YSSP Nature Trail1

Mt. Ashland’s annual Youth Summer Service program is underway with incoming 8th and 9th graders building a new nature trail. Kim Clark, the ski area’s general manager has a vision of making Mt. Ashland more accessible to the people in the Rogue Valley on a year-round basis. Last summer Mt. Ashland staff members presented a proposal to the U.S. Forest Service to build a nature trail within the ski area permit boundary that would provide local residents and visitors an opportunity to walk the ¾ mile trail and enjoy the natural beauty of the Siskiyou crest. Mt. Ashland hopes to have the trail available by next summer. The trail was designed to be handicap compliant and will feature 14 points of interest along the way.

Mt. Ashland will construct a trailhead kiosk and produce brochures that will map the trail with descriptions of the various points of interest. The stopping points along the trail will be identified by a post with a number to minimize trail signage, and therefore maximize the natural experience. Benches will be constructed for resting and viewing purposes.

The Youth Summer Services program runs three consecutive weeks with 27 kids this summer roughing out the new trail. The program, now in its 15th year, engages Rogue Valley youth in environmental stewardship projects like stream-bed monitoring, planting native grass plugs or building water bars to divert spring run-off. In turn the kids earn 20 hours of community service and $150 credit toward a season pass for the coming season. The program won a national award among ski areas in 2002 for Environmental Education.

This year’s program participants will be able to return years from now and say that they constructed the ski area’s summer nature trail.