Greg Graves

People volunteer for lots of reasons. For me, it started with a “Help Wanted” sign.

When my wife and I moved to the area, we started walking the trails at the Indian Island County Park with our dogs in tow. We struck up a friendship with Dennis Burk, who took care of those trails for many years. When a section of Isthmus Trail collapsed along the edge of the bluff, a sign appeared at the trailhead asking for volunteers to help Dennis relocate and rebuild the missing section. I gladly stepped forward.

After finishing that project and relocating a troublesome section on Portage Trail, we focused primarily on trail maintenance and cleanup.

Now, six years later, my wife and I are still at it. We appreciate the gratitude passersby express, but we do it as much for ourselves as for others. In fact, it’s almost a selfish effort since we still regularly use those trails.

In my time volunteering, I’ve learned there’s a lot of gratification that comes from doing things that are necessary, even if they’re not particularly enjoyable. I try to enlist others to join me with these less desirable tasks. We tackle the constantly encroaching Himalayan blackberries along the trails’ edges and carry out “search and destroy missions” against invasive teasel before it can flower and go to seed. We progress gradually, but it is a never ending battle. And there are always the mundane tasks of picking up trash and mowing and trimming.

Volunteers play a critical role in these kinds of efforts. There can never be enough paid staff to manage these details while also maintaining each park facility and providing recreational opportunities.

Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Manager Matt Tyler has data that shows while total reported volunteer hours continue to increase, the number of active volunteers is actually declining. This is concerning. Fewer people working more hours is not a good recipe for sustainability. This is especially true when all the anecdotal evidence indicates park usage is increasing. We as a community need to come together to actively invest in our public spaces.

If you are looking for a chance to make a difference, I urge you to consider this your “Help Wanted” sign. There is a wide range of opportunities with Jefferson County Parks and Recreation. Best of all, most of them involve being outdoors and getting some good physical activity. There’s a place for you whether you want to make an ongoing commitment though the Adopt-A-Park program or just help out when you can during an organized work party. Or maybe you’d like to join the advisory board when a vacancy comes up.

In the Sept. 25 issue, The Leader reported on a cookout at HJ Carroll Park honoring the volunteers who work in our County Parks and Recreation programs. This is the third consecutive year the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board has sponsored this event. Over the five years I have served on this board, I have been impressed by and grateful for the contributions from our volunteers. We on the Advisory Board put on this event as a small token of our appreciation. As a volunteer caretaker of Indian Island County Park, I get to see both sides. There is a lot of good information in that article and I encourage you to read it.

If you want to get involved, contact Matt Tyler at 360-385-9129 or at MTyler@co.jefferson.wa.us. You can learn more about Jefferson County Parks and Recreation at www.countyrec.com.

(Greg Graves has been volunteer steward of Indian Island Park for six years and has served five years on the Jefferson County Parks & Recreation Advisory Board. He can be found most mornings working on one of the trails at Indian Island or enjoying them with his wife and their dogs.)