Pathways Newsletter

Montana Conservation Corps was in many ways just what I had expected: time hiking up and down mountains, camping in wooded valleys, and rigorous labor that strengthened my muscles. Until I experienced my first hitch with my crew, I assumed that would be all I took away from the season. What I hadn’t expected was the confidence I would gain from mastering technical skills and feeling the embrace of support from MCC.

On my first hitch in the field, I almost pooped my pants out of nervousness. I had never done corps work before and now I was solo leading a crew - half of which were older than me. I drove my five crew members to our site, just an hour outside of Helena. There I shakily explained to them the basic ergonomics of tool use and fumbled through how to set up a bear hang. It’s not that I didn’t know how to demonstrate these tasks. I had spent the last three months during MCC’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) preparing. But, my confidence in myself was faltering. I met with our project partner to discuss the work to be done on the trail and felt as though I was utterly floundering. The first night I returned to my tent wary of the work ahead and uncertain of my abilities.

We hiked to our project site the next morning after stretching, and I brought a chainsaw to clear the trail corridor. It was a cold drizzling rain which echoed my mood at that moment. I’ve had bad experiences with poor chainsaw training in the past, but during MCC’s LDP, I learned proper safety measures and cuts. I had not run a saw since then and was jittery to put this new training to use. I explained proper swamper roles to my crew, donned my PPE, and cut my first log. Even though I was nervous, the cut went just fine. I went on to teach my crew how to fix the trail as I sawed with one swamper. With each branch and tree cleared, my belief in myself grew. That is until my chainsaw unexpectedly quit.

The second day started the same, with a cold and wet backdrop. We had made it halfway through the day when my chain lost tension and would not tighten. I felt like a novice trying to figure out where I had gone wrong, and the confidence I was working to build was shaken. After troubleshooting all I thought to do, I decided to step back from sawing for the rest of the day. The next day, MCC’s senior crew leader Ethan arrived in the field for support. The relief I felt was enormous. Ethan reassured me that I had not messed everything up, we were doing well, and that the tensioner on the saw had broken and it had nothing to do with me. I was happy to have a functioning chainsaw again, but more importantly, I felt assured that I could trust myself and my burgeoning skills. It was alright to learn through trial by error as I was gaining valuable experience. Plus, I had MCC’s support behind me when I needed it.

As the rain lifted, I was able to once again appreciate the technical skills that I had learned during the LDP. Each day, I awoke feeling prepared for the work ahead. We were able to divert a spring stream that was running directly down the trail, and in the warming sunshine, I was able to regain my confidence in my sawyer capabilities. Thanks to the thorough training from the LDP and the support from our regional staff, I was able to finish the hitch strong. It was a trial by water, but I proved to myself that I could do hard things. Our crew carried that strong energy into the next hitches which led to an excellent season.