-l] The Cost Of Removing One Blowdown From The AT





Several weeks ago, a very large, dead Oak tree fell across the AT north of
Blue Ridge Gap in Georgia.  It fell across a sidehill section of trail.  The
terrain on the east side of the trail was uphill, and the west side was
downhill.  To make matters worse,  the tree fell at a precarious angle.
Also, this section of trail is in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness, where
no motorized or power tools can be used for trail work.  Only hand tools may
be used.

On Thursday, February 27, a group of 7 individuals met at Blue Ridge Gap.
These folks were not paid government employees, they are all unpaid
volunteers with the GA Appalachian Trail Club.  When the group met at 9:00
a.m., the temperature was between 10 and 15 degrees (F).  

The group carried all the tools they'd need about a mile to the blowdown.
First, the large tree had to be secured with a griphoist (a kind of manually
operated winch and cable system) to make it secure enough to work with.
After an assessment was made on how the tree was to be cut, the griphoist
was used to pull the tree off the uphill section of trail, directly onto the
treadway.   After that, a cut was made with a two-person crosscut saw.  The
diameter of the tree was about 36 inches, and this took over an hour of
exhaustive work.  After the cut was made, the griphoist was again used to
move the cut portion of the tree off the trail and down the hill.  After the
tree was removed, the group repaired the treadway, and then "naturalized"
the repaired  trail section.  Within a few days, no one will be able to tell
they were ever there.

The actual work took about 4 hours.  All the individuals who did the work
have jobs and families.  Considering that most of them drove 150 miles from
Atlanta, the amount of donated time (work time plus round trip driving time)
for all 7 was approximately 70 hours.   If these individuals had been paid
$10 per hour (which would have been a bargain, considering the weather and
dangerous nature of the work), the cost to the hiking public would have been
$700.   The amount of out-of-pocket expenses for the group (mostly gasoline
for driving) was approximately $100. 

Approximate value of services performed:  $800.

Cost to the hiking public:  $0.

In addition, probably all 7 received scrapes and bruises and woke up the
next morning with aches and pains that they didn't have the day before.  

At least 100 tress fall across the Georgia portion of the AT each year, and
blowdown removal is only a portion of the total amount of trail work
performed.  I would estimate that at least 1,000 trees fall across the trail
each year between Georgia and Maine.  We may wish to consider the efforts
and expense that volunteers donate so that we all may have a pleasant hiking
experience.  The trail can do without websites, webmasters, information
lists, trail angels,  hostels, bureaucrats and politicians, but without the
unpaid trail volunteers, the trail would be unhikable within 3 - 5 years.  

David Mauldin
www.trailquest.net
"To Walk In The Wilderness Is Freedom" 




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