American Conservation Experience has become a national leader within the corps movement due to the amazing partnerships we have forged. Over the coming months we will proudly showcase our partners, and help spread the word about their organizations and the work they do. This week is dedicated to to the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), the Pacific Crest Trail’s champion and steward.
Corps members on the PCT. Courtesy of Andrew Fish.
The PCTA is a non-profit singularly focused on the preservation, protection, and promotion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the long distance trail that travels between the US-Mexico and US-Canadian borders, traversing the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Stewardship of the PCT is no small feat: The PCT is 2,663 miles long with a cumulative elevation change of 402,880ft, or to put it another way, 80 miles!
View from the PCT. Courtesy of Andrew Fish.
ACE is into it’s 3rd year of partnership with the PCTA. The partnership is particularly noteworthy for several reasons.
First is the far-reaching geographical and temporal extent of the project. For up to 26 weeks of the year, an ACE crew works on sections of the PCTA from southern California, right up into Washington. Projects are scheduled so work is completed at the lower elevations during the winter months, and the higher elevations during the summer. In 2015 we will have 2 crews working on the trail, for 26 and 14 weeks.
Second is the level of partnership and engagement involved in each project. Along its course, the PCTA travels through public and private land. Therefore on any project there is the interest of a land management agency, such as the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, or land owner. Furthermore, the PCTA provides a trail advisor to work alongside the ACE crew on each project. And finally, there are often some PCTA volunteers who join the ACE crew for up to 9 days at a time. This makes for a very positive experience for all involved.
ACE Crew at work on the PCT. Courtesy of Andrew Fish
This post features some pictures of a recent ACE crew at work on the PCT. Photos are courtesy of Andrew Fish, a Technical Advisor for the PCTA, who worked alongside the crew. The photos are also featured in a post that Andrew recently wrote about life as a professional trail builder which is well worth a read. For more information about the PCTA head on over to their site.
PCTA, thanks for the great work that you do preserving, protecting, and promoting one of America’s national treasures, and thank you for partnering with ACE!
ACE at work on the PCT. Courtesy of Andrew Fish