Conservation note for November

Every Trails Club member has had the good fortune to hike or camp or climb or
swim/raft/canoe/kayak in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Pacific
Northwest. Many of the places we enjoy remain vulnerable, or have newly
become vulnerable. Each month we will have a note featuring one or two
organizations working to protect our natural places, and ways to support them, or
a note about conservation actions in one of these special places. We hope every
Trails Club member will choose to participate in some conservation effort or
activity that matches your time available and your interests. As climate change
progresses, it is ever more urgent to “Love it (and fight to protect it) or Lose it!”

Bark, Protector of Mt Hood National Forest

Bark’s roots go back to 1993, when a lawyer and a musician walked into a forest,
Mt Hood National Forest, and came upon vast clearcuts and old growth logging
which no one seemed to know about. They vowed that such activities would
never go unknown again, and took it upon themselves to walk each and every
timber sale in Mt Hood National Forest, finding and documenting the truth on the
ground, and making that truth known, in their mission to protect this forest they
loved. They trained others to do this work with them, and in 1999 Bark was
officially born, with groundtruthing a central tenant of its work.

Bark continues to train volunteers year round to groundtruth proposed timber
sales. An annual summer Base Camp provides 2 weeks of training and
groundtruthing, camping and camaraderie. There are additional workshops in
tree climbing with Bark partner NEST to document nests of protected species,
and wildlife tracking with partner Cascadia Wild.

Bark takes seriously its role in protecting Mt Hood National Forest, and does not
hesitate to bring suit when making the truth known is not enough.

How you can support Bark:

Do you love tromping the woods off trail? Learn to groundtruth, hone your
knowledge of native species of trees and plants and of wildlife signs, learn to
measure tree girth, ground slope and aspect, etc. http://bark-
out.org/content/groundtruthing BARK offers frequent training, and always has
ongoing projects in groundtruthing.

Are you a rock climber? Learn to climb trees with Bark partner NEST, to
document the presence of protected species such as the red tree vole during

groundtruthing. Learn to place your first rope with a bow and arrow!.
https://nestcascadia.wordpress.com/nest-faq/

Volunteer with Bark partner Cascadia Wild, http://www.cascadiawild.org , to
monitor their Mt Hood wildlife cameras, in all weather, all seasons. It is always a
thrill to be the first person to see what wild creatures have been sharing the trail.

There are many other ways to support Bark listed on their website: http://bark-
out.org/content/get-involved Dive in! It is not only worthwhile, but fun!

Next month: Friends of Mt. Hood

Thank you for caring about Mt Hood National Forest!

Your Conservation Committee.