As the Trans-Pecos Pipeline threatens the beauty of the Big Bend area, we urge all Texans to raise awareness of the pipeline's detrimental impact. Let's explore, enjoy, and protect our Big Bend. In that spirit, we are organizing a restoration service trip to Big Bend National Park. This will be the Chapter's second service trip at Big Bend National Park. Last year, Chapter members from across Texas came to help restore prairie and plant trees at BBNP. Plus, on our day off, we visited the town of Boquillas across the Rio Grande for lunch and hiked in the park. Check out the video:
This year, the plan is to restore what used to be a road to usable habitat. We might also do some additional prairie restoration work.
We start the project on Monday morning, October 19, and work through Friday, October 23, with Wednesday as a free day. However, volunteers need to arrive no later than Sunday, October 18, to set up camp and for orientation. Work begins on Monday at 9:00am and subsequent workdays begin at 8:00am. All of the workdays end at 5:00pm. These will be full workdays and we will be performing manual labor outdoors in a remote location, so you will need to be in reasonably good physical condition.
Lunch is provided every work day, but volunteers should bring food for each day’s breakfast and dinner and lunch on Wednesday. Last year, some volunteers chose to eat in the evening at the Lodge in the Basin, since we camped close by. Also, everyone decided to have dinner together at the Lodge on our last day at the park. Volunteers packed up and left after Saturday morning breakfast. There will be no charge to camp.
Under Sierra Club guidelines, all participants will be required to sign a liability waiver in order to participate.
The registration fee is $50 per person, which includes a $20 donation to Big Bend National Park.
If you are interested and would like additional information, please contact me, Evelyn Merz, at elmerz@hal-pc.org with your e-mail address and telephone number.
To learn more about the fight to stop the Trans-Pecos Pipeline, visit the Big Bend Sierra Club Group's Facebook page.
