Last week nearly 1,000 volunteers worked on 60 miles of multi-user trails in the Alleghany Highlands Trail System. If you’ve ever organized a trail workday you know just getting a dozen folks to come out is a big accomplishment – imagine what you could do with 1,000! Official press release is below, thanks to CraigCreekRider for passing this along.
Photo from Valley Area Shared Trails Network.
On June 21-28, 2008, the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests will host 1,000 Boy Scouts who are part of the Boy Scouts of America’s prestigious Order of Arrow (OA). This project is part of ArrowCorp5, one of the largest volunteer service projects ever performed on National Forest System lands, consisting of 5 significant projects on 5 National Forests involving 5,000 volunteers.
The Boy Scouts will construct and reconstruct about 60 miles of multi-user trails on the Alleghany Highlands Trail System and six hike-in campsites in Alleghany and Bath Counties. The Alleghany Highlands Trail System is a series of trails for equestrians, hikers and bicyclists and is a partnership project between the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation- Douthat State Park, and the U.S.D.A Forest Service.
The OA will lead and implement each project with advice and assistance from the Forest Service. In Virginia, the OA members will headquarter at Goshen Scout Reservation in Rockbridge County, busing to the Forest each day to work. Workers at some of the more remote locations and at Lake Moomaw will camp overnight on-site. While visiting the area, members will participate in recreation activities, including whitewater rafting, caving, rock-climbing, hiking, and visiting local museums.
“We are excited to host an ArrowCorps5 event on the Forest”, says Acting Forest Supervisor Linda Brett. “Alleghany and Bath Counties will gain a terrific recreation resource, and the scouts will have a hand in building something that they can show their grandchildren some day.” In addition, this project will further Forest Service goals of partnering with groups to manage recreation use and connecting youth with nature through the national “More Kids in the Woods” program.
The Order of the Arrow is the “National Honor Society” of the Boy Scouts of America and is a service organization comprised of scouts mostly age 16 and older, and adults who wish to remain active in service. The younger scouts lead the organization with guidance from the adults.
