Back Country Horseman Article

There was a great article about the National Back Country Horseman (BCH) on HorseCity.com.

After taking in this article, be sure to check out the Mt. St. Helen's chapter of the BCH. They meet locally and are very active in maintaining our trails.

Back Country Horseman of America Volunteer Hours

Posted: Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Back Country Horsemen of America is pleased to announce that its members performed 244,840 hours of volunteer service for the year 2007 to benefit trail users in the back country. BCHA has member organizations in 25 states.

These hours were trail work and leave-no-trace educational training. The trail work included building trail head facilities, building and repairing bridges, manual trail work, and packing equipment, provisions and mail for trail crews, like the Youth Conservation Corps. All of the time is volunteered on national, state and local public lands including the state parks, USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and The National Park Service.

Travel miles to get horses and equipment to the work sites in 2007 was 1,079,870 miles. Stock days were 13,430. A stock day is one horse or mule used for one work day. The dollar value for hours, mileage and stock was $5,619,373 in 2007.

"We're proud of our volunteer work," said Mike Reedy, Chairman. He continued: "We work long hours at remote sites. Our national volunteer hours for the past thirteen years are 1,646,519.

Think of the dollar value as a gift or donation to the people of the United States who use our back country totaling $37,205,036. Impressive, don't you think!"

Founded in 1973, Back Country Horsemen of America is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the historical use of recreational stock on all public lands commensurate with this country's heritage. The group works to do this by assisting various government and private agencies in their maintenance and management of said resource as well as by educating, encouraging, and soliciting active participation in the wise use of the back country resource by horsemen and the general public. BCHA's membership is made up of individuals and organized groups across the country. Membership is open to all. BCHA can be found online at www.backcountryhorse.com. You can also contact toll free at 888-893-5161 for further information.