A Season to Give Thanks by Lauren Berutich

Our last trip of the 2009 field season and what a wonderful experience it was. I always get all warm and fuzzy around this time of year. The airs cool inviting a new season into our lives, the trees shed their old leaves and prepare for their winter slumbering, and people tend to slow down a bit recognizing their gratitude. We thank one another more frequently, embrace our neighbors and connections with our community, generously provide to those less fortunate. (I'm not going to lie to you, it is also a time of great food and NY Giants football!) On November 12, 11 members of Verde Valley School met me in Cameron to carpool to Kane Ranch for the next 5 days together. They were high school volunteers led by their teachers, Forrest and Bart, on their winter break established for exploring and service projects. We arrived at Kane, set up tents, and began getting to know one another.

What an amazing group of enthusiastic, hard working students. As we shared and learned from one another, I realized how lucky we all are to be here together, connecting and exploring the beautiful landscapes we hope to protect. Each individual on the trip taught me something new and as I attempted to do the same, a creative energy began to bloom and the week's gifts continued to move me.

We did great work, but it was not easy. The volunteers helped clean almost 30 pounds (5 burlap sacks worth) of collected Fourwing Saltbush so that the seeds will be ready for next season's planting. They built the boxes, created the tools, and diligently worked through dust and allergies until all the bags were treated and complete. It was amazing!

To clear our heads a bit, we returned into the field for a day and a half of seed collection. November is a great time to do so as the seeds are dry and ready to flow off of the plant and into our collection bags. We now have five more bags ready for our partners on this project, Arizona Game and Fish Department.


As I sat around the dinner table and learned how to speak the names of my vegetables in 4 different languages, I realized my job is one of the greatest jobs in the world. The gratification of my work is incredible, the meaningful on-the-ground trips we participate in truly make a difference in restoring these gorgeous Colorado Plateau landscapes. The curious eyes, the fantastic smiles on the volunteers, and the amazing questions asked as we explore the new ecosystem allows us all to connect a little deeper with the places we cherish and love so much. Hurray for our new land stewards!

Thanks, once again, for partnering with our organization and showing me the Kaibab Plateau for the first time all over again. Have a wonderful holiday. We sure are thankful for our volunteer community and each new experience encountered! Fore more information on our program and how to get involved please visit http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/ or call 928-774-7488. Don't forget to check out our photo gallery as well for more wonderful shots of the volunteer experience out at Kane.

Cheers,

Lauren

National Public Lands Day with the Grand Canyon Trust

According to the Environmental Education Foundation, 150,000 volunteers worked at over 2,000 locations and in every state and in many U.S. territories during this year's National Public Lands Day. The Grand Canyon Trust hosted 11 of these amazing volunteers on the west side fo the Kaibab Plateau for a Mule Deer Habitat Restoration Project. We spent a full day trimming Cliffrose and hand seeding pounds of natives back into the Earth. It was a gorgeous Saturday filled with great energy!

There was music and laughter and lots of wonderful Kaibab rap songs shared around a campfire. I must note the beginning of a new tradition, "Star Track, GCT Style!" Curious? Sign up on one of our exciting trips to find out how you can show off your special talents with a fun and charismatic group. Carrie King and Andi Rogers from Arizona Game and Fish led the way with great conversations and meaningful presence throughout the weekend showing how importnat parntering agencies are for effective management and good work.

Thanks again to all of you wonderful volunteers and land stewards. The weekend was a great success and we look forward to another fantastic celebration of our public lands next year and of course, everyday until then.

For more information on the Grand Canyon Trust, various ways to get involved, and any new events taking place, please visit our website. Also, to see more exciting photos from the weekend or any of our past trips as well, visit our flickr account today. We look forward to working with you agian!

Cheers!

Lauren and Kate

Animoto.com

by Deon Ben

What better way to celebrate the fall season, than to join in on a volunteer trip to the Navajo Nation with over twenty-five other passengers. With three vehicles, including one over size twelve passenger van, we made our way to Leupp, Arizona in route to North Leupp Family Farm. Upon are arrival we were greeted by the farmer board and farmers who were eager to take us into the fields to begin harvesting traditional corn. Three corn fields later and an hour of a mysterious cat call we about filled one truck load of white & blue corn.

As the sun began setting behind the distance peaks we began taking part in the practices of making steam corn, a practice that has been performed across Navajo country for centuries. We found ourselves embracing Mother Earth as we filled an earthen pit with corn and covered it with dirt, ash, and a rejuvenating fire. Once the potato, green chili stew was ready more than over forty attendees indulged in traditional Navajo food, but the dinner was stolen away by the handmade frybread.

That evening we enjoyed the warmth of our campfire and the musical talents of our fellow campers. The night set calm but dawn brought the sounds of howling coyotes and a breath taking sunrise. Once we had our morning coffee we headed to the farm to take on the Harvest Festival activities.

That morning our volunteers assisted the farmers with a morning activity walk, others took out the corn that streamed all night, while others helped two Navajo grandmothers prepare kneel down bread. The entire day was filled with activities and speeches, about the progress of the farm and the appreciation of the volunteers, which then led us into lunch. The table of food was about the length of the ramada, but all in all each individual got to taste the beauty and love of Mother Earth.

American Hiking Society Volunteer Vacations
Grand Canyon National Park
Trip # 88

The title above is kind of a mouthful. It looks official and technical, like it could be mindlessly filed away so that someone in the accounting department could easily differentiate trip #88 from say, trip #32 or trip #105. The title seems like it would find a suitable home on a rubber stamp and kept in the same box with “void,” “sign here,” and “received.” But does that title, with all those words, even begin to tell us what might have happened on Volunteer Vacation # 88?

Terry Tempest Williams, a notable author on issues of the Southwest and social justice, recently urged the Grand Canyon Trust and the conservation community at large to deliver our message more effectively by telling our stories. Too often, she suggested, the work of volunteers, researchers, biologists, specialists, and collaborations ends up taking a back seat to jargon, acronyms, and easily cataloged trip titles like the one at the beginning of this article. Too often those convenient words and numbers fail to communicate what is really going on out there—people working hard to make a difference.

People traveled from all parts of the country to join trip #88. The spectacular landscapes of northern Arizona such as the Grand Canyon, the Kaibab Plateau, and the vistas into House Rock Valley attracted volunteers from California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia. The volunteers came from all backgrounds including a student, a retired firefighter, a retail manager, an engineer, and a postal worker. As the group gathered for the first time at the Jacob Lake ranger station, there was a sense of excitement building; they were ready to explore, learn, and work.

The point of trip #88 was to get volunteers involved with environmental conservation across broad landscapes but, more importantly, across agency boundaries. The first two days of work were with the vegetation crew at Grand Canyon National Park. Together our group removed over 400 invasive plants from a restoration site at the backcountry office. That same afternoon we placed 7.5 cubic yards of mulch at the same restoration site. Next we moved on to a roadside site near Point Imperial, where we removed over 4,000 invasive plants. Some of the plants removed were the only known population of the invasive prickly lettuce on the North Rim. Removing such populations early makes complete eradication much more likely.

The next day the group split up, half went to pull bull thistle (Circium vulgare). We removed over 8,000 plants and successfully treated a 750,000 square meter area. Bull thistle is also a high-priority invasive plant in the park and is known from only one population on the North Rim, so once again our work made a significant difference. The other half of the group collected hundreds of seeds from ten species of native forbs and grasses. These seeds will be used for future restoration efforts on the North Rim including restoring areas that are impacted by visitors or future construction projects in the park. They will also be used to beautify areas around the North Rim Lodge and the park buildings with native vegetation.

The second half of the trip, the group worked with the US Forest Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the Arizona Deer Association. We worked to repair a 2.2 mile long fence that surrounds Frank’s Lake, which contains the only floating bog ecosystem in Arizona. Frank’s Lake sits on the South Summer Pasture of the Kane and Two Mile Ranch, which is an 850,000 acre cattle ranch on the public lands north of Grand Canyon National Park. The ranch is managed by the Grand Canyon Trust, a non-profit conservation organization that works to protect and restore the Colorado Plateau. By building and maintaining a fence around the lake we were able to protect it and the plants that live there from grazing livestock.

For two days we worked to remove old barbed wire, and bent old fence posts. We then pounded new posts in the ground, built new braces and stretched new wire. It was a lot of difficult work, but we had a lot of hard working hands to help out. Even the vegetation crew from Grand Canyon National Park came out to lend a hand and show the Forest Service that they were interested in helping protect the area’s important resources, regardless of which agency managed them. At the end of the last day, we were treated to chicken and veggies, professionally cooked by a local Dutch oven master. I must admit that I forgot to bring the salad I had promised…oops!

In addition to all this work, we literally crammed in an entire vacation’s worth of adventuring, relaxing, fine food and sightseeing. We watched the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. We hiked the North Kaibab Trail. We grilled hamburgers made with local grass fed beef from the Kane and Two Mile Ranch on the rim of the Canyon. We watched the sun set from the North Rim Lodge. Everyone got to know each other by working and playing hard together. We worked a lot on Trip #88, and the group left feeling more connected to the land, to the issues at stake, and to their new friends. I suppose it would be hard to have a new name for Trip #88, one that would capture its essence. So that means it is still going to be up to the volunteers, the leaders, and the partners to tell the story.


Travis Wiggins

http://www.gcvolunteers.org/

Check out our photo gallery!

Volunteering on the Kaibab Plateau, A Wonderful Experience

The pristine meadow. Home away from home for the next five days. By the time I set eyes on home base, I had been introduced to the real reason why I was in such an unspoiled place—to cut grass. But here was the pristine meadow Lauren had in mind for us. It was Lauren Mork’s research project involving the fragile ecosystem of the Kaibab Plateau that had brought us together, and this was where she had in mind for us to pitch camp. No complaints from me. It was beautiful.
From the time I pulled into the Grand Canyon Trust’s (GCT) parking lot, I became second fiddle. It was time to be a follower. It was Lauren’s research that was bringing the 10 of us plus Gray, the dog, together. We were the volunteers who followed exactly what Lauren, in her second year at Northern Arizona University’s graduate school, told us to do. It was up to Travis Wiggins, GCT’s volunteer coordinator, to provide the framework to make the grass-cutting “machine” work. The pair, Lauren and Travis, were so in sync you would have thought they were identical twins; they knew each other’s thoughts before even speaking them. Whatever it was that worked between these two, we were in for the time of our lives. For example, even when the monsoons rearranged our plans on more than one occasion, Lauren and Travis seamlessly switched gears, put “Plan B” into action, and off we went.
How it is possible to bring together a group of people ranging in age from early 20’s to 70 plus and foster the camaraderie we had is still a mystery to me. We all brought something to the table, and all of it was needed, enjoyed, understood, and treasured. The fire pit manager, the Dutch oven queen, the wisdom-of-over-50-GCT-volunteer-trips guru—they were all there. From my teacher’s perspective, I couldn’t believe that a group of diverse people, representing multiple skill levels, just did what needed to be done. This doesn’t happen in school! Once we neophytes got up to speed, Lauren or Travis rarely had to give instructions; we knew what to do. Perfect synchrony. Harmonizing on the plateau. Whatever it was, it was great.
I also had no idea you could feast while camping in the wilderness. Thai chicken curry over rice. Chili—like no chili you’ve ever made in your kitchen even with all the modern conveniences! Cornbread, brownies, pineapple upside down cake. Scrambled eggs to die for. Toasted bagels. Hamburgers made with meat so fresh you actually felt guilty. After all, you were eating the aunt, uncle, or cousin of the GCT cattle grazing somewhere on the Kane and 2 Mile Ranches. Talk about a side benefit. I made the curry dish at home. Julia Child of the Wilderness lives! She’s named Travis and fellow campers.
When Lauren said she knew of a pristine meadow for our campsite, she definitely understated the reality. And it wasn’t just the campsite’s untouched beauty. There were the clicks of the grasshoppers jumping with your every step, the wind gently blowing through the leaves of the Aspen, and the sky. I don’t think you can trade the Arizona sky and clouds for anything better, especially in monsoon season. The clouds billowing up behind tree-topped horizons or cliff edges or even the rims of the Grand Canyon are not to be missed. When I show my pictures from the trip, I repeatedly apologize for the number of “cloud” pictures. They were gorgeous. The one sight I did look forward to I thought I was going to be denied—the beauty of the night sky. But, on the last evening, almost as if I willed it, the clouds parted, and there they were—the stars covering almost every square inch of the sky as I remembered them from my childhood in rural Virginia. The Milky Way was thrown in for good measure.
I wasn’t quite prepared for the wildlife sounds, more specifically, the coyote yelps and howls. It’s one thing to sit around the evening fire as dusk is closing in with only faces and bodies illuminated and hear the awakening coyotes, but to be jerked awake in the dead of very dark nights inside your tent by the same sounds takes a little getting used to. I have decided I will take my own coyote-deterrent system on my next GCT trip—two pots for clanging together just in case the animals of the night decide to venture too close to camp. Travis was adamant that we were safe because coyotes are as afraid of us as we are of them. Comforted? Yes. Pots-clanging system? Extra insurance. On the last night I was able to follow Travis’s advice and absorb the coyote sounds into the other sounds of nature. Amazingly, I went right back to sleep once his wisdom floated back to my memory.
But we did work. This was, after all, what actually linked us to the GCT. Lauren’s research needed manual labor to cut and sort vegetation that had grown on the Kaibab Plateau after the Warm Fire of 2006. Her hypothesis centered on the U.S. Forest Service’s two-year grazing policy already in existence. Basically, we were helping to determine if two years after a fire is enough time to allow for vegetation growth before putting cattle back out on the land to graze. Our job as volunteers was to cut the vegetation off pre-determined areas and sort what was cut. Lauren’s symbiotic relationship with GCT was perfect—two entities joined together for common environmental good while benefitting each individually. I was amazed. Lauren was the master of the grasses, and we did as we were instructed. She was so dedicated to her project so that data outcomes would be unquestionable and useful for future policy revisions. We embraced her professional and personal drive. On one particular plot on what was a humid day for Arizona, my kids and I decided that the word tedious had been redefined. C-3’s, forbes, cheatgrass, thistle, even shrubbery—it was all there and in abundance. We cut, avoided, and sorted as directed and helped by Lauren. We persevered. You want tedious? We know a place.
By far the cowboys were the highlight of the trip. Oh yes, you read correctly. Cowboys and cattle drives. Chaps, stirrups, cattle-herding dogs—it was all there. Because the research was about livestock grazing, there had to be cattle and the cowboys, but I never envisioned what that might look like. It was right out of the wild, wild west as far as I was concerned. It occurred to me that these cowboys mounted, rode, and handled their horses like you and I get in our cars and go. Automatically. Yelling, rein-pulling, stirrup hitting without hesitation. Wow.
Many people ask me if I would do this again. Unequivocally, yes. Lauren will be finished with her graduate work, but GCT is always in need of volunteers for a wide variety of projects such as ridding the Arizona river and stream banks of tamarisk. Whatever I chose to do, though, one thing is certain. I will be in the hands of a remarkable, forward-thinking organization, will eat some of the best grub available (and I don’t think it is the “special ingredient”—fresh air), and will come away a better person. I will be better for the people I met, the cause I worked for, and the time spent learning about things I had no idea I didn’t know! That was the bonus of the experience. GCT has it going, as the younger generation would say. Good for them. I only hope I can help them with their goal of restoration and conservation of northern Arizona when the summer of 2010 rolls around.

Annie Herbert
GCT Volunteer 2009

Volunteer Open House Brunch, August 15th

By Lauren Berutich

It is a beautiful morning here in Flagstaff, Arizona. The cool, refreshing air can be a fun reminder that fall is coming and before we know it, the west side of the Kaibab will be calling to us once again. The sheer, red walls of the Paria Canyon join us for a backpacking adventure or the Kaiabab National Forest greets us proudly in Ponderosa pines and important research opportunities. Did I mention rows of corn, watermelon, squash, and zucchini? Buzzing bees and acres of the beautiful production of food that is just waiting to be harvested? This is my favorite time of year- the sunny fall afternoons, the smell of juniper in the field, the feeling of soft handfuls of seed as they roll off my fingertips into the desert sandy soils below. What a time to take in deep breaths, catch a bodacious sunset, cherish ourselves and others as stewards of the lands we all hold so dear.

I want to remind all of our readers that we are hosting an open house recruitment brunch tomorrow, Saturday August 15 from 9-11 for all of those volunteers ready to join us for our fall season in the field. I will present twice at 9:30 and 10:30 so that you are able to come and go as you’d like. Please join the Grand Canyon Trust at 2601 N Fort Valley Road for some good coffee, breakfast snacks, and to sign up for a wonderful volunteer experience. Just curious to find out more about our organization? Join us for some fun discussions and meet some of our staff. Please visit http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/ for more information or call 928-774-7488. Hope to see you there.

Biomass Collection Trip: Volunteers assist in conservation research

I just wanted to say "thank you" to all the volunteers who joined the the Trust and Northern Arizona University to clip grass for our research project on the Kaibab Plateau. It was a great trip. I feel lucky to have spent a handfull of days and nights with such a great group of people. Thanks to everyone for working hard and being flexible. Despite the summer monsoons, we were able to get all the work Lauren, our researcher, had on the schedule for us! This trip was another shining example of how much work a group from the community can accomplish when we set our minds to the task.
Nettie, Annie, Liz and Tucker i am glad that you all took the time to do this trip. A weeklong volunteer trip to a remote place is a big unknown, and you all took that challenge on with a big smile. Also, lots of thanks to Val and Mark....who have volunteered with us many times. We couldnt do this work without returning folks like them.
So hopefully we will see you all again. Thanks!

Travis

Ain't No Mountain High Enough!

On May 16, three volunteers gathered in the parking lot of the Trust ready to head out to the West Side of the Kaibab Plateau to collect data from 50 plots looking for Cheatgrass invasion, native plant species, and Slide Fire affects on the landscape.

Steve had found us a great camping spot tucked away in the beautiful PJ life zone that allowed for great sunset and sunrise viewing. We set up camp, got ourselves oriented, and began our week together training and discussing the process behind monitoring these plots. We soon realized fitting 50 plots into three and a half days may be more than we were ready for, but our volunteers sure showed us!

Each day they worked diligently, with attention to detail and accuracy- each day they took a deep breath with a smile and a sip of their coffee and each day, they worked hard until the plots were visited and completed. It was invigorating. My passion for our work grew and my appreciation for our volunteer communities rose to new heights.

The work we accomplished was amazing. I am honored to have been a part of this project and want to recognize Amy, Cliff, and Val for their energy, hard work, and wonderful attitudes. Let's not forget, however, there were times where we had some downtime to get creative and have some fun- back up singing, marshmallow eating contests, shadow puppets, burrito making showcase, bee charming, nickname giving, around the camp fire chatting, and a lot of laughing.

We hope to see you all again. Please check our website http://www.gcvolunteers.org/ for trip updates and volunteer opportunities in the future. Also, there are some fun pictures posted in our photo gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/26568582%40N02

Cheers!

Lauren

Spring Planting at North Luepp Family Farm

North Leupp Family Farm Kick-Off Event: April 25, 2009

by Deon Ben

What an exiting way to kick off the spring planting season of 2009. Our adventures started in the parking lot of the Mustang Gas Station in Leupp, AZ as we waited for other volunteers to join our trip. We watched the reservation dogs criss-cross the parking lot as sands of an ancient wash bed dance in the distance. We arrived at North Leupp Family Farm with enough time to set up camp and do moderate cleanup tasks around the farm headquarters. We pitched up our campsite under towering cottonwood trees along side the banks of the Little Colorado River. We began a makeup lift around the farm and concluded our duties as local farmers accommodated us with a traditional Navajo dinner. The dinner consisted of a steamed corn stew, frybread, tossed salad, and a warm comforting campfire. Our evening at the campsite was overwhelmed by the setting sun and the San Francisco Peaks silhouette. By the evening twilight we ended our volunteer work with thirteen volunteers retreating to their tents.

Saturday morning local farmers butchered a Navajo Churro-Sheep for local farmers to enjoy during the day’s festivities. As the wind began to pick-up so did the Kick-Off events. We performed little moderate work as the wind picked up and visibility decreased, and due to the intense wind we concluded our work and headed to the community of Leupp for a traditional lunch serving. Local families once again accommodated us with traditional foods and provided us with a history of the farm, a raffle, and a tribute to Justin Willie. As the Kick-Off celebration came down to the last moments we found ourselves in good spirit with the friendships and bonding we had with our volunteers. We would like to THANK the wonderful volunteers who made this possible through their dedication, positive energy, and hard work. We look forward to working with you again, soon. Be sure to visit our trip photos posted on Flickr, and see our volunteers in action. Also visit our volunteer website to stay updated on up coming volunteer opportunities (http://www.gcvolunteers.org/).

Montana State University Volunteers

Video of MSU volunteers at Kane Ranch, working on their spring break in March 2009.

Montana State University "Breaks Away"

A group of 11 students from Montana State University crammed in a big white van and drove 15 hours to spend a their spring break volunteering for the Grand Canyon Trust. Together we spend five days removing old barbed wire fence from house rock valley and creating a native plant demonstration garden at our Kane Ranch Headquarters. Removing the old fence improved the landscape as antelope habitat. It also made us proud that the wide open spaces of house rock valley look a little more natural now that 5 miles of fence have been removed.
In the evenings volunteers took turns cooking the rest of the group dinner. We were all excited to be dining on local, grass fed beef raised on the land where we were working. While some of the group cooked, others strummed the guitar, and still others flipped through books on regional topics such as regional plants, stories of the Arizona Strip, and photos from the flooded Glen Canyon. These books sparked interesting consversations about the southwest, the environment, and the work ahead of conservationists and volunteers.
In addition to being great workers, this group of students from Montana State University were just great people all around. I am confident that the landscape was as positively moved as i was by the end of the week. Thanks to all who donated their time this last spring break to volunteering with us and making a difference on the Colorado Plateau.

An Alternative Way To Give Back

Good afternoon and welcome back to a hearty season of restoration, data collection, and volunteering! The beginning of March was quite a gift for me and the Kaibab Plateau. Joining us for the very first volunteer trip of the season was Northeastern University from Boston. Heather, their fearless leader, and I had been planning this trip for quite a long time now and then the day finally arrived.


Why is this group so special? They joined us on an alternative spring break tour- each individual student signed up for this service trip without knowing the other participants, donating their time off of school to travel and give back to a place they have never even been before. This was not a trip to the white mountains or the crystal blue waters of Cancun. In fact, they found out how very different the landscape was in comparison the many places on the east coast including their home city of Boston.

The sun was strong and beat down on our working bodies each day with authority. The wind was gusting at sometimes over 50 mph. The dust filled their tents each day and the cool nights chilled their tired selves. The arid climate dried out their skin and lips. But, this amazing group of volunteers proceeded on throughout the week with smiles, enthusiasm, and a motivation to work hard...And it wasn't so bad. The smell of coffee greeted the waking volunteers each morning and the sandwich spread was something to brag about. The evenings were filled with games, laughter, chocolate, and even a presentation from Chris Parish of the Peregrine Fund. The work each day proved to be meaningful and significant.

So here's to Northeastern University- For being brave and stepping out their comfort zones- Here's to the sharing of ideas from physical therapy to advertising angles. Here's to new friends and curious students. Here's to the grand connection with a landscape rich in diversity and new stewards of restoration.

Northeastern, I'll leave you with a recipe hint as promised. Happy camping, exploring, and cooking! Veganaise, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, thyme, and basil...the perfect dressing for an organic, locally flavored veggie pasta salad. Bon apetite!

For more information on volunteer opportunities visit our website http://www.gctvolunteers.org and to see more photos of this trip visit our flickr account http://www.flickr.com/

My Years at the Trust by Jan Shaffer

Many years ago, my husband and I were rafting down the Colorado River on a natural history trip, enthralled with the history of the earth and the beauty of the Grand Canyon. In many of our hikes and talks with the professors and scientists on the adventure, we were told about a great organization that is helping to preserve the truth and environment of the Colorado Plateau – the Grand Canyon Trust.
At that time in our lives, we were living in Phoenix, so all we could really do to help the Trust was to donate money to assist them with their grand efforts. After my husband died and I retired from my job in 2000, I moved to the dream house we had bought in Flagstaff. That first year, while reading our local paper on an early summer day, I saw an article asking for volunteers to work on projects with the Trust. I jumped on the opportunity and immediately joined a wonderful group of people who were working hard outdoors on so many interesting projects. I learned a lot more about the environment and history of this beautiful land from the Volunteer Program Coordinators. Over the years as I got older, the outdoor projects got harder for me to be part of, so I applied my office skills and began volunteering in the office and, yes, I got lots of work! The wonderful people at the Trust have filled my dreams of being part of the protecting and restoring of the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau.

Jan has been volunteering twice weekly at the Trust for seven years now, and is considered part of the staff. We truly appreciate all that she does.