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Grand Canyon Trust Volunteers, a program to help restore ecological and archeological resources on eh Colorado Plateau
Grand Canyon Volunteers : Connect, discover, conserve, restore

General Info

  • Sponsor: Grand Canyon Trust
  • Dates: October 16-October 24, 2010
  • Leader: Andrew Mount
  • Trip Rating: Challenging
  • Status: Closed
  • Deposit: $100

Accommodations

We will be backpacking and working in a remote wilderness setting for 8 days and 7 nights.

Gear

You provide: Camping and hiking gear for a multi-day backpacking trip.

We provide: All meals, snacks and tools, some transportation, and technical training.

Suggested Pack List (PDF)

Comments

The Paria Canyon is a challenging environment to live and work in for a week. It involves wet feet, river crossings, sand, quicksand, and temperature extremes. However, it is also one of the premier wilderness canyons in the West and an incredibly beautiful place to be.  So bring a camera and contact us if you have any gear needs.

Volunteer trips at Kane and Two Mile Ranches
Grand Canyon volunteer tripsNative America volunteer tripsUtah volunteer trips

Paria River exotic Removal: October 16-24, 2010

Overview

Riparian streams in the Southwest are at risk and we need your help! Tamarisk and Russian olive were introduced into the southwestern U.S. in the late nineteenth century to help control streambank erosion.  Since then, these highly invasive species have spread throughout the West and caused major changes to rivers and streams. Tamarisk out-competes native vegetation and alters the chemistry of the soil, making it unsuitable for native species.

The Grand Canyon Trust and the Bureau of Land Management have formed a partnership to remove tamarisk and Russian olive trees from 18 miles of the beautiful Paria Canyon Wilderness and restore this amazing river ecosystem. This will be a week of backpacking and sawing down individual trees by hand, so come ready for hard, physical labor and the rewards of doing your part to protect this incredible river!

To read more about the Paria River restoration project, visit our Kane and Two Mile Ranches page.

Apply to volunteer on the Colorado Plateau

Itinerary

Day 1 Meet at the Trust at 1 pm or arrive at the Whitehouse Trailhead by 5 pm. Project orientation over dinner at camp.
Day 2 Wake early and pack backpacks with group gear. Hike 10 miles into Paria Canyon and set up camp.
Day 3 Wake early to break camp and hike the remaining 6 miles to establish a base camp near Big Spring. Break for lunch. On-site work orientation. Begin cutting tamarisk and Russian olive.
Day 4 Wake early for breakfast and coffee. Cut tamarisk from 8 am to 5 pm, with a break for lunch. Return to camp for dinner and relaxation. Sleep under the stars.
Day 5 Repeat the above.
Day 6 More of the same!
Day 7 Still working....
Day 8 Wake early to break camp and begin hiking back to trailhead. Camp at confluence of Paria River and Buckskin Gulch. About 6 miles of hiking.
Day 9 Hike out to White House trailhead (7 miles). Return to Flagstaff by 5 pm!
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Visit our Flickr album to see photos of this project

Visit our blog to read stories from the field

 

 

 

 


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