2024 Multi-Day Volunteer Adventures

The West Boulder River is one of the iconic rivers in the heart of an iconic Wilderness. Famous for fly fishing and scenic riverside meadows, the West Boulder’s meandering nature is relatively unique for the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness. Join us in protecting critical wildlife habitat that is relied upon by elk, mule deer, moose, bear, cutthroat trout, osprey, beavers and the myriad of native creatures large and small. We will be camping near the trailhead and hiking several miles each day to remove and limit the spread of invasive species along the trail and in a key riparian area along this blue-ribbon trout stream eligible for national Wild & Scenic River status. After a hard day’s work volunteers will have the special treat of Camp Chef Maxwell Maynard serving up local products from communities around the AB Wilderness.

Walk with us into the Beartooths to create your own memories as we make way for others to experience world class vistas, booming chains of high alpine lakes, and granite exposures which kiss the weathering sky. Our basecamp at the historic US Forest Service Ranger Station Cabin, near the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park, provides comfortable amenities at a heart-pumping elevation of 7,900 feet. Volunteers will hike up to 12 miles a day on various trails with crosscut saws, pulaskis and other tools clearing downed trees and waterbars along the way as we clear trails for others to follow.

One might rightfully say that “The Beaten Path” is Montana’s most iconic Wilderness trail. Be part of history you can tell your grandkids about as we assist the USFS in rebuilding several miles washed out in the thousand-year flood of Spring 2022. This is your chance to play a helping hand in a project at a scale that hasn’t been seen since the era of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The project will provide a classic Beartooth experience with miles of walking, heavy tool swinging and lots and lots of rock movement as we put the finishing touches on the new trail. After a hard day’s work volunteers will have the special treat of Camp Chef Maxwell Maynard serving up local products from communities around the AB Wilderness.

Few places are as enchanting as Meatrack Meadows on a clear and green early July day. Pack your fly rod, creek crossing sandals and comfy camp shoes for a week of habitat remediation and wild rejuvenation. Each year, ABWF returns to this phenomenal place in an effort to stop the spread of the noxious weed Houndstongue into critical grazing habitat for elk and deer. Sign of moose and bear grace the area, as well as traces of human trails and hunting camps. Become one of the many who have stewarded and been fulfilled by this landscape since time immemorial.

Who doesn’t like a good construction project? Help us build a puncheon to keep trail users safe and protect an alpine wetland for many years to come. Problem solving, team work, and smart heavy lifting will accompany gorgeous evenings and hearty meals at camp. After packing in our camp assisted by Backcountry Horsemen we will be digging, rolling logs, carrying materials, pounding nails, and repeatedly bending and lifting daily. Bring lots of extra socks, breathable camp shoes, mosquito head net, bug spray and a willingness to work. The visual and tactile outcomes of this project are hugely rewarding!

Although the National Wilderness Preservation System may be the current “gold standard” for land protection, designating any area as Wilderness does not end the need to maintain and take care of it. Functioning ecosystem services require constant, and intentional, stewardship inside and outside the Wilderness boundary. One of the standards important to the Wilderness experience is “opportunities for solitude.” Join our Executive Director and Absaroka-Beartooth expert Joe Josephson on our most spectacular Citizen Science project to date. ABWF will train you in all the necessary citizen science protocols and data collection. This 22+ mile journey, following historic (and forgotten) trails, will take you to beautiful alpine lakes below impressive granite spires, tagging summits over 10,000 feet and past unique geologic wonders.

This self-sufficient journey crosses the entire Wilderness area with the unique opportunity to have the logistics of a “thru-hike” covered as part of the trail work project. Starting in the high country near the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park we will descend the Stillwater River valley for 26 miles, while stopping to clear waterbars, cut downed trees, and brush along a heavily vegetated trailside. We will camp in a new site each night in one of the least frequented major valleys of The ABW. ABWF will organize the shuttles including a drive over the Beartooth Highway – considered the most scenic drive in America!

Although the National Wilderness Preservation System may be the current “gold standard” for land protection, designating any area as Wilderness does not end the need to maintain and take care of it. Functioning ecosystem services require constant, and intentional, stewardship inside and outside the Wilderness boundary. One of the standards important to the Wilderness experience is “opportunities for solitude.” This year, ABWF is piloting a new program to collect data on “solitude” which will help the USFS in their annual assessment and stewardship performance of the A-B Wilderness. ABWF will train you in all the necessary citizen science protocols and data collection as we make an off trail “out and back” across the legendary Lake Plateau littered with alpine lakes. Unfortunately, the number of trout you will catch in these world class fisheries is not part of the data collection.