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Volunteer movers and shakers Photo by Bob Pennell Jack Pech, left, and Dane West, both of Eagle Point, use donated heavy equipment to enlarge the Thousand Springs Sno-Park Thursday morning. Members of the Rogue Valley Snowmobile Club pulled together to do the work. Snowmobile club members pitch in to expand parking lot By PAUL FATTIG PROSPECT -- None of the seasoned construction workers manning the heavy equipment churning up earth at the Thousand Springs Sno-park in the Rogue River National Forest are on Uncle Sam's payroll. They aren't even on government contract. They are all members of the Rogue Valley Snowmobile Club volunteering muscle and machine to double the size of the parking lot at the popular sno-park. The volunteers are pitching in with some $70,000 worth of work on the $120,000 project which began shortly after sunrise Thursday. "This is a fantastic forest -- we all have to take care of it," explained club president John Bastian, a building contractor by profession. It's also the largest volunteer effort of its kind in the history of the forest. "As far as volume and cost, this is the biggest volunteer project we've ever had," observed Chris Dent, recreation group leader for Prospect and Butte Falls ranger districts. "And it's the first project that's ever really been done from a construction standpoint by volunteers like this," he added. "The club has enough skills within its membership that the Forest Service was comfortable in allowing them do this. This is the wave of the future." The result cuts costs for taxpayers while benefiting user groups, Dent said. The park, built in 1984, brought about 10,000 visitors this past winter, drawing snow lovers from throughout the Rogue Valley and beyond, Dent said. As a result, parking capacity was exceeded on about 20 days, he added. "These people have the knowledge and the experience to expand the parking lot," he said. "They were willing to do that. We wanted to capitalize on that." The agency received some $35,000 in grants and provided people power to do the paving once the volunteers prepare the site. The sno-park is located along Highway 62 about four miles northeast of the Diamond Lake junction. When the work is completed, the parking lot will hold up to 175 vehicles. "This is our main recreational site -- we've outgrown it," Bastian said. "People have been parking along the road." The goal is to have the work completed before sunset Saturday. "It won't be paved, but it will be all ready for paving," Bastian said. Some two dozen volunteers were working Thursday, with more expected today and Saturday. The creaking and grumbling of two large excavators, a huge loader, two bulldozers, a roller compactor and five dump trucks filled the sno-park Thursday. Seven belly-dump trucks have been lined up for today, thanks to the volunteer effort. In addition to improving the sno-park, the project demonstrates the good will of the club, which has 750 active members from Ashland to Brookings, Bastian said. "It's such a family sport with such great people -- I love it," he said, adding, "Some people think it's just a bunch of rednecks who go out and raise hell in the mountains. "But it's really a family sport," he added. "People don't realize we put in hundreds of hours doing search and rescue during the winter." Last year, the members built a 48-foot-long building to house snow equipment in the winter with roll-up doors on each end. The club and the agency split the cost on that project. The sno-park is about 4,300 feet above sea level, making it an ideal location for winter recreation, Bastian said. This past winter brought some 6 feet of snow to the park. Park improvements will also benefit summer recreationalists who hit the trails astride horses or motorcycles, he said. "Everybody will get something out of this," Bastian said. Bill Reagan, owner of Bill's Backhoe Service, one of several local companies volunteering expertise and equipment, agreed. "This is what we do for a living, so we are treating this like any construction project we would do," Reagan said of the expertise being offered by the volunteers. "This is a real pull-together organization. People jump in and do things." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA