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Friends of Allegheny Wilderness rep attends National Wilderness Workshop in Bend, Oregon

Photos submitted to Times Observer Above, many of the more than 200 participants in the National Wilderness Workshop spent Saturday, Oct. 26, going on a variety of field trips to nearby natural areas. Most were to the renowned There Sisters Wilderness just to the west of Bend. Johnson’s group hiked up to scenic Sisters Mirror Lake on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. The snow-capped South Sister Mountain can just be made out through the clouds in the upper left corner of the photograph. Johnson is on the far left.
Photos submitted to Times Observer From left, Eric Flood and Kirk Johnson meet again. Flood was the wilderness ranger for the Allegheny National Forest from 2001 to 2007, and played an important role in helping Friends of Allegheny Wilderness get started in their wilderness trail stewardship work for the Allegheny. He currently works in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Flood and Johnson were attending the opening reception and poster session at the National Wilderness Workshop in Bend on Wednesday evening, Oct. 23.

Kirk Johnson, executive director for the Warren-based non-profit organization Friends of Allegheny Wilderness, recently attended the annual National Wilderness Workshop, hosted by the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance and Society for Wilderness Stewardship, for the first time since 2012. This year the Workshop was held in Bend, Oregon, from October 22 to 26.

Many organizations represented by more than 200 wilderness stewards, wilderness advocates, agency managers, and other wilderness aficionados and professionals descended on this scenic central Oregon (east of the Cascade Mountains) location in order to discuss in-depth the latest wilderness science, wilderness stewardship strategies, advances in Leave No Trace ethics, and other related topics. Johnson also participated in an intensive two-day Leave No Trace training during the week, formally earning his certificate as a Leave No Trace trainer.

FAW has been the official adopting organization of the 13-mile Hickory Creek Wilderness trail in the Allegheny National Forest since its inception in 2001.

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