The Saga of SAGA

Hiking on SAGA maintained trails

2012-02-20T11:08:00.001-09:00

President's Day 2012! 2/20/2012

There are a whole lot of twos in that Date! Corps staff is back for the 2012 season! We have a couple new additions to the corps staff team. Mark Bir joins us after a long history working with youth. He has worked in the corps world at Earth Corps, and was a teacher in California. He will be working out of our northern shop as a Field Coordinator.

Jessica Skiba is a familiar name for those of you who served with us last year. She was a Field Educator in the South East region. She will be working as the Juneau based Education Coordinator, and we are excited to have her.

The corps staff is moving full steam ahead towards another successful season! We have been hard at work making final tweaks to leader training, hiring dozens of new Americorps members, and updating our educational materials!

We still have a couple slots to fill for leaders in the SAYC program, and for Transportation Safety Leaders in the ASC program. So, if you want to come to Alaska, get a free WFR, and work on your public lands? Apply to join SAGA as an Americorps leader on our website @ www.servealaska.org , and have the best summer of your life!

I have been hard at work prepping for the 2012 season. I am so excited to meet all of our new leaders! The reason I work here is because I love working with engaged young people, and I enjoy every minute that I get to interact with engaged young people!

Since ya'll aren't here yet, I can only do the next best thing, and go explore the trails of Juneau with my co-workers. In that spirit, Southeast RM Hollis, EVC dog Coda, SAGA alumnus Dan, and I set out on Sunday to Herbert Glacier.

Well, that was the plan anyways... I stopped one parking lot too early, and we headed up the south side of Herbert river instead of the north.

The upshot? SAGA maintained this trail in 2002, and 2010, and I had never been on it. Since life is in the journey, and not in the destinations, we knowingly set out on the wrong trail. This is a picture of the 2010 crew from the Juneau Empire.

The trail was covered in snow, so I couldn't actually see all of the structures that our crews put in place. However, I was able to ski all the way from the cabin to the trailhead which is almost unheard of in Juneau. The steep grades, and narrow corridor typically turn an afternoon ski into a hike, but not this time! Thanks for your awesome work!

Here are some photos from our hike, I can't wait to meet everyone!

Play Hard!

Sunrise over the bay

2012-02-08T13:49:00.000-09:00

I have been working long hours, and have been spending my weekends volunteering with another Juneau non-profit. With the exception of the weekends, and a couple night skis on the glacial Mendenhall lake, I have not been taking time to experience Alaska.

Last night, I crashed at about 7 pm and consequently woke up at five this morning unable to fall back asleep. I had eggs for breakfast, which never happens on weekdays for me, and drank my coffee as I watched light spread over my backyard.

I left for the office around 7:30, driving down glacier highway, I came around a turn and saw one of the most spectacular sunrises I have seen in a very long time. I took pictures through my cracked windshield, with my cellphone, doing 50 down the highway.

That just wasn’t enough though, so I stopped in Auke Bay. Auke Bay is where the Juneau ferry unloads, and is where a lot of our Americorps members begin their Alaska experience. I sat on the new pier, drinking my coffee and watching the sunrise.

I am excited for new beginnings, and so excited for our first corps members of 2012 that start in less than a month.

Here is another picture of this morning in case you need an Alaska fix. These photos where taken by a cell phone with a scratched lens and a low resolution camera…Imagine what it looks like when you actually here.

Occasionally I find it useful to take a 'timeout' from professional life to appreciate the place I have chosen to live.

All for now from Juneau, Alaska.

Eric Milliken

Try it, Change it, Try it again

2012-01-29T15:54:00.000-09:00

In the ropes course facilitator world, we use contrived situations as a means to an end, meaning, we have a goal that we want to accomplish with a group, and we use initiatives to move them toward that goal. For instance, you're working with a corporate group, and they have identified some outcomes that they want from a ropes course day. One of those outcomes is improved office communication.

In the ropes course laboratory, we would throw out initiatives that focus on communication. Team games where one person can talk, one is doing, and everyone else is directing the process. In the midst of the lava filled pits, there will probably be a lot of disasters where the most vocal people lose their ability to talk, the quietest people are in charge, and the most apt participants are blind. Most importantly the pointed questions in the activity debriefs will focus on communication, and try to compare this activity to the office functions, ‘where have you seen this before?’

So what, it’s a ropes course, its fun by design. Does experiential education have any application in the real world? Let’s use another contrived ‘business world situation’ to try and dig further.

In the business world if a manager wants ‘improved communication’, they send out an email, hold a meeting, or drop by your desk and drop buzzwords, something like ‘We need to synergize back end team dynamics by implementing cash neutral communication techniques to improve investor ROI’. This will solicit agreement, and promises to improve communication. …And then nothing will change.

The manager sees a shortfall in communication, and has encouraged his employees to improve their communication. But will this work? Probably not. What do you always hear from a facilitator after an initiative? What can we do better next time? Possibly the most used phrase in experiential ed, but also one of the most important, because we don’t learn by doing. No, we learn by analyzing what we did and trying something different.

So, what can this Lumburghesque business manager do well? He identified a problem, and he communicated it to his team. What can he do better?

Involve his team in the process, identify the problem, and solicit ideas for improvement.
Identify a time that the group will revisit the communication problem to see if it improves, and to ascertain if anything else needs to be done.
Design a plan for improvement, build employee consensus, and post it in a public place.
Incentivize improvement, ‘if this improves by our next meeting we will…’

I’m not a manager, I don’t know if these are accepted management techniques, I can only rely on my experience and draw conclusions.

This is the experiential learning cycle, so if we were to apply this to the situation at Lumburgh and co.

Experiencing: The day to day business operations.
Publishing: Call a meeting and identify what is going well, and what is not.
Processing: Try to pick out patterns in the data
Generalizing: What can we do better?
Applying: What will we do better?

And then we are back in the experiencing phase, we are going to try out our new communication plan, revisit it in three months, and the cycle continues.

Where have you seen this before?

The experiential model can have profound affects in groups, workplaces, and in your personal relationships. Next time you try something, and it doesn’t work: Try it, change it, and try it again.

All for now from Juneau, Alaska.

Play Hard!

Eric Milliken

Mosquitoes, Salmon, and Bears, OH MY!

2012-01-23T16:33:00.000-09:00

Daylight has been fleeting over the last couple weeks here in Juneau, which has been a great motivator to get outside and enjoy the sunshine while we can! The weather in Juneau has cooperated, in fact it has been phenomenal over the last week! Clear, sunny, and amazing, with unobstructed views of the snow covered, Alaskan mountains.

Things have been ramping up for Summer 2012 at SAGA offices. The seasonal corps staff has begun to trickle back to Juneau, and we are hard at work recruiting for scores of open positions for the upcoming corps season. If you are interested in serving in Americorps with SAGA in 2012, a full list of open positions can be found here: http://www.servealaska.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=41

I was drawn to SAGA as a staff member because I love being outside, I love working with young people, Alaska is amazing, and I am passionate about the effect experiential education can have on people. I want to use this space on the web to share some of my favorite prop only activities that are great additions to any facilitators ‘bag ‘o tricks’.

Bear, Mosquito, Salmon

What you need: Something to denote a playing area and end lines, 4 backpacks, hats, sticks etc. and a group of 8-80 people.

Why we do this: To increase group energy (it gets people moving around) and reduce inhibitions (everyone doing something silly…together)

Activity:

This is an Alaskan take on the similar (but of course not the same) Giants, Wizards, and Elves.

First of all, we need to define a safe playing field. Make sure that it is free of anything that could injure a participant, and is clearly defined. Remember those place markers from above? Place them at opposite ends of the field to define the end of the pitch.

Now we need to take a page out of the guide’s playbook, and make something up. You know what I am talking about if you have ever been on a guided raft trip. All of the sudden, you come around a corner to some swift water. The guide starts talking about miner Jim’s rapid, the story inevitably goes something like this…

Jim was working his claim on the Tatshenshini River, and he came across the find of a lifetime, a three pound gold nugget. He was sitting in his sluice box polishing the nugget when it detached from the bank, and turned into a raft. He was sent careening down the river at the height of spring runoff, when his makeshift boat flipped in that eddy, that one! Right there! The gold sunk, and he dove after his fortune. He tried to bring it to the surface, but the downward force of the water combined with the mass of the gold was too much for him to overcome. Jim died clutching the nugget ‘til his last breath. Legend says the gold is still waiting for anyone who dare test the power of the ‘Tat.’

So, with this in mind, we need to tell a story to our group about the origins of the ancient Bear, Mosquito, Salmon game…. It was a cold winter evening, the northern lights shimmering above the frozen arctic tundra, when crazy eye Luke disembarked his dogsled and spoke just three words…

I will let you finish that story, as half the fun of facilitation is story telling.

Divide the group in half, a simple way to do this is to ask everyone to close their eyes and cross their arms across their chest. Then ask them to open their eyes, send everyone with their right arm on top to one side, and everyone with their left on top to the other. Try it, surprisingly this usually is close to a 50/50 split.

Explain that this is basically rock paper scissors, combined with tag. But because of the tradition of crazy eye Luke, we play with bears (as the facilitator, demonstrate the bear, which is hands above head and roaring),

Northern Manager Carly demonstrating with her dog Layla

mosquito (again demonstrate, this one is finger pointing and bzzzing sound),

Karl Wouti from Accounting

and salmon (demonstrate, hands together wriggling through the water).

Southern Regional Manager Hollis Emery

Everyone got that? Lets do it all together show me Bear! Mosquito! Salmon!

What do bears eat? (Salmon) How about salmon? (Mosquitoes) and Mosquitoes? (Bear)

Ok with your groups I want you to covertly plan two signs that you will throw for competition, one first, and if you tie, a second.

The two teams then line up in the center of the playing field facing each other. And on the count of three display their chosen sign. The team that wins chases the losing team back to the end line, anyone that is tagged joins the winning team. Note: It is good to re-emphasize physical safety before doing any activity where people might get hurt.

playing until people become disinterested, or everyone is on one team.

Play Hard! and Play Safe!

All for now from Juneau Alaska.

Eric Milliken

Youth Advocates Community is "Young at Heart"

2012-01-05T11:31:00.000-09:00

By Kelly Foran, Youth Advocates Community Program Liaison SAGA Connections AmeriCorps Member

Youth Advocates Community, more commonly known as YAC, is a program that engages youth with and without disabilities, between the ages of 16 - 24, in monthly social and volunteer service opportunities within the Anchorage and Mat-Su communities. YAC participants have the opportunity to build a diverse support network of peers, learn self-advocacy skills, have fun, and give back to their community. The youth work together as a team to decide their monthly service project and social activity.

During the fall months, the YAC group participated in a Feed the Hungry event sponsored by local VFWs, Covenant House’s Candlelight Vigil, and the Food Bank of Alaska’s Thanksgiving Blessing events. When it came time to choose December’s service project, the choice was obvious to the YAC youth. We had already been planning a social trip out to Pyrahʼs Pioneer Peak Farm in Palmer for their annual “Country Christmas” event, when we heard that the farm was organizing a Festival of Trees! For those of you that have never had the opportunity to visit a “Festival of Trees”, it is a silent auction where local organizations, businesses, or individuals decorate and donate trees and wreaths for auction. Pyrahʼs decided that the Festival would be a charity auction and they chose Miracle Flights for Kids as the recipient of the auction proceeds. YAC knew that not only would we get to have fun decorating a tree and strengthen our team-building, but that 100% of our donation would go directly towards providing flights for Alaskan kids in need of medical care. What an awesome project!

The YAC participants decided that our tree should be fun and attractive to a youth or anyone who is young at heart, so that’s exactly what the tree’s theme was; “Young At Heart”. The Young At Heart tree quickly became a collaboration between the YAC youth and the staff at UAAʼs Center for Human Development, which is the host site of the YAC program. As a result of the combined efforts of the CHD staff and YAC participants and parents, the Young At Heart tree turned into a magical holiday creation. Trimmed with fun ornaments and whimsical Santa decorations, the tree had everyone who was young at heart eagerly looking forward to Christmas morning! The tree was complete with gifts that would keep a youth or the entire family active all winter long. Art supplies, board games, movie tickets, ski passes, iTunes cards, and more were sure to entertain the lucky recipient of the Young At Heart tree.

Several YAC members trekked to Palmer the day before the Festival to help set up and decorate the tree. We had a blast hanging ornaments, singing holiday carols, and enjoying homemade caramel candies provided by a wonderful CHD staff member. On the day of the “Country Christmas” event, some challenging Alaska weather arrived, but a few participants braved the snow and ice to enjoy the day outdoors at the farm. We got a thrill from the toboggan rides and sledding slides, enjoyed a peaceful Nativity Hayride around the farm, warmed ourselves with cookies and hot chocolate, and visited Santa Claus and the Whoville hairshop! Our course, the Festival of Trees was our favorite part of the event, and with twenty trees and wreaths donated for the auction, the Miracle Flights for Kids organization was sure to benefit. The YAC group was very proud of our donated tree and our efforts to support flights for kids; especially when we found out that the Young At Heart tree had the highest bidding of the Festival! Way to go YAC and CHD!! To see more photos of all the fun we had at Pyrahʼs Pioneer Peak Farm, check out the Youth Advocates Community Facebook Page!

Pioneer Peak Mountain

YAC is under the Partners and Policymaking Grant, which is funded through the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and implemented through UAAʼs Center for Human Development. Youth or parents who are interested in receiving more information about YAC should contact kelly@alaskachd.org.

New Connections: National Public Lands Day

2011-09-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

By Cody Koebnick - Community Volunteer Specialist (SAGA Connections Member)

I had been in Alaska for less than 48 hours when I was told I would be helping coordinate a rapidly approaching event in Juneau for National Public Lands Day (NPLD). SAGA has been part of NPLD for many years and this year we continued the tradition of partnering with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to coordinate a volunteer event at Mendenhall Glacier. As one of SAGA’s newest AmeriCorps Members, I found this opportunity both challenging and rewarding.

Officially, National Public Lands Day “is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands in the U.S… Last year, 170,000 volunteers worked at over 2,080 sites [throughout the country]… [Furthermore,] NPLD educates Americans about critical environmental and natural resource issues and the need for shared stewardship of these valued, irreplaceable lands.”[1] So as you can see, it’s kind of a big deal and I didn’t want to mess it up. The USFS collaborated closely with SAGA to help make the event a success, as did the entire community of Juneau. Volunteers from the local high schools, the Boy Scouts, Juneau Youth Services (JYS), and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps attended the event.

Volunteers at work

Over the course of the next two weeks, I quickly became engaged with members of the local Juneau community. I was given the chance to meet members of the USFS, visit radio stations and newspapers to help publicize our event, network with schools, and lastly, show off my powers of coercion by successfully soliciting for food donations (a feat which was surprisingly easy thanks to the generosity of local businesses such as: Fred Meyer, Costco, Walmart, Safeway, Super Bear, BreezeIn, and McDonalds).

The day’s NPLD activities were as follows: first the volunteers were treated to breakfast, then the Mayor of Juneau, Mr. Bruce Botelho, addressed the crowd and lead a ribbon cutting ceremony officially opening the new trail that leads visitors out to beautiful Nugget Falls. After all that hoopla, volunteers got to work revegetating an old trail. Volunteers and visitors to the Mendenhall Glacier then saw a short film celebrating 25 years of SAGA and featuring the organization’s partnership with the USFS. The event was a great success by all accounts and a wonderful way to welcome my fellow SAGA-AmeriCorps Connections members to Juneau.

Ribbon Cutting for the new Nugget Falls trail


SAGA's Alaska Service Corps Team Leaders (foreground) share their know-how with a group of volunteers

SAGA's Connections Members joined in on the day's festivities...thanks for your help!

SAGA Staff Note: A big thanks to Sara DeLeo, SAGA's 2010-2011 Community Volunteer Specialist, and to Cody for putting so much work into this event. It was a lot of fun, the sandwiches were delicious and the project sites look great! Oh, and thanks for making sure the sun came out on such a lovely autumn afternoon :)

[1] www.publiclandsday.org

Letters From the Field: Juneau and Glacier Bay National Park

2011-09-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Juneau: The only US capital city that can't be accessed by road. Heidi and Austin were thrilled to be back, and everyone at the SAGA headquarters was super welcoming. They were so happy to see us that they bought us brownies!

By Day two, we believed the stories about rain. At least he sun was nice while it lasted. We had a lot of fun despite the weather: The boys were able to compete in a magic tournament (Zach finished 3rd), we finally experienced the Sandpiper Cafe's french toast that Austin had been raving about since June, and we met lots of wonderful people.

And went kayaking.

Do you know how early you have to leave the EVC to check in for a ferry that departs at 7 am? Before 6 AKA WAY TO EARLY! But the ride to Gustavus was smooth.

Glacier Bay: It wasn't raining when we arrived but I quickly jinxed us by pointing it out. We learned that summer is officially over when we arrived at the park. The Glacier Bay Lodge had just served its last meal of the year and its gift shop had three hours left with everything at least 50% off. Not quite what we were expecting, but maybe its for the best that there won't be many tourists around.

On day one, Austin, Zach B, and I were honored to join sponsor Bob in helping the resident whale biologist move the skull of a humpback. This unfortunate creature was struck by a cruise ship a year and a half ago. Half of the skull was missing from where the ship hit - The cruise line was fined for negligent behavior. The rest of the skeleton is in a metal container near our campground - the whale biologist said she'd air it out and show us before we leave (apparently the smell is awful and you'll reek for a month if you enter the container without airing it out for hours first.)

Day 2- Sun, Sun! Sunshiny sin! We were so exited over the sun becauise I failed to mention the miserable downpur we worked in on day one (it's not as interesting as a whale skull!) Also, Heidi and Truitt showed up after lunch! Great day all around - we did lots of exploring after work and ended the day with a bonfire at the beach.

Day 3 - it wasn't sunny, but it wasn't raining. We've been trusted with the task of deconstructing a rotten wooden trial and installing fiberglass to make it wheelchair accessible. This means we have to measure and cut, and not mess up, because each fiberglass sheet is $500 and we can't afford to replace that. Good thing Truitt is here keeping an eye out! (Don't worry, you're still our favorite staff member.)

Loyalties have changed.

Friday night, Truitt took us into town for pizza (on him!) and open mic night! - Ignore the fact that he just wanted to see his townie friends and it sounds like a nice gesture right?! The food was delicious and the music was excellent! Overall, a great Friday night. Too bad we had to work early the next morning and leave the party early.

Saturday = Sun. Too bad everything is closed and we can't go kayaking or something cool for member development. [Truitt saw me writing and said to tell you "you're a jerk!" I think he means it in the nicest way possible.]

Sunday= we're booking it on our boardwalk project so Bob let us take the afternoon to participate in a 9/11 day of service. Gustavus bought some land to make their first cemetary (until now, citizens had to have bodies shipped out or cremated!) but the land is nowhere near ready. We did some brushing, some other people chainsawed trees, and we burned the debris in a massive pile. It was pretty cool. Also met some former SAGA members (Noel and Gunther) who were really nice.

Sunday night our sponsor Bob had a party! Bob and his wife made us a delicious dinner, showed us the place they're building in the garage, let us watch a movie and had ice cream for dessert. They are extraordinarily nice people.

On our last day,Bob appeared with fresh banana bread (right from the oven so we could eat it while it was still warm!) We're really sad to have to leave Glacier Bay. (We've been sad to leave almost every project actually...Just keeping with the tradition.)

There is a lot of travel ahead (backtracking through Juneau and Haines and all those cool places I mentioned earlier), but we'll be seeing you in Indian soon enough! Hope you have our #1 Team Awesome trophy ready!

AN5 & Amber Lee.

Letters from the field: Wrangell St. Elias and the Yukon

2011-09-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

Dear Eric,

McCarthy cried the day you left. We huddled around the fire pit for our safety circle, clouds of our breath rising around us as we answered the ‘question of the day’. We piled on layers and rain gear. Andy came to tell us to “be careful out there” and take breaks in the van to warm up as necessary. We were prepared for a sad day.

Then, before lunchtime the sun came out. We were warming up and shedding layers and forgetting you had ever been there. (Kidding about the last part!) It was sunny and clear for the rest of the weekend.

We got a full view of the Kennicott Glacier, and the peak of Blackburn rising beyond it. At night, we finally got to see the Aurora Borealis. We wished you could have been there to share those magical moments! It’s experiences like those that most of us hoped for since we first headed to Alaska.

Alpine Glow!

We were sad to leave McCarthy, but know Glacier Bay was waiting for us. Here’s a rundown of our six- day journey to Glacier Bay.

Canada: We crossed the border in darkness around 11 p.m. Thanks to help from the wonderful Adrianne, Heidi found us a campsite at beaver creek. Driving through the Yukon Territory was great because of all the gorgeous scenery. We made it to Haines too soon.

Haines: We had been warned about all the rain in southeast Alaska. I beleive it's another myth because it was sunny and warm when we crossed the border back into the United States. We stopped to get gas and do cartwheels in the lushious grass beside the road.

We set up camp at the Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Area. We saw black bears feeding in the water both days we were there. Thankfully, they stayed away from our camp.

7 am Thursday we were packed up and ready to ferry to Juneau. Let me tell you about this ferry because it seems to good to be true. There was a restaurant, lounge, children's play room, movie theater, two observation deck lounges, showers, a gift shop, and probably a whole story I never even found. It was amazing - We showered, watched MegaMind in the theater and saw two whales.

When they announced we were about to dock in Juneau, we went outside to look Know what the weather was like? Sunny and hot - we all changed into t-shirts.

Amber Lee & AN5

Notes from the Field: Wrangell Saint Elias National Park.

2011-08-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

August 1

I was beginning to believe that bears in Alaska were simply myth. Then we arrived in McCarthy to do invasive species removal at Wrangell - St. Elias. The day before our project even began we saw two black bears!

The first crossed the road in front of us when we were walking the 4.5 miles from Kennecott to McCarthy (the journey was worth every step!)

The second was spotted as we were walking the trails back to our campsite. The bear was right by our tents! Luckily it didn't like to hear "Whoa bear" and wandered away from our belongings. As it was a black bear, we were worried it would come back out of curiosity, So we talked loudly from our tents until we fell asleep, debating such important topics as "What is rice?"

Day one of invasives went well. Our project sponsor, Annie, is very cool and knowledgeable I think it will be a fun and productive week!

August Third

Did you know it rains almost all day every day in McCarthy? We were fooled because it was nice and sunny the Day we arrived. Good thing we all have excellent rain gear! He's definitely been put to use.

All of the rain makes it difficult to work on hillsides, but we're still going full force with a champion attitude! IF we fall- which is often for some of us - we just get up and keep attacking those invasives! Annie is so proud of our hard work she's rewarding us tomorrow by giving us a break to take a guided tour through Kennecott mine! We're lucky to have such amazing sponsors.

Stay happy! Stay dry! Stay warm!

All for now,

Amber Lee & AN5

Notes from the Field: Indian, Alaska

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Our group, up to this point, had never done trail work and had only one week of hard labor under our belts. We returned to Indian Alaska, our home base, to do trail work.

After the first day my body was yelling at me.

The group had to walk one mile each way to work, everyday, carrying our tools. That first day I carried a Pulaski and a pick attached to my daypack. So the next morning rolls around and I am told to put the pick on my pack like yesterday and then carry the rock bar. The rock bar is a 30 pound (at least) six foot steel bar. Every day I carried it, and every day it became easier.

Friday rolled around and it was my turn to use the motorized wheel barrows from the Chugach State Park crew. The sponsor told Kyle and I to keep it in 2nd gear because 3rd is too fast. Well, Kyle and I wanted to beat Brandon and Sunny's time of 80 minutes so we flipped them into third.

We made it to the trailhead and back in 45 minutes. Then the second trip I flew ahead of Kyle and made the trip in thirty minutes. I waited for Kyle. After 15 minutes Steve and Amber told me to go look for him. I found him where he had flipped his wheel barrow, and we went back nervous and ashamed.

When we got back the sponsor was laughing. They knew there was no way we were in 2nd. I learned today that quality is more important than quantity.

Chaz Hart.

Notes from the Field: Big Lake, Alaska

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

After two weeks in paradise [Katmai National Park] the crew was sent to Big Lake, AK to do DOT work with the other youth corps crews.

It was our first time seeing them since orientation. It was really neat to see everyone again. When we started work that week everyone found their niche. Some cleared brush, others cleared brush, and some used the wood chipper. I have dreamed about using a wood-chipper, now I can check that one off the list.

This week was tough considering my group had come from Katmai where we removed invasive species for two weeks. Even though there where hard days I found myself finding little things to brighten the day. I thought it was cool how we took three individual groups and made one supercrew. The best part of that week was when Papa John did a lesson on public lands and then we debated about pebble mine. Overall the week was a success we cleared a lot of brush to increase sight distances.

Chaz Hart

A Poem from the Field: Mountain Range

2011-07-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

I am a mountain range.

People see me as large and vast.

Some people can't dig deep enough /

To find the layers of gold within me.

All they see is this large mass and get afraid.

This summer, a new glacier I call Saga arose in my range.

That glacier has been carving away so many layers.

People that saw the range two years ago are starting to not recognize the new shape.

Someday the layers of gold will be visible from the trail head.

Chaz Hart.

Letters from the Field - Trail Work at Exit Glacier AN5

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Amber Lee

Great happenings on day one at Exit Glacier!!

First, our project sponsor is RYAN REYNOLDS! And he puts up with all of our lame name jokes = awesome! (We loved you in the proposal! Glad you stayed in Alaska!)

He took us on a hike today. We went to the glacier first and our faces looked like:

Then we went on a longer hike toward the ice fields:

We had lunch at Marmot Meadows, and saw a Marmot! Then kept climbing to the top of the cliffs!

There was a lot of snow so our descent looked like this:

It was an excellent day and we look forward to spending the next month at such a beautiful location! We’ll keep you updated with all the good news!

Amber on behalf of AN5!

p.s. When we took Andrew & Nick their shovel the welcomed us like this: Nevermind, I can’t draw a stick figure mooning a van but it happened.

AmeriCorps: The Key to Possibilities

2011-07-13T12:19:00.000-08:00

By Chaz Hart, 2011 Serve Alaska Youth Corps Crew Member (SN5)

I am the kind of guy that is easy going. When I arrived at "The Shop" in Indian, Alaska I was excited. I knew this was the start of something great. As we found out our crew leaders, they also told us our first jobsite; Katmai National Park, Brooks Camp. I am the guy who hates flying. When I found out I would go from a small plane to a 1960's float plane I was less than thrilled but I thought of my favorite expression, "Man up" so I did and accepted the fact.

While at Brooks camp we picked invasive plants--"weeds." I had never known or wanted to learn about plants that much. Like how to tell the different types of mustard plants found in Alaska or how to tell a plantain from a dandelion. Or even that a large dandelion can be eaten as a salad. I also learned about Bears. I have never in my life been fascinated by an animal. But then I learned about Bears. I find it so neat that a sow can get pregnant then hold the fertilized egg for 3 months till she is ready. I have called Alaska my home and had never seen its beauty till Katmai.

I had two life changing moments in Katmai, the first was Dumpling Mountain. All through high school and my first year in college my friends never invited me on hikes. They always assumed that since I was a 320 pound guy I did not enjoy that kind of stuff. But I do and that is why Dumpling Mountain is so special to me. I hiked to one of the rest spots early in the trail after about 20-25 minutes, I said we should turn back and Steve said lets go a little further. I ended up past the top at 2475ft. and 4 miles. 8 miles round trip. It was like a fresh shower had cleaned away the mean jokes I and others said about me. If you had asked me at Christmas what I would be doing this summer I would not have said spending 2 months and 11 days in my small 2 man North Face tent.

The second great experience was "The Land of 10,000 Smokes". We hiked down into a valley that just 96 years ago was steaming and barren. The first place we stopped was this little river where there were all kinds of neat rocks. We ate lunch there then moved on. The next place was my favorite, we walked to a waterfall and the path I took was kind of hard. I had to climb up some stuff. I don't care what religion you associate with, there is a certain type of spiritual energy at waterfalls. Never would I have thought there would be a place like that in Alaska. Words cannot describe that place.

That is why I call SAGA AmeriCorps the "Key to Possibilities".

Notes from the Field - Pictures from AS3

2011-07-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

SAGA Crew AS3--the Cabin Crew--is off to an amazing start this season working on renovating and recreational cabins in the Tongass National Forest. The crew recently returned from an 8-day trip to Admiralty Island, where they worked on the Big Shaheen cabin. They came back muddy and tired but happy with their work. They also came back with a camera full of fantastic pictures. So now I get to do one of my favorite things...brag shamelessly about the great work SAGA Members do.

The gentlemen of the Cabin Crew strike a pose.

The crew's role in restoring the Big Shaheen cabin involved digging around the cabin to jack it up, ripping out the existing floor, inside walls and windows, removing the decomposing sill logs and digging trenches for improved drainage around the structure.

Tearing out the existing floor

Hauling out decomposing sill logs

Prepping to raise the cabin (and getting fancy with the camera)

The crew bucked logs with a crosscut saw for extra support

Team Leader Kevin looking fierce in his bug net

Crew installed French drains around the cabin

Rainbows, mountains...all in a day's work

Homeward bound

Thanks for your great work, Cabin Crew!
- Hollis Emery, SE Regional Manager

Notes from the Field - A Letter from SAGA Crew AN5

2011-06-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

A letter from Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve
by Amber Lee, ASC Crew Member and this week's Team Journalist

6/7/2011

Half of AN5 reporting from Coal Creek Camp in the lovely Yukon-Charley National Preserve! Our other half is floating down the Yukon River – those lazy fools. Only joking – I’m sure loading/unloading bear boxes from rafts every day in this heat is tough.

Oh yeah – It’s a lot warmer here than in Indian, and the mosquitoes are not friendly. Heidi refers to them as “flying syringes of misery & death”. Those bloodsuckers. I did not think part of our service would be donating blood… But go team America, oh yeah! Speaking of the team –

We’re invasive plant-identifying left and right! There are so many! We just need practice recognizing what’s native vs. invasive. But don’t fret – we’re as close to professionals as they’re going to get out here. Also, we have adopted the idea that whatever we are going to do we’re going to do like champions! We know there’s not an award for best crew, but if there was, we would be a ringer for first place! Making you proud.

We can’t wait to get back to the shop and everyone’s smiling faces! We’ll have plenty of stories and pictures, and dirty, smelly clothes. I’m sure you can’t wait!

6/9/2011

So much excitement at coal creek! Yesterday we identified native vs. invasive dandelions around the Ernest Patty Mess Hall. It was tough work, but we removed all of those dastardly invading dandelions! We told them, “Get out! We don’t want you no more!”

Today we removed loads (literally 3 bags) of hawkbit, bird vetch, and dandelions from Slaven’s Roadhouse. Those invasive species stand no chance against us professionals! Because when we remove them, we get it all, down to the very last root – like a champion! Because I don’t know if you’re aware, but bird vetch is kind of a betch, and its roots cling to the hillside for dear life. But we got it. Next year’s crew is going to have to find something else to pull because we’re just too good.

P.S. The boys are doing swell! Some park rangers came in on a boat yesterday (and we were so helpful! You’d be proud.) They said they saw the boys and they were being the opposite of lazy as the drifted down river. Team awesome for multiple wins!

From SAGA Staff: Thanks for your fabulous work, AN5! It's especially great to see your efforts during Invasive Weed Awareness Week in Alaska! Check out Governor Parnell's official proclamation, declaring June 19 - 25 as Invasive Weed Awareness Week in 2011. Find out more from the Alaska Invasive Species Working Group. Click here to learn more about exotic plant management in Alaska's National Parks specifically.

Leadership Training Ends...New Beginnings Ahead! --Maria Nilson, Field Educator

2011-06-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

Leadership training has come to an end and our crews will be joining us here in Juneau so very soon. We have been anxiously awaiting their arrival for weeks now and are excited to start our season! All of this upcoming excitement has allowed us to reflect on the past couple months of training and look back on all of the amazing things we have experienced and learned together.

As a group of 24 leaders you can imagine how different we all must be and that cannot be more accurate. We have come from all over the country and bring to the table different ideas and styles of learning and leading. To some this may be the making of a disaster, but it has been a most perfect “mash up” of personalities as us Sagans would refer to it as. Together we have been challenged in a multitude of ways. I myself have become more tolerant of spicy food and now on occasion put hot sauce in my stone soup. Also, as being voted most likely to be eaten by a bear by my peers have overcome my unhealthy fear of bears by having my first “encounter” just yesterday. Needless to say I survived and am embracing the bragging rights that I have bestowed upon myself. For others the challenges have been different. Living with such a large group of people for an extended amount of time can be difficult. We brushed our teeth together, ate every meal together, and even spent our free time together, but the friendships we have formed are proving to be priceless and hard to put into words. As we all say goodbye and make our move to serve Alaska with our crews we have so many awesome memories to take with us. While taking a poll of favorite memories these ranked the highest: fires on the beach, cabin trips, team building games, whale watching and of course (pun intended) the high ropes.


A crew of Team Leaders and Field Educators prepares to hop a plane for trail work on Admiralty Island


Practicing Wilderness First Responder skills

It was not all fun and games mind you. We studied very hard during our Wilderness First Responder training, had our chainsaw training in pouring rain, and endured collectively several hours in a van with at least six pairs of smelly feet at a time. Now, we are all Wilderness First Responders, Leave No Trace Trainers, odor tolerant, and most importantly compassionate and motivated leaders. I have all the confidence in the world in my peers and have no doubt that they will have successful seasons.

Global Youth Services Day! - by Sara DeLeo, SAGA Connections Member (Community Volunteer Specialist)

2011-05-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

Just a few weeks ago, on April 15^th, months of hard work and planning came together for Global Youth Services Day, a day focused on engaging youth in community service and volunteerism. For the past several years, one of the SAGA AmeriCorps Members – the Community Volunteer Specialist – heads this effort. This year, it was my turn.

The day went off without a hitch. At 8 am, SAGA members came rolling in for breakfast and an overview of the day. The many Team Leaders and Field Educators in the Corps Program were combined with the Juneau Connections members and placed into five groups. Each group was given a specific school and service site to be "in charge of." Every team was given a van, and a start time for their respective project site.

Floyd Dryden Middle School, Montessori Pre-School, Yaakoosge Alternative High School and Gastineau Elementary all took part in the day by assigning groups of students to project sites as well. The sites were the grounds of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, The Juneau – Douglas City Museum, A Toy and Book Drive at Floyd Dryden, The Gastineau Elementary Ski Trail and Wildflower Court Elderly Home.

SAGA’s AmeriCorps members met at 8am at the shop to go over an outline of the day. I divided them into teams, assigning them their project sites, gave each team a SAGA van for transportation, and gave them their schedule for the day. After that, (and some breakfast), it was off to do a day of service in the community!

The first team to leave headed to Gastineau Elementary to start the first of two rounds of trail work. Classes of 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th graders came out during their normal gym periods to load buckets with gravel, clear brush, and gather rocks to build an impressive culvert rock bridge.

The second team headed to Yakoosge High School where I outlined the day further with the students present. One group walked to the Museum while another group grabbed a bus to the glacier where they helped Forest Service workers clear brush for the approaching summer season.

Another team headed to Floyd Dryden middle school to pick up the collected donations of childrens toys and books that students had been bringing in since April 1^st. These toys have since been distributed to St. Vincent de Paul, Spunky Sprouts Day Care, and Gastineau Elementary’s library. A separate shipment was sent to Ketchikan two weeks ago with donations from the United Way! Thanks to Alaska Marine Lines, the shipment was sent free of charge, providing youth in other Southeast communities with new toys!

The final portion of the day was put together just a week prior to Global Youth Services Day. AmeriCorps members and Montessori students ages 4 to 6 went to visit the elders at Wildflower Court. Since Easter wasn’t far off, the students helped make Easter cards to take home to their parents.

All in all it was a successful day of community service activities, which left positive impressions with all involved. Approximately 180 students participated, along with 34 SAGA members. I never thought I’d plan something so large. It took about three months to get everything set up. Now that it is completed, my next big project will be National Public Lands Day in September which should keep me busy for the summer!

Visit to the Mendenhall Glacier - by Andrew Dubay, SAGA Connections Member at United Way

2011-05-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

Today we decided that we world hike to the glacier because I wanted to see it up close while the weather was still nice and not have to hike in a down pour or multiple inches of snow. Jared, Geoff, Nicole, Cathleen, Mirri, Claire and Me all left the trail head and started on the path to the gigantic Glacier. Now as all of my avid readers (Mother) know that I love me a good strenuous hike (NOT). Well its fine and we are actually having a good time chatting and getting to know each other a bit , learning about other jobs and how everyone’s week was. Well we hiked about 15 miles and there is a nice little sign that says

Left : Unmaintained Glacier Trail
Right: Normal Glacier Trail

Well I will give you two chances to guess which way we went, we trod on the path less traveled by. Now I was reassured that it was not bad and it took a lot of time off the hike. Ugh I guess if we can get it done quicker and go home and eat I’ll be happy. OMG this is not a path it’s like jungle bushwhacking I might as well have brought a Machete (Not the movie) with me. We are like just pushing trees and crap out of the way and climbing over tons of stuff to get closer to the Glacier. I don’t know, Jared was following the sun or sticking his fingers in the earth, but he heard a tree whisper he was like now we go left. OMG we come out to a clearing and I need to rest because I am going to have a heart attack. I may be 24 years old but I believe that Shelly Winters would have been better at this than I was. We start sliding down rocks and falling down little path ways which have tiny little rocks and crap. This is practically a repeat of Tepotzlan for me and its becoming a bit scary.

Cathleen and Nicole are both worried I am going to fall into them so I have now taken the position in front of them so they can just watch and laugh when I fall down the rocks. Geoff, Claire and Mirri have gone another way and we don’t see them for a while but they don’t die and I think they may have taken an easier route than the rest of us. Finally we get to this darn glacier.

Now we are not at some view point where we can look at the glacier I mean we are literally standing next to it. It’s one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen in my life. The glacier has such beauty, it’s made up of these colors of blue that I have never seen before, they are turquoise and they are so vivid and amazing, I could have sat in the glacier for hours looking at it. We walk in and through the ice caves taking pictures and enjoying the amazing beauty of it. Now the glacier is constantly melting and receding so as the water melts off we are the first people who have seen this for many years. Finally the others meet up and we take a break out by the water watching the sun melt the glacier and enjoy the magnificent beauty of the day.

We head back. This time we take a complete different route than before, it basically involves climbing up the side of a freaking mountain. Jared and Cathleen run up it like it’s a little hill from Telatubbies. Claire and Geoff are fine they are just walking with slower people. Mirri is fine; Nicole who has a completely metal leg with used Honda parts inside of it is doing fine. I on the other hand am huffing and puffing, I am so close to immediate death it’s not even funny. I can’t breathe I can’t talk I am barely able to just keep putting one foot in front of the other this is going to kill me. At one point we get to the top of part of the trail and it’s so windy it almost knocked me over. Now I turn around and Nicole is like holding on to a branch and the wind just blows the crap out of here, it was crazy windy. We finally make it back to the normal trail WHOOO HOOO. - Just a recap Nicole who is running a risk of having her kneecaps fly out of her leg at any second fine ,Andrew nothing physically wrong: Almost dead .

It takes us way too long to get out the woods and back to the van so we can go get food. It was an amazing sight and one of the most beautiful things ever but I don’t need to make that DARN hike ever again.

April Updates

2011-04-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

It's almost May?? Time flies when you’re having fun in Alaska. SAGA’s 2011 Team Leaders and Field Educators have been in Juneau for over a month now and it’s impressive how much they’ve already learned.

One notable event in March was the AmeriCorps Member Swearing-In. Outside the Capitol Building in downtown Juneau, Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell led our Members in the AmeriCorps Pledge and offered hearty encouragement for the service ahead.

Everyone went through (and passed!) an intensive Wilderness First Responder Course designed to prepare them for preventing and responding to medical issues in the backcountry. The course alternates between time in the classroom and considerable time outdoors, putting practical skills to the test and responding to scenarios—moulage (fake blood, bruising) and all!

With WFR under their belts, the group moved on to discussions of how to live safely and responsibly in the woods of Alaska, focusing on Leave No Trace principles and camping in bear country. Finally it was time to (safely!) fire up the chainsaws. At a lovely facility Out the Road in Juneau we spent a couple days learning to sharpen and maintain saws, limb and buck branches and logs and fell trees. We’ll get in some more practice in the next few weeks before service projects begin in earnest.

Technical trainings have been intermixed with fruitful discussions about leadership, fostering positive crew dynamic, communicating effectively in tough situations and goal setting.

SAGA Executive Director Joe Parrish discusses the Service Curve with our Members

Should be a very productive season in many ways and I think it’s safe to say we’re all already excited for Crew Members to arrive in June! And now for some gratuitous shots of beautiful Southeast Alaska :)

Happy Spring!

Spring has Sprung at SAGA!

2011-04-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks for stopping by the new SAGA blog! There's a wealth of information about SAGA's history, mission and programs on our homepage (www.servealaska.org) but we also wanted a special place to highlight the day-to-day activities of our incredibly dedicated AmeriCorps Members. A term of service has its ups and downs, its highs and lows, and this is the place to see just how they add up to an amazingly rewarding experience.

It's April which means SAGA's Connections Program is in full gear. SAGA's individual placement AmeriCorps Members have been serving at sites throughout Alaska since September. They'll wrap up their terms at the end of the summer. In fact, they're spending today together at the Juneau office with their Program Manager and Education Coordinator to talk about life after AmeriCorps (what? that exists?!). That doesn't mean they're anywhere close to slowing down, though. Expect stories and photos from their service sites soon!

The Corps staff spent the last few months of winter huddled in our office, planning training sessions, checking in with project sponsors, preparing the shop for our new leaders and drinking far too much coffee (well, speaking for myself, anyway). So we were beyond excited to welcome spring and new AmeriCorps Members! Christy and Aaron, this year’s Field Support Specialists, arrived on March 14. They’ve served with SAGA before and we’re very happy to have them back to share their knowledge with the new Team Leaders and Field Educators. We’re only a couple of weeks in and already they’ve been a huge help to the staff here! Once the season gets in full swing, they’ll be on the move, roving from crew to crew to provide technical assistance and moral support.

We welcomed the Corps’ 22 new Team Leaders and Field Educators on March 21—a beautiful sunny day in Juneau! So far they’ve settled into their new digs at SAGA’s Eagle Valley Center (hooray for snow camping!), learned about the history and mission of SAGA and practiced safe navigation of the roads in our 15 passenger vans (under the watchful eye of Senior Field Coordinator and SAGA Fleet Admiral C. Allen Truitt). We also spent a gorgeous day out at the Eagle Valley Center doing team building (including high ropes…woohoo!) with Nate, the EVC and Education Manager, and Katie, SAGA’s Connections Member at the EVC. It was a great day complete with impressive balancing acts, name games and the season’s first documented spontaneous song session. All in all, a most promising start! Stay tuned for more stories from the Corps: the good, the challenging, the beautiful and the muddy!

- Hollis Emery (Corps Regional Manager, Southeast)

Setting up the group wall tent, home sweet home for meals, group meetings and card games aplenty

Sneaking through the spiderweb

The gang getting ready for high ropes

Reaching great heights