Alta Toquima Wilderness- July 28, 2007

On July 28th, Friends of Nevada Wilderness organized a volunteer restoration project in the Alta Toquima Wilderness. The project involved restoring the Pasco Canyon trail, which had not been maintained in years and had become inaccessible to visitors. There were six Friends of Nevada Wilderness volunteers and staff along with two Forest Service employees helping out on the project.

The volunteers arrived to the trailhead Saturday morning and worked along the trail filling in severely washed out areas with rocks, brush and dirt, and pruning and lopping where the vegetation had crowded in the trail. The trail was completely grown over with wild rose and other vegetation in some places and the tread was barely visible. The Friends volunteers cleared the trail about ¾ of a mile in to the wilderness, making it accessible for hikers and stock so that the wilderness resources can be protected from the creation of social paths and other negative impacts. There is still a large section of the Pasco Canyon trail further in that will need some work, but the Friends volunteers got a good start on clearing the first section of the trail.

After a long day of hard work, half of the volunteers headed to the Spencer Hot Springs to relax and soak in the hot springs and camp for the night. The following morning, Friends provided transportation to visit the Toquima Caves and view some archaeological sites before the ride back to Reno. Thanks to the hard-working volunteers of Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the U.S. Forest Service, visitors will again be able to access the Pasco Canyon trail and enjoy the Alta Toquima Wilderness.

*There were a total of 104 volunteer hours recorded for this project.

*There was a total of $1,560.00 saved through the use of volunteers that the U.S. Forest Service would otherwise have had to spend on in-kind labor. (Based on government protocol $15.00/hr)