Today John led a group of 12 SCUM and two dogs in a highly effective several hours of cutting trees and brush (all early successional trees, i.e. willows, alders) from the trails to be used for Junior Nationals in March as well as sections of the White Bear trail. Skiers, spectators, and disk golfers will notice the difference the late season cat work and brushing has done.

We broke up into 2 groups working on the South Tower and Relay Return, and two groups on the White Bear, so I didn’t get photos of the group that was the furthest from the Birch Hill stadium. There were two groups within each group: cutters and brush haulers.

Some of the younger SCUM haven’t retired yet so were unable to participate in our work party today. Thus, Dave Prusak and Eric Buetow got a head start on Sunday when they worked with John on the South Tower uphill:

Norma, Tim Woster, Mike Schmoker, Robert, Bernardo, Kent, Cam, Tim Prusak, Mike Mathers, Bob Moloney, Dave, Eric, and yours truly had enjoyable day helping John and the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks widen the trails so our groomers can make trails even better this winter. It won’t be long before we’ll be skiing.