Volunteers and staff at Big Trees State Park rolled up their sleeves last week and “spring cleaned” exhibits in the small museum in the Visitors Center, getting ready for summer. Park Ranger Wendy Harrison, who manages the volunteer program, couldn't remember the last time the museum had been cleaned.

The volunteers dusted and carefully cleaned mouse droppings off fragile historic artifacts and animal specimens. It was just one more of a diversity of odd jobs that volunteers have taken on at the park, where staff shortages have a way of leaving loose ends that never seem to get knotted.

“A lot of the volunteers are retired,” Harrison said, “because they tend to have the time. It's harder for younger folks to stay involved. We're kind of lucky in that Arnold is a retirement community, and people who retire here love using the park.”

Free access to the park is one of the fringe benefits of being a volunteer.

Big Trees is gearing up for spring and summer, when school groups and tourists come see the park, creating the greatest need for interpretive service providers. Harrison is preparing for a few days of volunteer training later this month and next.

“We recruit this time of year due to being too busy during the summer,” she said. By the end of May, she added, the park will have “a full slate of interpretive activities” going on.

Volunteers have to sign a contract with the state of California and spend a day at the park learning about park and state policy and determining the kind of jobs they would like to do at Big Trees. The “job description” is tailor-made, within reason. Whatever a would-be volunteer wants to do, has the skills to perform and is of value to park staff is within the ball park. (See list of possible jobs available).

“We want to keep our volunteers,” Harrison said, meaning that voluntary work is necessarily negotiable. This summer looks to present park managers with a challenge due to state budgets cuts, which will reduce the park's seasonal employees to half the level normally seen in years past. Harrison is optimistic, but skeptical. “I don't know if we're going to have as full a scheduled this year,” she said of the interpretive programs offered in the park.

Donna Shorts, busy cleaning a Mi-Wuk burden basket, has worked as a volunteer docent at the park for the past five years, and at the new Warming Hut this past winter, greeting park visitors and offering them a cup of hot cider or chocolate and a seat by the fire. She also worked on the hut's construction, fabricating the wheelchair access ramp and installing plumbing fixtures. President's Day weekend was particularly busy at the Warming Hut, Shorts said. “Word got out that there was free hot chocolate,” she said. Three hundred people came that day and were served hot drinks by a toasty fire.

“The main thing is, I've really enjoyed working with the other docents,” Shorts said. “It's a social thing. It's great talking with people who come visit here. People who come to this park are pretty interested in nature.”

Margaret Bell, cleaning artifacts alongside Shorts, has racked up 5,000 hours as a volunteer. Bell has worked at the park since 1992. The state keeps track of her time for the purpose of awarding her with tokens of recognition, she said.

“I do a lot of guided walks and hikes and thematic school programs,” Bell said. “The kids are just great. ...It's just meeting all the people. People say to me, ‘You're so wonderful, so good for doing all this stuff.' I think it's just very rewarding. I get out of it so much more than I put into it. ...Satisfaction ...is the word.”

Gaylord Blackburn has been a volunteers since 1987. He said he used to be the youngest person in the group. Now, in his early 80s, he holds rank. “I've got the stripes,” he joked. Blackburn does maintenance at the park. A lifelong electrician, he is responsible for remodeling the visitor center, putting in the track lighting, central air conditioning and heating and constructing wall-to-wall floor cabinets, to provide more storage space for books and other sales merchandise. Another project Blackburn took credit for was the relocation of an electrical console used for Campfire Circle audiovisual programs.

But Blackburn knows his limits; he's not a tour leader. “I'd get into trouble if I did that,” he said. “I don't hear good; that's the main thing. I enjoy construction.”

Photo extras by Phillip Gomez can be see by clicking here.

Contact Phillip Gomez at pgomez@calaverasenterprise.com.