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Who are we?
Who are the Desolation Wilderness Volunteers? We are a Volunteer Organization working side by side with the US Forest Service and are stationed mainly out of the Pacific Ranger District in the Eldorado National Forest however we also work out of the Taylor Creek Ranger Station in South Lake Tahoe. We were founded in 2003 with an initial crew of 8 volunteers, over the years we have grown and in 2010 we had 28 active people in the program. We are educators, truck drivers, students, sales-people, State workers, retirees, and more! We wear many hats but what we all have in common is that we love the Wilderness, we want to give back to the community, and we want to preserve the Wilderness for future generations.
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What is our purpose?
Our Mission is to promote wilderness stewardship and lead by example to ensure the preservation of Desolation Wilderness for present and future generations. Our goal is to assist the Forest Service in maintaining Desolation Wilderness and to help them complete the Stewardship Challenge. If you have hiked Desolation Wilderness a few times before, then chances are you have run into a Volunteer. Volunteers are in a uniform shirt with the Volunteer Patch on the shoulder 99% of the time. Sometimes however, you wont even know you just passed a Volunteer as we are occasionally incognito conducting usage counts. We also focus on educating the public on Leave No Trace ethnics and the rules of Desolation Wilderness.
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The Stewardship Challenge
The 10 Year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge offers a measurement of how a Wilderness is doing in regards to reaching successful stewardship levels. Desolation Wilderness Volunteers is committed to assisting the Forest Service in reaching all aspects of the Stewardship Challenge, these include Campsite Monitoring, Restoration, Education, and more. Desolation Wilderness has performed so well in these aspects that in 2005 the Aldo Leopold Award for Overall Wilderness Stewardship was awarded. As of 2010 Desolation Wilderness had the highest completion score for the Stewardship Challenge.
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Our position with the USFS
Desolation Wilderness Volunteers is a volunteer organization that works directly with and under the USFS. All funding comes from the USFS via donations in the box at the Pacific Ranger Station, overnight permit fees, parking fees (Twin Bridges and Eagle Falls), and grants written by the USFS on behalf of the Desolation Wilderness Volunteers.
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How we are reaching our Goal
In 2009 we began providing Cross Cut Saw Certification training to our volunteers so further assistance could be provided to the US Forest Service on maintaining the massive trail system in Desolation Wilderness. For the 2010 season we developed this website to provide up to date public information and to better communicate and plan internally. To ensure we are helping the USFS as they need we take direction from them and they add needed tasks to our calendar.
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