Kirk Johnson, executive director for the Warren-based Friends of Allegheny Wilderness, recently attended the annual National Wilderness Workshop, hosted by the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance and Society for Wilderness Stewardship, for the first time since 2012.

This year the Workshop was held in Bend, Oregon, from October 22 to 26 and its theme was-- The Path from Recreationist to Steward; Engaging Wilderness Users to Care for the Places They Cherish.

Many organizations represented by more than 200 wilderness stewards, wilderness advocates, agency managers, and other wilderness aficionados and professionals descended on this scenic central Oregon (east of the Cascade Mountains) location in order to discuss in-depth the latest wilderness science, wilderness stewardship strategies, advances in Leave No Trace ethics, and other related topics.

The Workshop was a great environment for networking and learning new ideas and ways of looking at wilderness stewardship. For example, ways of reducing impacts along stream banks and from heavily-used dispersed camping areas in the back country were discussed.

Johnson also participated in an intensive two-day Leave No Trace training during the week, formally earning his certificate as a Leave No Trace trainer.

FAW has been the official adopting organization of the 13-mile Hickory Creek Wilderness Trail in the Allegheny National Forest since their inception in 2001.

Many of the more than 200 participants in the National Wilderness Workshop spent October 26 going on a variety of field trips to nearby natural areas. Most were to the renowned There Sisters Wilderness just to the west of Bend.

Johnson’s group hiked up to scenic Sisters Mirror Lake on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

The Three Sisters Wilderness lies partially the Willamette National Forest and partially in the Deschutes National Forest, and was first designated in 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act.

It has been expanded twice with subsequent legislation (in 1978 and 1984), and now has a total of 283,824 acres. South Sister mountain is the tallest of the three sisters at 10,358 feet.

Johnson also met up with Eric Flood, who was the wilderness ranger for the Allegheny National Forest from 2001 to 2007 and played an important role in helping Friends of Allegheny Wilderness get started in their wilderness trail stewardship work for the Allegheny. He currently works in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

The presentations from the Workshop will soon be posted on the Society for Wilderness Stewardship’s Workshop webpage.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can become involved, visit the Friends of Allegheny Wilderness website.

(Photo: Kirk Johnson (far left) at Sisters Mirror Lake on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. The snow-capped South Sister Mountain can just be made out through the clouds in the upper left corner of the photo.)

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[Posted: November 3, 2019]

11/4/2019