PCT Communicator Assignment

Sharing the Load with Washington Trails Association

by Dana Hendricks

 The Washington Trails Association is the states largest and most diligent factor in trail building, maintenance and advocacy. Annually the Washington Trails Association and its partners Pacific Crest Trail Association and Forest service host an massive amount of work parties to help better maintain and make the Pacific Crest Trail more widely known. In the 1990s, both organizations, PCTA and WTA deliberately focused their attention on volunteer trail work. Washington Trails Association first work party was on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail at Potato Hill, which expanded its trail maintenance program. Its program became a perfect model of emulation and received a reputation of excellence in keeping volunteers happy. The WTA trail maintenance is divided in three teams: Day Work Parties, Backcountry Response Teams, and Volunteer Teams. Since the Pacific Crest Trail is isolated and hard to access most of the PCT work happens through the WTA volunteer program. 

3 Facts Learned

• Louis Marshall was an important member in WTA and PCTA, helping to drive visions and values
• PCTA and WTA developed in tandem
• 40% of the organizations 42 volunteer vacations are geared toward those 14- 18 years old.

2 Interesting Facts

• Most trail upgrades were done by volunteers from ages 14+
• Louis Marshall established a list of projects to improve the PCT conference herself 

2 Unanswered Questions

• How many trails have been maintained and built all together, with the help of both organizations?
• When is the official date the WTA was formed?

2 Critical Words

• Maintenance- the process of maintaining or preserving someone or something, or the state of being maintained; the process of keeping something in good condition.
• Volunteer- a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.

Both maintenance and volunteer are word used repetitively and are significant in understanding what the article is about. If a person doesn't know what neither of these words mean then they will have no idea what the article is about.

After reading the article, I related it to when people volunteer to help pick up trash around the community. That's mainly because without volunteers a lot of the work that WTA and PCTA accomplished wouldn't have been completed.