MN-3734
September 8–12, 2008
Must commit to full session
Built in 1935, Rabideau CCC Camp was one of 4,600 Civilian Conservation Corps camps established in the 1930s across the United States. Thirteen of the original 25 buildings at Rabideau remain standing and include the mess hall, barracks, officer quarters, recreation hall, hospital, and education building. Rabideau was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. We believe it has the largest number of unaltered buildings in federal ownership. As you may imagine, restoration and maintenance of so many structures have been quite a challenge.
During this project, we will focus on completing the recreation building restoration. Volunteers will help paint, install insulation, seal the floor, rebuild interior walls and ceiling, replace wainscoting and other interior details, and install electric fixtures. If time permits, we may also work on other buildings that need attention, replacing window glass, doing minor landscaping, seeding and mulching, and repairing furniture.
Number of openings: 12
Special skills: Carpentry skills helpful but not required
Minimum age: Under 18 with a responsible adult
Facilities: Forest Service campgrounds and motels in Cass Lake, Bemidji, and Blackduck
Nearest towns: Cass Lake, 30 miles; Blackduck, 6 miles; Bemidji, 20 miles
Applications due: July 7, 2008
Due to unforseen circumstances, the project listed earlier may not be offered this year. In its place, on the same days, the Chippewa NF offers the following project. If you have already applied to the earlier project, you need not reapply. You will be contacted shortly regarding the changes and potential participation.
MN-3769
July 7-11; 14-18; 21-25, 2008
Must commit to full session; may participate in more
The Chippewa NF site will contain remains of early prehistoric occupations of the Mississippi Headwaters area. During this time period, people developed the use of pottery, expanded the use of wild rice resources, began building burial mounds, and the population increased significantly. There may also be a fur trade post and an early 20th century component. (The exact location of the excavation has not been finalized at the time of this posting.) Volunteers will excavate portions of the site to obtain data that will help evaluate its eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. Work will include trowel and shovel excavation, screening, completing forms, sketch mapping, taking notes and photographs, and collecting samples.
Number of openings: 40
Special skills: Must be able to sit or kneel to work on the ground
Minimum age: 15 years old; under 18 with a responsible adult
Facilities: Tent and RV camping at FS campgrounds, showers and electric hookups; camping fees waived for the days you volunteer; volunteers responsible for personal camping equipment and food; motels in Cass Lake and Bemidji
Nearest towns: Cass Lake, 15 miles; Bemidji, 30 miles; Deer River, 30 miles
Applications due: May 5, 2008
Due to unforseen circumstances, the project listed earlier may not be offered this year. In its place, on the same days, the Chippewa NF offers the following project. If you have already applied to the earlier project, you need not reapply. You will be contacted shortly regarding the changes and potential participation.
MN-3770
August 11-15 2008
Must commit to full session
Participants in the laboratory session will identify, describe, and catalog artifacts and samples excavated from the Chippewa NF Site. Materials recovered during previous PIT projects in the Chippewa NF included both prehistoric and historic period artifacts. Among the prehistoric artifacts were ceramics and stone tools. Historic period artifacts included gun parts (shell casings, percussion caps, a gun flint), a nit comb, a dime bank, 1909 & 1911 coins, ceramic doll fragments, and lots & lots of seed beads. We expect that this summer's excavation will yield more of the same and perhaps some surprises. Lab activities include identifying rock, bone, pottery, and artifact types, sorting, counting, and labeling the items, and recording the data on data sheets.
Number of openings: 6
Special skills: Must be able to see and handle objects as small as 1/8 inch
Minimum age: 15 years old; under 18 with a responsible adult
Facilities: Tent and RV camping at FS campgrounds, showers and electric hookups; camping fees waived for the days you volunteer; volunteers responsible for personal camping equipment and food; motels in Cass Lake and Bemidji
Nearest towns: Office project in Cass Lake
Applications due: June 9, 2008
MN-3784
September 22-26; September 29-October 3 , 2008
Must commit to one full session; may participate in both
Here is your chance to visit the home of the famous PIT moose, who hails from a pictograph in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), a unique 1 million acre wilderness area located along the U.S. and Canada border in northeastern Minnesota.
This exciting project will require extensive travel by canoe and portage of canoes and equipment as we move (float, paddle, and portage) through rivers and lakes. We will intensively survey designated canoe- campsites where we know pre-contact archaeological sites to exist and test excavate selected sites and map them using GPS.
The BWCAW is a boreal wilderness located within the Superior National Forest and has over 1000 lakes, innumerable streams, and over 2,200 designated primitive campsites used by those traveling the 1,200 miles of backcountry canoe routes. The archaeological record of northeastern Minnesota includes all periods of North American prehistory from 11,000 B.C. to A.D. 1630. Archaeological sites in the BWCAW range from small ephemeral stone-tool processing workshops occupied sometime during the Paleoindian Period (11,000–6,000 B.C.) to large wild-ricing camps common in the Terminal Woodland Period (A.D. 1000–1630).
Join us on this rare opportunity as we paddle our way through this unique lake country wilderness as we discover yet unseen rich archaeological resources!
Number of openings: 6
Special skills: Must be an experienced backcountry camper, familiar with "Leave-no-Trace" camping practices; flat-water canoeing experience required; archaeological excavation and survey, site mapping and GPS (Trimble and Garmin) experience helpful but not required
Minimum age: 18 years old
Facilities: 4 nights tent-camping in primitive designated wilderness campsites, access by canoes only; canoes, safety gear, camping equipment, and meals provided
Nearest towns: Ely, 17 miles
Applications due: July 21, 2008
MN-3696
February 25-29; March 3-7, 2008
Must commit to full session; may participate in both
Please join us at the Iron Range Research Center in historic Chisolm, Minnesota for the second year of our “Disturbing the Dust” archival project! Last year volunteers successfully completed work on approximately 40 of the 100 boxes of historic materials spanning the near 100-year history of the Superior National Forest. The archival materials include historic photographs, journals, informal letters, official correspondence, maps, negatives, and a substantial amount of materials relating to the evolution of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In 2008, we will continue our efforts to organize the collection and stabilize vunerable media. Additional goals for the 2008 project include adding archival quality storage containers and entering box content information into a searchable database. Our long-term goal is to have the entire historic collection stabilized, accessible, and referenced to a searchable database.
Number of openings: 6
Special skills: Experience with Microsoft Access or Excel, helpful but not required
Minimum age: 15 years old; under 18 with a responsible adult
Facilities: Motels and hotels available in Chisholm and Hibbing
Nearest towns: Project in the Iron Range Research Center at Iron World USA in Chisolm; Hibbing, 7 miles
Applications due: December 18, 2007
MN-3777
September 8-12; 15-19 , 2008
Must commit to full session; may participate in both
|
Come help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the CCC at the historic CCC-constructed guard cabin at the Sawbill Lake Guard Station. Set above the shores of scenic Sawbill Lake, the NRHP-eligible guard station is a testament to the days of remote station work carried out by Forest Guards. The CCC boys at Sawbill Camp F-10 constructed the log cabin with saddle-notching for the Superior National Forest circa 1936 using the standard Forest Service plans. The cabin remains in use by the Superior National Forest to house seasonal wilderness crews. With your help, we will restore the windows this year, by removing old caulking, cleaning and replacing broken panes, re-caulking, and repainting the frames.
Number of openings: 10
Special skills: Carpentry and painting experience helpful but not required
Minimum age: 15 years old; under 18 with a responsible adult
Facilities: The Forest Service and campground concessionaire will provide free camping for the volunteers at Sawbill Campground, adjacent to the guard station, pit toilets, potable water; general store, showers, and a sauna; hotel facilities available along the North Shore of Lake Superior near Tofte
Nearest towns: Tofte, 20 miles; Grand Marais, 47 miles
Applications due: July 7, 2008