Montana Conservation Corps - Tools for Living. Experience for life.

My name is Cliff and I’m the Supervisor for the Northern Rockies Regional office of the Montana Conservation Corps. This is a position I’ve held since late 2003 so I’ve overseen the progression of eight project seasons. Previous to occupying this position, I served for two seasons as a Crew Leader out of our now-disbanded Great Falls office.

I feel lucky to work for MCC for several reasons. A) That ever-shrinking idealist in me likes working for a non-profit, B) I get to teach about leadership, judgment, risk management, and Montana’s natural landscape C) I get to facilitate our crews’ work on some great community and conservation projects, in some of the most incredible country in America, D) I think the organization takes good care of its employees, E) perhaps most importantly, I get to witness others soaking up what we like to call, The Transformative Experience.

At MCC, we spend about 4 months with our leaders before they hit the field, developing their judgment, technical skills, project management, group facilitation skills, and more. I maintain a relatively active role throughout the training season, and am able to establish a relationship with our crew leaders. When the 30+ members arrive in late May, I spend a total of about 18 hours with them during their 2 week orientation before they hit the field. It’s tough to establish any real rapport with so many folks in such a short period of time. Thus the importance of site visits during the season. 
Climbing the ladder to middle management has taken a toll on my field time through the years. As happy as I am that we’ve re-structured the organization to include more field staff, the result has been that I’ve steadily lost touch with life in the field. I can articulate the rationale for plopping myself in front of this keyboard and telephone day in and day out, but in recent seasons, I’ve caught myself making sweeping assumptions about what’s taking place with our crews, such that I’ve felt like I’m teetering at the edge of losing touch, and more importantly, my Trail Cred.

Indeed, after each of the last eight seasons the principal feedback I’ve received from parting members and leaders is that they would have liked to see me in the field more.  This season, I made a concerted effort to heed those sentiments and try to counteract what I perceived to be the growing gap between myself and the program I purport to love so deeply. The plan: to visit each of our nine crews (3 Youth, 6 Adult) in three months. Upon hearing this plan, those who know my track record shrugged their shoulders and scoffed.

When a staff member goes into the field, we call it a Site Visit. I’ve adapted this term to fit what has become my approach to visiting field projects. It’s a Might Visit. Legions of Northern Rockies’ MCCers can relate the same tale, and it goes something like this:
Cliff to CLs: “Hey guys, I’m planning on visiting your project next week”.

CLs to Crew: “Hey guys, Cliff’s coming out next week to work with us”.

Cliff to CLs: “Hey guys, something came up and I won’t be making the trip out this week;  maybe next week”.

CLs to Crew:  “Hey guys, Cliff isn’t actually coming out to visit us this week, but he said he might visit us next week”.

I’m happy to report that I made it out to visit each of our nine crews this season. Sometimes it lasted for a few nights, sometimes for a few hours. In each case, I returned to the office more resolute in my appreciation for the value of our mission and programs, not to mention being fired up about the caliber of people who have chosen to associate with our organization. I was reminded how life in the field is reduced to simple matters of food, water, layers (and PPE, of course), shelter, hiking, working, and breaks.  Lively conversation is gold out there, and I was party to some shining examples. Crew cohesion is a delicate thing and the crews that managed to achieve a genuine camaraderie functioned so well I was often challenged to be sure I was pulling my weight.

It’s a powerful thing to see folks busting through incredibly physically demanding tasks for days on end, enduring trying weather conditions, shrugging off biting flies and swarming mosquitoes, all in the interest of “something greater”. Sometimes, they aren’t really sure what that greater something IS. It’s different for everyone. There are those who find value in toiling to improve a recreational opportunity, those who find value in the exposure to federal and state land management agencies, those who appreciate participating in the Americorps national service program, and those who want to live and work simply, in a simple setting. From my perspective, it’s about witnessing the individual and group growth that the MCC experience engenders. The leaders who start with us in February, and the members who start in May are, to a significant degree, different people when they depart in the Fall. Ruddy, vibrant, self-assured, and motivated.

Following is a list of my visits this season, along with their lasting impressions on me. I’ve taken the liberty of including feedback from the associated project sponsors, so you know all the words of praise aren’t mine alone.

Cold Lakes Trail; Mission Mountains Wilderness

I visited the Cold Lakes project in late July. Lauren and Arlo’s youth crew was working alongside Josh and Ellie’s adult crew in the Mission Mountains Wilderness. I was impressed with the level of cooperation and coordination between the two crews. Huge rocks embedded in the tread don’t care if the person working to remove them is 16 or 26, and the bugs don’t care if a person is at their limit for tolerance; the work treats everyone the same and a person’s character emerges in the way they respond to challenges. It was great to see the adult crew members presenting the youth members with such positive examples.

“Excellent crew, crew leaders and overall crew work ethic and productivity. Hope to see them back. Best MCC crew that I have had in the 2 seasons I have been on the Flathead! Thanks!!” (J.Sather; USFS)

Schall Ranch Conservation Fencing; Flathead Reservation

I visited the Schall Ranch project also in late July. Luke and Ysabel’s youth crews was working alongside a Tribal YCC crew repairing boundary fence for a conservation property the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes had recently acquired. Watching the two groups of youth interact was an exercise in social science; watching them work alongside each other reminded me how bending toward common objectives has a way of minimizing differences. After the workday, I was impressed with our crew leaders’ management of a camp full of spazzy teens; they exhibited an easy, disciplined and enthusiastic approach which made me think this might just be the toughest job on the planet.  We’re teaching some real life lessons out there.

“Overall, I was impressed with the crew’s and crew leaders’ energy and enthusiasm toward our project. The youth crew was able to quickly learn the tasks required for this work, and performed the work in a highly satisfactory manner.” (D.Dupuis; CSKT Lands Dept.)

Tuchuck Ridge Clearing; Whitefish Range

During the first week in August, I visited Caitlyn and Will’s adult crew working way up the North Fork on the Tuchuck system of trails. The plan that day was to catch the crew on the trail, deliver some treats and a Meaning of Service lesson, work the rest of the day with them and spend the night. I caught the crew around lunch at Tuchuck Pass. We discussed some Lao Tzu, ate cherries, cantaloupe and candy, and drew connections to service. In all our contentedness, we decided to clear the remaining 6 miles of the Tuchuck loop knowing that it would likely put us into camp later than usual. I was impressed that the crew seemed eager to put in a longer day. Finishing the loop meant a couple hours of ridge walking in and out of snow fields with the peaks of Glacier Park providing spectacular scenery toward which to walk. Caitlyn conducted a radio check-in about 6pm; we still had 2 miles left to hike down. Though the clearing was difficult and the hike much longer than expected, everyone was enthusiastic about what had been accomplished the afternoon. Another high point for me: when folks cheerfully put the opportunity for a unique experience above punching a clock. Clearing 12 miles carrying saws and pulaskis, chatting up some Lao Tzu, taking in unbelievably beautiful views and downing some home-cooked chili all in the same day…no paycheck can replace that.

“Great crew, great work, great attitude!” (D.Fisher; USFS)

Wood Cutting/Stacking for Jannette; Agency on Aging

The second week in August, Casey and I spent a day with Ben and Cherylyn’s youth crew working through the Agency on Aging for a local disabled senior. Jannette lives a ways up Patrick Creek, and heats her home principally by burning wood. She has a bunch of felled trees on her property, but without her son around, she lacks the means to buck/chop it into firewood. Enter MCC Youth Engaged in Service. Though she’ll need more to get through the winter, we set her up with a cord or so by the end of the day. To a member, our youth participants consider this project one of the most fulfilling of their MCC experience. The recipe is simple and expandable: Add one part folks with skills, one part schedule availability, and one part person in need, mix together and allow to simmer for as short as a couple hours or as long as all day. Eat…it…up. 

“We are so thankful for help with wood, such a blessing to us.” (V.Ferguson; recipient’s daughter)

Picture Ridge Clearing and Retread; Bob Marshall Wilderness

The last week in August I devoted 3 days to visit Evan and Elisheba’s Immersion Crew. Those days were so packed with activity that it would take another four pages to capture it all. We backpacked 11-something miles along Picture Ridge to the crew’s camp at the top of Hungry Creek, clearing for the first few hours. I was particularly psyched to employ the use of my recently restored double-bit axe; it was the only action that axe saw all year, and it performed well. Though the fire season was in full swing and haze was everywhere, the views were still fabulous. Taking in the expansiveness of “the Bob” from any significant elevation makes a person realize how incredible it is that our predecessors had the foresight to preserve this landscape. I spent the following day working alongside the crew retreading a significantly deteriorated, but well-loved trail. What struck me most about these folks was that, though they’d been living and working in close proximity to each other for three months with very little access to the outside world, conversations were incredibly prescient and timely. Everyone expressed an appreciation for being out there, and to a person, they lived in the moment. On the day of my departure, we awoke to wet snow. Without hesitation, the crew went about its morning routine, playful banter and all. These people had achieved an impressive level of camaraderie.  I know they don’t all keep in touch, that they’ve headed in multiple different directions, and that they’re very different people, but the impression left on me was how enjoyable life can be when we set aside our differences and make an effort to work and live with (for?) each other. Mindsplode.

“This is the most positive, productive, professional crew I’ve seen in my short 14 years with the USFS.” (G.Zoellner; USFS)

Little Therriault Lk. ADA and Wolverine Lk. footbridge; Ten Lakes Scenic Area

The first week in September, I was joined by our longtime Regional Program Coordinator, Julia Lettrich, on a field visit to Jedd and Jess’s crew which was camped at Little Therriault Lake on the Fortine Ranger District of the Kootenai National Forest. We caught the crew mid-morning as they were doing their best to exhaust a massive supply of gravel by carting it almost .25 mile to finish surfacing an ADA trail that several of our crews had begun building last year. Shovel, shovel, shovel; drive the Rhino and trailer to the dump site; dump; rake, rake, rake; tamp. Progress was slow (they were down 2 members), but progress was made. That night we enjoyed telling stories and jokes at the crew’s campsite, followed dinner with a discussion of the often veiled obstacles that stand in the way of clear decision-making, and finished the night with a rousing game of Balderdash (did you know G.O.M.A. does NOT stand for Gatherers of Octopus Membranes Associated?). The next morning we split up and half the group joined USFS Trail Dog, and MCC Alumnus, Dan Ward on Wolverine Lake Trail to replace a footbridge, while the others returned to laying gravel. As Julia and I returned to Kalispell that afternoon, a couple thoughts reverberated in my head: 1) it’s still impressive how much work a small group of well-coordinated, enthusiastic individuals can accomplish, and 2) we are fortunate to be able to build figurative bridges (a leadership lesson that’s immediately applicable to field work) and actual bridges, all in the span of 24 hours.

“The crew was very flexible and managed changing tasks well. Crew leaders did their best to keep everyone busy and often sought out review and were open to areas that needed improvement. It was refreshing to see the enthusiasm for re-routes and good old fashioned tread work.” (D.Ward; USFS)

Moose Peak Trail; Cabinet Ranger District

I think it was the second week in September that I made the trip to visit Emily and Zach’s crew on the Moose Peak Trail in the Kootenai National Forest. The trail is short, and it’s pretty obvious where you’re headed (to the peak, after all), but the path is steep and the upper half was all but gone due to a lack of maintenance for decades. Enter MCC crew, All Day; for 9 days they dropped hazard trees, brushed out corridor, dug retread, installed drains and dug more retread. We were all (USFS, myself, crew leaders, crew members) surprised and impressed by how much they accomplished on that hitch. The kicker- there was no source of water anywhere on that mountain. We had about 16 cubies of water packed in for the crew at the start of the hitch, but anyone who’s worked trail in hot, dusty, dry conditions, knows the value of water that’s not only slated for cooking/drinking. Everyone was hyper-tuned into the amount of water remaining in their supply and some had already started crafting contingency plans in case they ran out. I think it was Ben who, though caked in dust the night before, woke up the following morning and happily exclaimed that his sleeping bag had wiped him sufficiently clean (I had to admit the same was true for myself). Ahh, how our standards mutate in the field. Walking away from that project, I was struck by the consistently enthusiastic attitudes I encounter in the face of diminishing resources.

“The crew had a lot of blowdown trees and brush to cut out, which they did. They completed tread work as well and reopened the top half of the trail which had been lost by most users and impassable to stock for the last decade. A great crew.” (L.Raynor; USFS)

Brushing Snowmobile Trails; The Yaak

The last week in September, I joined Field Project Coordinator Casey Dunn on a trip to visit Chris and Laura’s crew on Hellroaring Creek trail in the fabled Yaak valley. The crew was slated to spend 9 days operating anything that would cut vegetation- chainsaws, brushsaws, loppers, bow saws, and everything else we had in our tool cache- in the interest of widening the riding corridor for snowmobiles, once 5 or more feet of snow accumulated on the ground. People usually don’t join MCC to brush trails, so the crew had been fairly hesitant to express any excitement about this project. Not only that, a hunter had been mauled by a Grizzly Bear the week before, less than 10 air miles from the crew’s location and the entire area was covered with impressive quantities of ripe huckleberries. Casey and I knew our work was cut out for us in terms of helping to motivate this crew, and it didn’t get any easier when we awoke to a steady drizzle. People ate breakfast in near silence, apart from grumbles, and I figured we were on the brink of losing all hope of enthusiasm for MCC. By midday the rain was heavier, but spirits were somehow lighter. I was seriously amazed to witness the lunch break- totally soaked, no decent cover under which to group, folks just sat in the rain, opened their packs and went about the process of eating lunch, even tossing out some jokes and rain-related signing along the way. Really, that was incredible, and a testament to individuals’ ability to focus on the positive.

“The crew was extraordinary, has a stellar work ethic, is cohesive, and safe. Great backcountry ethics.” (J.Wandler; Troy Snowmobile Club)

And that’s the summary. MCC remains, in my mind, a transformative experience with many impressive facets. The camaraderie, the skill-development, the exposure to land agencies, the incredible views, the quietude, the challenges, the successes, all contribute to what we know is an experience like no other. As we put the wraps on the 2011 season and look toward 2012, feelings of pride, accomplishment, respect, and service prevail.

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