Horsemen group helps clear local trails

Six members of the Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen volunteered their Saturday to clean the trail leading to Big Hole Peak Lookout, which is scheduled to be on the list of Forest Service rentals next year.

The four men and two women, along with four mules and two horses, packed materials about a mile up Trail #368 to the site where two club members the previous week worked on the trail. The work was part of a $600 Challenge Cost Share Agreement that the horsemen club received from the Forest Service. The group worked seven hours clearing dead fall and blow down trees that were blocking the trail. The group worked in teams: sawyers, swampers, and wranglers. David Read and John Errecart manned the chainsaws. Louis Hodgson and Clyde Raborn served as swampers, tossing the cut wood off the trail. Hodgeson, a Hot Springs resident, also cleared away the trail water bars. Cheryl Burt and Sherry Caldwell served as wranglers, bringing up the stock as the crews cleared the trail.

The fallen trees ranged from about an inch to a foot wide. Errecart, who served in the Forest Service for 35 years, said they cut the trees four feet out on each side of the trail. The team cleared the trail of hundreds of trees during their seven hours on the trail. "It seemed like we did a million of them," said Errecart, a member of the horsemen club since 2006. The team cleared the entire two and a half mile trail to the lookout and another mile of the nearby Sheep Gap Trail. Most of the fallen trees that had been laying across the trails were dead, most likely the result of beetle infestation, said Errecart. Most of the time, the team encountered one tree on the trail, but there were a few clumps of trees that had fallen in a pile. The mules carried chainsaw fuel, oil and tools, along with food and water. On motorcycles a week earlier, Read and Plains resident Dennis Olson cleared one and a half miles of another trail. The club last year worked on over 35 miles of trails. Errecart said the Big Hole trail needs clearing every year due to the number of trees, dead and alive, that are blown down by the high winds in the area.

"Part of our mission is to help the Forest Service maintain trails and facilities," said Errecart. "We don't do it for the money; we do it because we enjoy it," he added. Utilizing different grants, the Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen club performs a variety of volunteer tasks for the Forest Service. The group's sawyers receive chainsaw certification from the Forest Service, said Errecart. The club chalked up more than 1,200 hours over a five-year period in the renovation of Big Hole Peak Lookout, which was finished last year. Two years ago, the club put out 114 Forest Service signs throughout the Plains/Thompson Falls District in the Lolo Forest. They also provided a packing clinic for the Youth Conservation Corps last year and plan to hold another one at the Sanders County Fairgrounds Friday.

The club started their trail work in early June and will likely continue until sometime in October, weather permitting, said Errecart. The Plains club is one of four groups – the Cube-Iron Cataract Coalition, Project Ascent, and the Trout Creek Back Country Horsemen – have received $15,000 in grants for trail work. The four groups, along with Back Country Hunters and Anglers, will be hosting the Back Country Tails and Trails on June 30 at the Elks Club in Thompson Falls.

The Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen is one of 18 chapters in Montana. It was created in 2006 and presently has 26 members. Anyone interested in joining the Plains chapter can call John Errecart at 544-6976.