Yes, if you want to make a new trail or do anything that requires the much earth movement you will hit a NEPA snag. But as far as trail maintenance or minor improvements/fixes most programs will have existing programatic NEPA in place so there would should be no problem. However, this can vary from office to office. In any case, the person on the ground wouldn't need to be concerned with getting the NEPA done themselves. As you go around and talk to resource professionals about potential ideas, be sure to ask if any of the potential work you might do would have any NEPA needs. If so there would likely be a timeline involved that would not be compatible with yours.

A NEPA nerd

how about you destroy the cascade pass trail and rebuild one that is steeper with fewer switchbacks.

Mine involved coordinating and helping with the renovation of a historic building (before it was officially declared "historic"). Unfortunately, that wasn't a lot of outdoor work since the building was a log structure. The organization part was the most work, since I was 13 and a lot of people didn't take it seriously.

My brother rebuilt a couple of large wooden historical site signs. (The largest was about 7'x5'). That was entirely outside, although mostly in our back yard redoing the signs. Carrying and reassembling the things was the only "off the beaten path" work.

Mark,
I made a bulletin board for a NFS campground. My brother did a coat and blanket drive, my other brother made direction signs for a campground. A friend of mine planted new trees and painted playground equipment at a park. When I was a scout leader one of the boys in the unit made receiving blankets for a local hospital's labor and delivery dept. My advice would be to do something that would be permanent. The public works dept at your city may have lots of possible projects.

Good luck!
Tom

Mark,

My son supervised the replacement of trail erosion bars on a popular hiking trail at Sugarloaf Mountain <a href=http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/151867/sugarloaf-mountain.html > (Sugarloaf Mountain on SP)</a> here in Maryland for his Eagle.

You could look for a similar type of privately-owned/non-profit for your project. Several Scouts in our troop completed projects with half the hassle of state parks.

And I agree about being able to go back to see your project later! About two weeks after my son finished his, a hurricane came through and his trail had withstood torrential flooding beautifully!

And let us know what you end up doing!

Kathy (silversummit)
ASM and former Venture Advisor

I used to be in the scouting program. In those days, we didn't have merit badges that were
so readily connected to endurance in the outdoors.

There's lots of volunteer outdoor recreation projects available in MRNP and ONP.

On the Wonderland Trail alone, the NPS is always looking for folks to help out on maintaining
trails. Waterbars and drainage structures are a necessity in the rain-soaked PAC NW.

Thanks for all the help guys! I'll be sure to look into these. If all goes well, I should get my Eagle Scout badge by age 18.

-Mark

2 Eagle projects were completed on our local ski/and hiking hill (Mt. Spokane)

One was an outhouse at the top of Chair 1, which is a long ways from the lodge.
The other was a small chalet for the adaptive skier program in the ski area.

Anything that improves access for the handicapped to enjoy the mountains is a very worthwhile project.

Mark Straub wrote:Thanks for all the help guys! I'll be sure to look into these. If all goes well, I should get my Eagle Scout badge by age 18.

-Mark

Yeah, you should definitely get it done and DON'T put it off. Everyone always says that the project is soo hard and they always don't want to do it. For me, it was one of the easier parts of getting Eagle and actually alot of fun. So many guys age out because they didn't do the project. Good luck on it!

Mark, keep us all posted!

My own project was at a school but I helped out on a lot of projects in Snoqualmie NF, so I'll second the advice to contact them. If you know a trail that's in bad shape, start there. They might also have tree replanting projects going.

For something different, contact the local Indian tribes -- i.e., Tulalip outside Marysville. They often have various land or stream rehab projects going on and can generally use some strong young backs.

Have you considered contacting one of your local SAR teams to see if they might have some ideas? A SAR dog team might like to have some obstacles built for agility training for the dogs. A ground search team could possibly use a storage cage or racks for equipment. A city or state park might like to have a troop to do a detailed GPS survey to help update the park's SAR pre-plan. This would be especially true for a new park. Something that was done here in Georgia parks was the addition of trail signs at key "decision points" where lost persons often found themselves. The signs basically said, "if you're lost, stay here and call XXX-XXX-XXXX if you have a phone." Worked very well. Some of the local state parks might also like to have some PSAR (preventive Search and Rescue a/k/a "Hug a Tree") presentation packages assembled.

Mark Straub wrote:I want to do something that makes a difference, I'm not just interested in getting it done and not caring how or why. I do have a limited ability, though, and a very limited timeframe, so it would have to be achievable for myself and maybe 5-10 others in a couple of long days.

Carry some dynamite up Mount Whitney and remove the top of this thing:


(click)

It's a bit of a drive from Washington, but you would be doing everyone here a big favor.

That would be a bit of a bummer to give all that effort and not be able to stand on the true highest point in the lower 48

Maybe you guys could just chop down the chimney?