Happy Trails to Our USFS Ranger Interns!
After an eventful and successful summer of trail work, patrols, users education and Wilderness management and history study, our 2018 USFS Wilderness Ranger Interns, Lucas Herbert and Nate Marx bid a fond farewell.
Luke and Nate are the first summer interns to complete 3 multi-day backcountry patrols in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. They assessed hard to reach locations and returned with valuable data used by Boulder Ranger District Forest Service staff to inform trail work priorities and site restoration needs. They also captured stunning photos and video which they have shared in their internship wrap up video (see below).
After completing training, Nate and Luke worked with full time rangers, trail crews, volunteers and independently to clear fallen trees, eliminate social trails, conduct wildlife monitoring and improve trail infrastructure. They read and discussed the works of Roderick Nash, Aldo Leopold and other champions of Wilderness. In addition to the professionalism they brought to their work, Lucas and Nate’s love and appreciation for the outdoors and wild place was always present and will be greatly missed.
As they head back to finish their degrees in Environmental Science (Lucas) and Environmental Policy (Nate) we wish them much success and are glad to know there are two more Wilderness champions among us!
