SBTS mentors youth in Plumas County

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship (SBTS) has teamed up with Plumas Unified School District (PUSD) to provide an outdoor educational opportunity for students district wide. PUSD’s Rob Wade has been working on what he calls “Learning Landscapes,” a program that continues his efforts to get students engaged in the outdoors on the Plumas, fostering a sense of appreciation and stewardship. The main initiative of the Learning Landscapes program is to provide easily accessible trails with in a short distance of every school on the district. The trails would not only provide outdoor recreational opportunities, but would act as an outdoor classroom for teachers and students. Additionally, students with guidance from the SBTS, will be involved in the planning, building and maintenance of the trails.

Johnny Anderson, a Greeneville High senior took on the ambitious Learning Landscapes pilot project as his senior project. With guidance from the SBTS, he has been able to successfully plan, and start construction on a ½ mile loop trail that is with in a five minute walk from his high school. Previously Johnny volunteered on the Mills Peak Trail and then worked with SBTS’s Brett Marty and Ron Heard to plan and work out a project plan for his teachers. After meeting with the local community district and several days on site Johnny with the help of Brett and Ron, teamed up with a handful of his fellow class-mates to start construction on his trail.

“We cleared the entire trail and built over 300 feet of finished trail, with the kids. They were totally psyched. It was great to see Johnny and his friends really take a sense of accomplishment and begin to understand the ideas of stewardship.” Johnny has done an outstanding job on this project and he and his friend Chris have applied for trail building jobs with the CCC, and both will be attending Feather River College in the outdoor program next year.

Johnny and the SBTS will have a final volunteer workday on Wednesday, March 31st and are encouraging people in the community to come and help out this worthy trail project. They will be meeting at 10am in the Greenville High School Parking Lot. For more information contact Brett @ (530)919-4010 or visit sierratrails.org.

Portola High Senior Kellan Kalbaugh of Blairsden decided to fulfill his Senior Project by working with the SBTS on trail restoration within the Lakes Basin Recreation Area. Kellan is an avid outdoor enthusiast who decided he wanted to give something back to the trails he loves. Kellan spent dozens of hours volunteering with SBTS trail professionals and had a chance to learn about many aspects of trail building including Grant Writing, Trail Layout and Construction, Environmental considerations and more. Says Kellan, " there are a lot of aspects to trail building besides just swinging a pick, and it was great to have an opportunity to give back to the community. Trail work is hard, and not a lot of people want to do it, but I really enjoyed it.”

As a result of his efforts this past year, Kellan will have a summer job working on the SBTS Trail Crew. He then plans to attend Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo and study for a degree in Kinesiology.

The SBTS and Rob Wade have big plans for the future of Learning Landscapes after these early successes and are currently working with Dave Valle and the California Department of Fish and Game on a trail project centered around Portola High School. The project has received partial funding from the F&G and the SBTS are currently seeking more funding for this and other trail projects on the Plumas.