By Kelly Sanderbeck, Donor Engagement Manager
The countdown is upon us…the fiscal year-end is coming…Will we make our fundraising goals?
Instead of anxiety here in the office, all of us get super excited this time of year to see our ‘thermometer’ rise, knowing all the good work we’re doing with you to support our beloved parks! Since our fiscal year ends September 30, just about this time each year we start tallying all the gifts that have come in. Some of the ‘project buckets’ are full (see below) and some of them still need a little boost (see below as well). Perhaps one of your personal passions is on the list…!
A short debrief of how it all works: WNPF works hand-in-hand with the Superintendents of our three parks, as they are the experts who juggle all the operational needs and priorities in these ‘small cities’ we care about so much. Each year, they work with their staff to come up with a list of projects they want to have funded; projects that are outside the scope of Federal dollars. We start with Project #1 and move on down the list to raise as much money as we can by the end of our fiscal year. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at those ‘project buckets’ to see where we currently stand! We hope you’ll find a few that feed your interests. Drum roll please…!
Fully funded at Mount Rainier:
Mountain Rescue Association Joint Patrol Program: Cost = $10,000 FUNDED
Volunteers with Washington Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) and Mount Rainier staff regularly work together on search-and-rescue efforts and patrolling the park. This project provides funding for joint training exercises, travel expenses, supplies for the patrol cabin, and tracking equipment for full communication. The goal is to provide skilled members who respond faster, more efficiently and more effectively on search and rescue missions in the complex environment of the park.
Bus Subsidies for School Groups: Cost = $10,000 FUNDED
This project funds bus transportation to Mount Rainier and directly benefits at least 500-1,000 local K-12 students from schools that would otherwise not have the means to visit. Not only will these students have an opportunity to spend time in a mountain environment, they also learn why parks like Mount Rainier are so important. Many of these students can see the mountain from their neighborhoods, yet have never been there. It is one of the park’s priorities to reach out to students from underserved communities.
What needs your help at Mount Rainier:
Replanting Paradise Meadows: Cost = $20,000
In the 1980s the park began to restore the Paradise subalpine meadows. Due to 100 years of people walking off-trail, many acres of meadows have been trampled to the point that vegetation has been replaced with bare ground. Planting by park staff and volunteers is required because the growing season is too short to allow natural regrowth of the plants without assistance from humans.
Volunteer Program: Cost = $50,000, $25,000 raised so far
Volunteers assist in every aspect of Mount Rainier’s operations. In 2018, 2,533 volunteers and interns contributed 69,181 hours of service, a total economic value of $1.7 million. Programs include trail maintenance, trail patrol, citizen science, revegetation, historic landscape restoration, and many, many others. Volunteer work days like National Trails Day and National Public Lands Day bring in dozens of volunteers with their families. Funding provides for project supplies, uniforms, housing, vehicles, reimbursements for long-term volunteers, and the cost of interns hired through the Student Conservation Association and Geologic Society of America.
Fully funded at North Cascades:
Red Bus Repairs: Cost = $24,496 FUNDED
This project will fund the repair of Stehekin’s four red buses which provide the only motorized travel up and down the valley, accessing such popular sights as Rainbow Falls and Buckner Orchard. Buses also reach hiking trails in High Bridge and the remote upper valley. Without these buses, many park visitors would be limited solely to exploring Stehekin Landing. The gravel road through Stehekin means frequent repairs for the buses. Funds will be used to ensure the buses are safe, ADA compliant, free of dents and scratches, and have fully functioning air conditioners.
Develop Preventative Search & Rescue Program: Cost = $84,000 FUNDED
The purpose of this project is to initiate a Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) program, including designing the overall PSAR program, identifying an implementation strategy, and developing initial materials. Staff will also increase PSAR information provided to visitors by adding climbing ranger presence at the Wilderness Information Center and in the popular climbing areas. As the population of the region has grown, visitor usage of the park’s backcountry and climbing areas has increased, and there have been more search and rescue incidents. One way to prevent some of these incidents is to provide safety information to visitors through a formal PSAR program.
What needs your help at North Cascades:
Restoring Fishers: Cost = $60,000, $30,000 raised so far
The overall goal of this project is to restore self-sustaining populations of fishers in the southern and northern Cascades, two of the three locations identified in the Washington State Recovery Plan for Fishers. This project continues the plan to release 80 fishers in the North Cascades — a project that was postponed due to massive wildfires in British Columbia in 2017. From November 2018 to February 2019, the first 24 fishers were reintroduced, and a new collaboration has been instituted with the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Parks, Calgary Zoo, and Alberta Trappers Association to re-start this project and plan for a release in Fall 2019. Funding covers trapper’s fees, veterinary care and transportation of animals to release sites in North Cascades and surrounding national forests.
Un-Diveable Dumpsters for cleaner and safer campgrounds: Cost = $22,000
North Cascades National Park is proactively working to maintain a successful coexistence of people and bears. One of the most important means of conserving a healthy black bear population, and possibly restoring grizzly bears, is the effective management of attractants, including proper garbage disposal. Garbage — whether edible or not — can entice bears to investigate interesting scents, but doing so often brings them into close proximity with campers, with dangerous consequences for both people and bears. Dumpsters, as opposed to garbage cans, have long been used to handle the volume of solid waste in the park’s large campgrounds. However, current dumpster models are not designed to deter wildlife, and there are not enough of them for the present volume of campers. Dumpster models which have passed bear-resistance testing by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee are expensive, but we believe these models will keep the bears out and be sufficient for human trash. This project will fund the purchase of 12 dumpsters for use in the front country campgrounds.
Fully funded at Olympic:
Wilderness School: Rehab/Restore Volunteer Program: Cost = $20,000 FUNDED
The Matt Albright Native Plant Nursery is a vital operation for Olympic’s wilderness management program. Created to supply native plans for the revegetation of former lake beds after the removal of two dams on the Elwha, the nursery continues to be essential to the park’s revegetation and restoration efforts as well as partner restoration projects in other parks and forests. This project supports drop-in opportunities to give the visiting public and local community groups service opportunities. It also incorporates the BOLD and GOLD YMCA youth partnership by introducing approximately 150 urban youth to park stewardship and service learning.
Swiftwater Rescue: Cost = $9,000 FUNDED
This project will fund Swiftwater Rescue Technician Unit 1 courses for 15 staff members and safety equipment for 20 staff members. Upon successful completion of the course, rangers will be certified Swiftwater Rescue Technicians, meeting the National Park Service standard.
What needs your help at Olympic:
Art in the Park: Cost = $15,000
This project will develop an Artist-In-Park program to highlight the NPS Mission of engaging youth and volunteers through the arts. The program will incorporate an artist-in-residence and an art ambassador to work with area schools, partners, events and visitors. They will be available to coordinate many different mediums of art-focused activity and will build on established partnerships, including art internships with area students, building relationships with local tribes, and engaging with visitors in many different mediums. We will invite the public to connect with the NPS by highlighting wilderness, stewardship and service learning and connect with the next generation of park visitors, supporters, and advocates.
Geoscientists-in-Parks Internships: Cost = $26,000
This project will place two Geoscientists-in-Parks (GIP) interns at Olympic with the Division of Interpretation in the Kalaloch and Hurricane Ridge areas. The internships will last for 20 weeks from May-September. The Kalaloch intern will focus on interpreting climate change and its impacts on the coastal ecosystem, including ocean acidification. The Hurricane Ridge intern will interpret climate change and its impacts on glaciers. Funding for this project will cover stipends, application and administrative costs, travel allowances and housing. The GIP program works with partners to match college students and recent graduates with short-term, paid internships with the National Park Service.
If you’re interested in making an additional gift this year, please visit our donate page to push these projects OVER THE TOP. And Thank You from the bottom of our lakes to the tops of our mountains!