By Ron Brown & Faris Tanyos
 
September 5, 2008
 
NEAR SELMA, Ore. -- This month the Bureau of Land Management is calling for volunteers to work on special projects that might not get done otherwise.
 
National Public Lands Day is the last Saturday of September, but beginning next weekend, there will be a series of work projects to build trails, trim brush, and complete other repairs.
 
One such project involves the Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Interpretative Area. On September 27th, 60 to 70 volunteers will be joining together to make improvements to the biological treasure.
 
"We are building a one-mile trail down to the river from the Eight Dollar Mountain boardwalk area...Right now there's a pulloff and there's a boardwalk. And what we're gonna do is build another trail down to the river and also stain the boardwalk handrails," says Jeane Klein with the Grants Pass BLM.
 
This is the 15th National Public Lands Day. The Medford District started these projects 20 years ago with the Jenny Creek restoration.
 
"The projects have largely been designed and coordinated with the help of different use groups like cross country ski groups, or hiking groups, or snowmobile groups. But the projects will each have a BLM crew leader, so people just need to show up," says National Monument Assistant Manager Howard Hunter.
 
Other projects that will be completed this month include maintenance of the Cascade and Siskiyou National Monument in the Jenny Creek area, as well as on the Topsy Campground on the Upper Klamath River. There is also a project at Steens Mountain to remove an old barbed-wire fence in the wilderness area.
 
If you would like to help with a public lands day project, contact your local BLM office for dates and information, or visit www.publiclandsday.org