Tuesday, August 16, 2011

COLORADO CONNECTION

Colorado Connection

The well-known Colorado truck stop, Johnson’s Corner (http://johnsonscorner.com/), has become a staunch supporter of the NSA Trail Crew program. To that end, they have declared September 14 as “Smokejumper Day” and are going to donate 15% of the proceeds that day to our Trails program. They will have a display area for pictures of our activities. They did the same thing last year, from which we received almost $1,000.

They have also supported two specific trails projects, (thanks at least in part to the effort of Stan Linnertz MSO ‘61) one in Utah and one of the Stanley, ID projects by supplying all food, and even sending one of their employees with the company van to cook it.

So what can you do? If you would like to hang out that day, or part of it, contact Stan Linnertz stan@cmca.Com. Or, if you are ever in Colorado on I-25 between Longmont and Fort Collins, take Exit 254 and drop in. Identify yourself as a Smokejumper and say “Thanks for the support of the Trail Crew”. They just may say “Thanks” right back in a very pleasant way.

If you aren’t in the area, you can still say “Thanks”. Go to the link above and find a “Contact us” button to send them an email message.

They have a list of “Our Affiliations”. Along with the usual 4-H, Boys & Girls club, and other very worthy causes, you will find a link to the NSA Trails Maintenance Resource page maintained by Bill Ruskin (CJ ’58).

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

2011 NSA T.R.A.M.P.S Registration Form

Hello T.R.A.M.P.S. Here are the two pages of the 2011 Registration Form for NSA volunteers. The images are in .jpg format. You can either click each image to enlarge it for reading on your screen, you can also download and print them for you files.



Wednesday, January 19, 2011

THE PACK TEST-Work Capacity Testing for NSA Volunteers

Hello T.R.A.M.P.S. Here is the Pack Test for NSA volunteers. The image is in .jpg format. You can either click image to enlarge it for reading on your screen, you can also download and print it for you files.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Suggested Minimum Personal Gear for NSA Trail Projects


1. Large duffel(Approx.36'x18")
2. Shorts/Swimsuit
3. Sleeping Bag
4. Sleeping Pad
5. One / Two Man Tent
6. Sun Hat
7. Sleeping Hat (gets cold)
8. Work Pants (quick dry)
9. Personal Toliet / First Aid Kits
10. Rain Jacket / Hood
11. Personal Water Filter
12. Iodine Tablets
13. Flashlight / Extra Batteries
14. Fanny Pack
15. Bandana
16. Toliet / Moleskin
17. Large Water Bottle
18. Bear Spray / Belt Attachement
19. Insect Repelent
20. Sun Screen
21. Knife / Belt Attachment
22. Sun / Safety Glasses
23. Heavy Hiking / Work Boots
24. Light Weight Sock Liners
25. Heavy Wool Socks
26. Leather Work Gloves
27. Long Sleeve Work Shirt
28. Wool / Fleece Warm Jacket
29. Long Underwear (sleeping)
30. Creek Waders
31. Personal Towell
32. Stuff Sac Sleeping Pillow
33. Not Shown; Personal Hot / Cold Cup, Waterproof Matches, Whistle
NOTE: For back country projects, all equipment except what is needed during the hike in (fanny pack, water bottle, creek waders, etc.) should be packed inside the LARGE DUFFLE BAG.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Jon H. McBride

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MISSOULA – Jon Hobert McBride, 74, died of acute heart failure while on a bicycle trek with the “Boys of Wednesday,” a group of close friends, on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, near Missoula. The “boys” biked, hiked or skied every Wednesday throughout the year.

Jon was born in Springfield, Mo., on July 8, 1935, to Hobert and Ruth Rayl McBride.

He graduated from Springfield Central High School in 1953, studied at Drury College in Springfield and worked in white pine blister rust control for the U.S. Forest Service near Haugan. He studied forestry at the University of Montana from 1954 to 1957 and, while attending the university, was a smokejumper and smokejumper squad leader in the 1954 through 1956 fire seasons.

Jon qualified for the Navy’s NAVCAD Program in 1957, and was trained as a fighter pilot, eventually flying the F-8 Crusader from the carrier Bon Homme Richard with VF 191. He also served in an instructor training squadron at Miramar, Calif.

He married Patricia Ann “Trish” Walsh in 1959, in Mountain View, Calif., near Moffett Field where he was then stationed.

Following his discharge as a full lieutenant from the Navy in 1965, Jon was hired as one of the Mobil Oil Corp.’s first corporate jet pilots. While flying for that firm he was stationed in White Plains, N.Y.; Singapore; and Washington, D.C. He retired as Mobil’s worldwide director of aviation in 1995, then returned to Missoula where he had attended college and was based as a smokejumper.

With another former smokejumper, Art Jukkala, he founded a trail maintenance program for the National Smokejumper Association in 1999. Jukkala died of a heart attack that year while on the program’s first project, and Jon assumed its lead. Under his management for the last 10 years, former and current smokejumpers have rehabilitated well over a thousand miles of trails for the Forest Service and the National Park Service and restored dozens of structures including historic lookouts and ranger stations in Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, California, Colorado, Utah and Minnesota. Jon also founded and managed a scholarship program in memory of Jukkala to benefit children of smokejumpers killed in the line of duty or in war.

His leadership was recognized in a letter from President Barack Obama and an award from the chief of the Forest Service.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia and son Jon of Missoula; brother Joe of Berkeley, Calif.; and cousin Judy of Garrison.

Memorial services will be conducted for Jon beginning at 8 a.m. on July 16 and July 24, in the Museum of Mountain Flying at Missoula’s Johnson-Bell Field.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations may be made in his memory to the National Smokejumper Association’s Good Samaritan Fund, which meets the special needs of current and former smokejumpers. Donations may be mailed to NSA, P.O. Box 4081, Missoula, MT 59806.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

NSA TRAIL MAINTENANCE REPORT 2009


NSA TRAIL MAINTENANCE REPORT 2009

To

NSA BOARD of DIRECTORS

October 9, 2009 Boise, Idaho

Overview: This was the program’s eleventh year. Created by the late Art Jukkala (Missoula ‘56), it continues to expand in popularity with our NSA membership and demand from the USFS, and this year from the U S Park Service. During 2009, we sponsored or provided for 27 projects with 282 project volunteers, compared to the 213 volunteers in 2008. No injuries or lost time incidents occurred.

Production: Projects were completed in Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Utah, California, Minnesota and Colorado.

· Our volunteers cleared more than 150 miles of trail, completed major repairs to Forest Service facilities at Big Prairie in the Northern Bob Marshall, repaired and built trail and major trail structures, upgraded building structures and built major corrals and fences. The Big Prairie project required hiking 3 days for 30 miles one way to reach the site. (60 miles round trip)

· They also repaired numerous water bars and check dams, cleared brush, cut hundreds of trees and logs, rebuilt sections of many trails, and hacked out miles of tread.

· In the Bitterroot National Forest they cleared severe downfall on 7 miles of trail that was considered impossible in the time allowed.

· They provided management and labor for building a bridge across the Clearwater River and clearing trail around Clearwater Lake in the Lolo N F in Montana. This project was doomed to failure as drop outs had occurred in early July leaving 4 volunteers to complete this difficult assignment. The Missoula Smokejumpers heard about this situation and jumped 5 smokejumpers on the project and assigned a 20 man fire training crew. All assignments were completed on time. This bridge has become a showplace to visit and admire the bridge.

· A one-week crew completed restoration of the Double Arrow Lookout near Seeley Lake Montana. This was a 5 year effort and will allow the lookout to be rented out in summers ahead.

· Roger Savage (Missoula ‘57) and his scouting teams continue to be a major factor in our success in opening long abandoned trails in wilderness.

· California, Colorado and Minnesota continue to expand as more volunteers sign on for these projects.

Mann Gulch. A project in Mann Gulch in July and August produced NSA publicity on TV and major Montana Newspapers as we provided former Smokejumpers to act as hosts to visitors during the 60th anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire.

Funding: Funding this year came from the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Sawtooth Society, Lolo, Idaho Pan Handle, Dixie, Beaverhead, Superior, Tahoe, Helena and Clearwater National Forests, Robie Foundation, ExxonMobil Corporation and Johnson’s Corners (a truck stop on Interstate 25 near Fort Collins, Colorado) thanks to Stan Linnertz (MSO ’61). Various NSA Members continue to provide donations on a yearly basis. We express our sincere thanks to all.

Tools: We maintain a large tool cache and we’re able to provide tools for all projects with the exception of the saws, hammers, levels, squares and other hand tools needed for cabin rehabilitation projects. Those, for the most part are provided by our volunteers. The Missoula Aerial Fire Depot continues to loan us crosscut saws every year. Tool certification is provided by our in-house certifiers (Jeff Kindeman and Richard Hulla) and First Aid training and CPR certification is provided by Missoula AFD. Rod McIver oversees/maintains our hand tools while Chuck Fricke oversees/maintains our Chain Saws. Tom Blunn provides carpentry skills necessary to build and maintain our stove boxes and yearly warehouse modifications.

EMT’s: A new position has been created this year and that is “Chief EMT”, or chief “DR” (Doctor) as he is called. This position is held by Jim Phillips (MSO 67-71). The objective of this position is to provide communication with all EMT’s and to bring attention of our volunteers, to their personal responsibility toward health and physical conditioning before arriving on project. In support of Jim is Ivan Kays (Associate and retired Pharmacist) who oversees our First Aid kits and supplies.

Scholarships: The NSA Trail Maintenance Program has undertaken the sponsorship of two scholarship programs:

The Art Jukkala Scholarship Program. A program sponsored and funded by the Trail Program, interested members of the NSA and the general public. This program provides a $2000 yearly scholarship to children of smokejumpers killed in the line of duty at a college or school of their choice. Two scholarships have been awarded in 2006.

The NSA Trail Maintenance Smokejumper Chair Scholarship Fund at the University of Montana College of Forestry and Conservation at Missoula. A program sponsored by NSA Trail Maintenance and funded by interested members of the NSA. This program provides one yearly scholarship to a smokejumper forestry student or a forestry student child of a smokejumper. One Scholarship has been awarded in 2009 to Steven Mohr, son of a former smokejumper. Steven was a Hot Shot fire fighter.

Advisory Council: The NSA Trail Maintenance Advisory Council, formed in May 2002, meets at least once each year. Its fifteen members are advisers to the Trail Maintenance Coordinator who serves at their pleasure. They review operations and financial accounts, recommend policies and serve as an oversight committee. A list of these names is available upon request.

Jon H. McBride (Missoula ‘54)

NSA Trail Maintenance Coordinator

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Earl Cooley

Earl Cooley

A firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, in 1940 Cooley volunteered for a new program: "Smokejumper". Cooley and one other man were the first to do it -- to fly over a remote forest fire in an airplane and parachute down to fight the fire. "Our training consisted of a man saying: 'This is your parachute. You know what fire is. We jump tomorrow'," Cooley remembered. He had never been in an airplane before. He did 10 practice jumps, and then he was dispatched to a real fire. The entire "team" consisted of Cooley and Rufus Robinson; Robinson jumped first. Cooley landed in a tree, but climbed down and by morning they had the fire under control. "I don't know why, but I was never afraid to jump," Cooley once said, even though in 1949, a team of 12 smokejumpers he sent in to a Montana fire were killed when the wind shifted, turning their escape route into an inferno. Cooley was exonerated of any wrongdoing, "but I still look at that map and have thought about it every day since then," he said in 1994. The only other thing he didn't like about the job: having to walk out of the fire area when the job was done. Cooley helped found the National Smokejumper Association and served as its first president. He retired from the Forest Service in 1975, and died November 9 at age 98.

The First Smokejumpers
The first smokejumpersTaken in Missoula, Mont., 1940: Back row: Glen Smith, Earl Cooley, Merle Lundrigan, Jim Alexander, Chect Derry. Kneeling: Rufus Robinson, Jim Waite, Frank Derry, George Case (district ranger, not a smokejumper), Dick Lynch, Bill Bolen. Their salary: $193 per month. (Photo: National Smokejumper Association)


From This is True for 15 November 2009

Suggestions for further reading:

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America
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Customer Review: I'm a big fan of Thoreau's writing, and I was looking forward to reading this book. It's rare to see fiction with characters such as Thoreau, and I had read some of the good reviews here, so I was tempted. But near the halfway mark I'm giving up: the...

The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal
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Customer Review: Really a must read for the Squad Boss to the Fire Chief.
Not always a fan of the author, but without his book many of the details of this tragedy would never have been told. This story needed to be told. I retired as a fire manager in 2004,...

Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire
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