In the fall of 2016, a national group called Tourism Cares spent a few days at Mount Rainier doing a whole lot of volunteer work. Their participants, all members of the tourism industry, came to us from as near as Seattle and as far away as Florida.
Along with their great physical labor, the group also donated $3400 to our volunteer program. We put $400 toward buying some tools for future volunteers to use while maintaining the historic landscape around Longmire, and $3000 toward the purchase of two radios for use by our Meadow Rover program.
The radios have finally arrived! I’m holding, here, one of two brand new BK brand radios that are now in our inventory and ready for the summer!
Meanwhile, through a beyond-generous donation by the estate of the late great Flash Parlini, and with the help of our fundraising partner Washington’s National Park Fund, we are in the process of buying 32 additional radios, which will aid both the Meadow Rover program and others all over the park, from Nordic Patrol in the winter to backcountry patrol in the summer, and from MeadoWatch to Hike with a Purpose to Amphibian Surveys. We look forward to receiving those soon, hopefully yet this summer!
All of this makes our volunteer program safer and more productive. Thank you to everyone who has helped make it happen!