Skip to main content
Blog

Blog Home

Blog

Welcome to the MCC Blog

[Image Description: Four MCC members wade across a river. In the background, there are hillsides covered in gold from the quaking aspens, and deep green pine trees.]

GF-Ville

A crew sits and stands around a Forest Service sign that says "Troy Ranger Station, Kootenai National Forest"

For the last 3 weeks, our crew has been marking trees to be cut down for fuel reduction and disease prevention in the Kootenai National Forest. We learned how to identify many species of trees, some better than others like Ponderosa, Larch, and Western White Pine which are our golden triangle of trees. Unfortunately for us, there are plenty of other trees that like to take over. We spent countless hours evaluating trees, deciding what kind of tree they were, and if they were healthy enough to leave, and learning the hard way that you never let a Grand Fir stay in a unit. Working with a Forest Service crew, we bonded and learned lots from our project partner, like how to use less paint, and how not to use a chainsaw. 3 weeks is a long time to bond, with both people, and our preferred paint guns, which we decided to name, The Pained Lady, and Grand Fir-Ville, or GF-Ville. Another wonderful hitch for this crew, and although we were sad to leave the people we worked with behind, we can't wait to see who we meet next, and what trees we'll have to learn.

MENU CLOSE