Summer Service in Montana!

Big Sky Service!

AmeriCorps St. Louis is back in Montana to continue our yearly tradition of summer service with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest! During July & August our teams will have been serving on a variety of projects around the forest. It’s been a great summer full of hiking, camping, great views, and some fulfilling service on beautiful public lands!

The past three weeks, our crews have been serving across the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, focusing on rehabilitating trails damaged by last summers Trail Creek & Alder Creek wildfires, clearing the Continental Divide Trail in the Butte area, and using cross cut saws to clear trails in the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Area. With only 1 week of project left in the Year 28 service term, we will soon say goodbye to this group of Members and see them off to new adventures!

Be sure to follow us on TikTok as well to see more behind the scenes content and remember, we are still accepting applications for our next term (beginning mid September).

Post B Cert - Emily and her teammates Will, Allen, Casen, Eli, Meredith, Ellorey, and Brett, with their certifiers Dave & Matt.

“The first week in Montana, I was at Gordon Reese Cabin, serving on a trail called the Ruby May trail at May Creek Campground. After one day of practice felling the incredibly burned snags along the trail, I had the opportunity to try for my B sawyer certification with the Forest Service. I was a little nervous that I would make a dumb mistake on the spot and be disappointed in myself, but my general feeling going into the certification was that I was pretty confident and I wanted to learn from the certifier while I had the chance. My first tree was a candlestick and the holding wood looked really good. The second tree I felled, I did a Humboldt face cut, to show the certifier that I could do various cuts, and it felt smooth. Then I did quarter cuts, but I left a little too much holding wood and there was a widow’s peak. It took a decent amount of wedging to fell it. I was very happy at the end of the day though, because both trees went well and I just feel really competent with a chainsaw, which is a cool feeling.”
- Emily Ray, AmeriCorps Member & incoming Team Leader