It Has Been Quite A First Season For FFPU!

Post date: Oct 21, 2012 6:0:52 PM

Thank You Volunteers!We have learned a lot by our simple beginnings back in mid April. I think for many picking up garbage has been a real eye opener! Seems none of us can recall when Olympia Brewery closed but we sure picked up a lot of their cans! Much of the garbage we removed had been on these roads for decades. I think most of us found the garbage pick up very educational and you can't help but to study what you are picking up. A lot of the garbage comes from out of the area, our youth is blamed for too much of this garbage because of how old it is and we are facing a real problem with vagrant camps. The most valuable thing we have learned is garbage attracts garbage and most of these trouble spots have been remaining clean after the garbage has been removed. This has been a HUGE accomplishment and one that our volunteers need to be proud of! It was a big goal to clean up all of the roads but they sure are looking wonderful now! Now that most accessible roads have been cleaned next season will show us how much current littering is really happening.So, the total garbage removed was: 13 cubic yards and 34 gallons for the Darrington Ranger District and 1 cubic yard and 120 gallons from the Illabot Creek Road, which is under the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Some of this garbage was car parts, household furnishings, vagrant camps, dumping sites and general litter along roads. We can thank some of our Darrington community. They paid for our 3 pick up loads to the Rockport dump.

I was up on FS #49 after the volunteer crew had been up there clearing ditches and catch basins. Kudos to Everett Lewis and his crew. That was a spectacular job! I had no trouble noting where your group left off because the difference was like night and day!

Since our beginning in mid April we have volunteered 708.5 hours working on our roads for the Darrington Ranger District removing garbage, road debris, cleaning bridges, filling potholes and making sure ditches are flowing and culverts are cleared and ready to flow this winter. These hours include our hard working group in the Granite Falls area, and their work on Coal Lake Rd. and Pilchuck Rd., as well as all the wonderful help they have provided up north.

In addition to this the Illabot Creek Road had 61 hours, and glad to say this special road is now adopted by Paul Wagner.

The "Friends" have become the eyes for the forest roads watching them season by season. Our presence and concerns for our roads is felt by other people that enjoy these roads and we are setting a standard for forest road stewardship. Thank you for taking this very positive step forward to safeguard our forest roads and access to our backcountry!