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Mountain club to help valley recover By Caitlin Fowlkes for the Tidings Sep 25, 2020 05:11 PM A A The Siskiyou Mountain Club’s board of directors has decided to redirect its resources toward disaster relief efforts. The nonprofit, which maintains backcountry trails in Southern Oregon, would normally be wrapping up projects for the end of the high-elevation hiking season, according to SMC Executive Director Gabe Howe. But last week his board granted blanket approval to help relief efforts in any way it can as long as the organization has the financial resources to back the aid. Howe said that means paying staff to go where they’re needed, whether that’s helping ACCESS prepare meals for those who have lost their homes from the Almeda fire or donating camping supplies. The organization will donate a vehicle from its fleet to someone who has lost their vehicle to the fire. He said the club is waiting to hear about who that will be from Jackson County Emergency Management. Howe said once the initial need to shelter and feed people passes his team will use their skills in working with heavy tools to clear debris and downed logs, and maintain vegetation. “We’re really looking for those opportunities where we can lend our skills with the infrastructure that we have — we have vehicles, tools and a big volunteer pool,” Howe said. He said there are many forest closures, and some staff left the area to be with family when the fires started, so this is the best use of his staff’s time. “We need to be as strong of a resource to the community as we can,” he added. Howe said he knew as soon as he woke up Sept. 8 to the wind storm that there would be fires because of how dry the landscape was this season. But nonetheless, he went to a meeting in Gold Hill. While driving back, he met a roadblock. After trying every avenue he could to get home to his wife and children in Ashland, he had to turn around and take refuge at a friend’s home in Phoenix, where they watched the fires burn until nighttime. Around 9 p.m., Howe said, he was able to return home, where his family and their home were safe. “I would have liked to have been home during this moment of calamity but I knew we were all safe, and I knew we just needed to wait it out,” Howe said. The Siskiyou Mountain Club, founded in 2010, offers full-time employment and paid internships for youth to gain experience in the field. The club began its efforts in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area, and it has expanded to reclaim and maintain backcountry trails throughout the region. SMC now maintains about 300 miles of trails in the Wild Rogue, Kalmiopsis, Siskiyou, Sky Lakes, Red Buttes and Marble Mountain wilderness areas. For more information about the Siskiyou Mountain Club, see siskiyoumountainclub.org. For more information about disaster relief aid, see roguevalley.recovers.org. Email Ashland freelance writer Caitlin Fowlkes at [email protected]. A Siskiyou Mountain Club crew on their way to restore a wilderness trail in 2017.Photo courtesy of the Siskiyou Mountain Club