Someone called the Forest Service office in Nebo this week to report trash at the foot of Conley Cove Trail. It begs the question: why didn’t they just pick it up instead of calling? In all fairness, it was a spectacular amount of trash, and it was all four volunteers could do to haul it out today.
Citizen calls Forest Service. Forest Service calls citizens. Situation resolved. This begs an even more important question: how can we increase this productive partnership between wilderness managers and user community? What we’re seeing right now is great Grandfather District support for its volunteers in Linville Gorge. The agency is especially able to provide tools and other equipment. It would be good to have more training, but we may have to look to outside organizations for this because the agency is short staffed.
What we do have is an increasingly open and collaborative relationship between agency and public, providing the perfect context for expansion of volunteer stewardship of our favorite wilderness.
