The Student Conservation Association’s winter trail work session is underway
By Tom French
While skiing the Brandy Brook Trail near Cranberry Lake in 2022, I ran into a DEC forester installing markers. Blowdowns need to be cleared, trash and debris removed, access to privies and other structures shoveled of snow.
Trail work doesn’t stop when the snow starts flying.
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The DEC works with several professional trail crews, along with snowmobile clubs and local towns, to complete a vast number of tasks. One organization, the Student Conservation Association (SCA), has a specific winter work session to brush trails and build bridges from early November into March.
Last winter, three SCA members returned from their May to October stint for a host of projects that included brushing the Fish Pond truck trail, chainsaw work along D&H abutments on the Bloomingdale Bog trail, and staging materials for summer projects. Sophia Groo, a high-school graduate from Virginia with significant cold-weather backcountry experience who plans to be a paramedic, also joined the crew.
Here’s what it’s like for these workers:
Small groups
The four winter corps members live in one of seven cabins at the old Whitney Headquarters on Little Tupper Lake, probably the only residents (along with a DEC employee) of the Adirondacks for miles and the only light on the lake at night.
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Orientation in November is geared toward working in winter conditions and being prepared for the unexpected. “We train them on what to have in their backpacks, how to use snowshoes and microspikes, to wear the right gear and take layer breaks, and being prepared to stay out overnight, if necessary,” said Julia LeReau, program coordinator of the SCA Adirondack Corps at the time. LaReau has since left to pursue a human resources degree. “We also start when it’s not as cold as January, so usually there’s good scaffolding opportunities for some dry runs because we do work in 10-degree weather.”
LaReau said it’s helpful when members return from the summer. “It’s definitely a big plus because folks who have completed the summer program already have a good sense of the work and expectations.”
Sawing in the snow
Objectives are focused on activities that can be done on frozen ground and snow – brushing trails (removing debris and excess vegetation), bridge repairs, and chainsaw work. When the weather is too extreme, the crew works in the onsite DEC operations garage on signs, tool maintenance, and preparing picnic tables and privies that will be installed in the summer.
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Every member is assigned their own chainsaw, and they keep records of the maintenance. “It’s a good way to keep track of what has been done to each saw and gives members some accountability over their saw. Each person can learn the nuances of their saw for troubleshooting. If they just replaced the spark plug, they know it’s probably not the spark plug,” LeReau said.
RELATED READING: Student volunteers build bridges
“We do a lot of chainsaw work in the winter because other work has priority in the summertime, and that work is often in wilderness areas where you can’t use a chainsaw.”
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But chainsaw work in winter can be more complicated. Logs need digging out, and the machines clog with ice and can be finicky in 10-degree weather.
Safety first
According to LaReau, SCA’s risk management program is at the forefront of safety and leadership in outdoor programs. The crews in both winter and summer utilize a daily job hazard assessment from SCA’s field guide to discuss risks and implement mitigation strategies. “Is it safe to go outside and work, and do we need to provide accommodations?”
Members are all certified wilderness first responders, and they take turns as “hitch leads.”
“We err on the side of caution and put safety first,” LaReau said. “For example, on the day we were supposed to work on the Fish Pond Truck Trail, I was getting mixed messages on the weather, so I decided we would go brush the Bog River Trail, which is 10 minutes away.”
At the Pharoah Lake bridge project, hitch leader Franklin Diaz, a returnee from the summer program, reviewed proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and how to transit the unfinished bridge with its three, snow-covered log stringers, no railing, and gaps over a cold, ripping Pharoah Lake Brook. “One of the contingency plans is to crawl with a lower center of balance.” Or butt slide, as they call it. They also all have a change of clothes, just in case.
Winter hiking
Most of the projects involve a hike into the woods – up to two miles or more. They utilize homemade pulks (kiddie sleds with rope strung through PVC pipes) to drag equipment and supplies. They engage in a “circle stretch” at the trailheads – a team-building activity where members answer a question-of-the-day while flexing muscles and joints.
On the day they installed decking on the Pharoah Lake Bridge, they shared what they were looking forward to. Estephanie Castillo, a graduate of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with a major in marine science, was looking forward to visiting the Wild Lights at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake. Dylan Doyle, a University of Massachusetts grad thinking of pursuing a career in wildland firefighting, just wanted to “get back at a reasonable hour” to squeeze in a hike after work.
LaReau explained how successful people in the winter program are able to make the most of a small crew dynamic. “That’s one of the main differences between summer and winter. In summer corps, we can have up to 24 members, but in winter corps, it’s four. So, yeah, it’s more challenging, but it’s also more intimate.”
“And, they have to love being outside,” LaReau continued. “We get people who have never experienced winter, have never touched snow in their lives, and by the end of the program are fully competent in backcountry, winter situations.”
This winter, four returnees from the summer program will be adding signage on a number of trails, clearing blow down on the Moose Pond Horse Trail, removing small shrubs along the new Adirondack Rail Trail, constructing box privies in the shop, and assembling simple plank bog bridging on the East River Trail near Lake Sally.
Photo at top: 2024’s SCA Winter Corps at one of the bridges of the former D&H Railroad, now the Bloomingdale Bog Trail, north of Saranac Lake. From left to right, Dylan Doyle of Massachusetts, Estephanie Castillo of Texas, Franklin Diaz of Florida, and Sophia Groo of Virginia. Photo Courtesy of SCA Adirondack Corp.
Look into what it costs the state to house the SCA at the former Whitney Estate. No power there and the diesel generator runs 24/7 year round. What’s the carbon footprint for that? Insane. Not so “conservation” oriented.