Et cetera : AmeriCorps NCCC Goes Wild for Trails

By: Zach Condon

AmeriCorps NCCC team, Oak 4, has enthusiastically cleared and replaced damaged trail in the Shawnee National Forest of Southern Illinois for the forest service since May 19.

The team spent its first week in Illinois clearing trails of felled trees and debris left from recent unseasonably strong storms. Members had to learn how to remove trees of more than two feet in diameter without modern tools, like chain saws. Axes, saws, and metal levers were primarily used. One day NCCC members hiked six miles clearing as they went.

Currently the team lives and works five days a week in the Panther’s Den Wildlife, building trail to replace dangerously eroded paths left over from before the land was a national forest. After two weeks of pushing their bodies hard and learning new skills, they have built a full quarter of a mile of enjoyable sustainable trail. Member Ryan Finn notes “I can tell when I hike back up the trail to the van at the end of the week that I’m more fit then I was when I hiked in.”

While working, the team lives in the wilderness with no modern convenience; electricity, air conditioning, refrigeration, and even running water are left behind them. All their food and water is packed in with them to the back country camp site.

Oak 4 will be working with the forest service until June 29.