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Wire Fences and White Water

The Boys and Girls Club of Magic Valley show how volunteering is done.

This weekend, the Boys and Girls Club of Magic Valley returned for the second summer in a row to participate in an Austin Kraal Memorial Volunteer Project.  These 11 incredible kids spent the weekend raising mesh and barbed wire fence in the Tuckaway Pastures to allow for antelope passage.  The weekend ended with a rafting trip down the Salmon River daystretch with The River Company.

The Boys and Girls Club stayed at Sawtooth Society board members Hans and Terry Carstensen’s beautiful lodging and, the first morning of their stay started with home cooked french toast made by Sawtooth Society friends Kevin and Debi Kraal.

After the hardy breakfast, the group headed for the Tuckaway pastures, just south of Williams Creek.  Jay Dorr, of the Forest Service set an ambitious goal for the kids to work the fence running the south and east parameter of the pastures. Work included prying out staples from the bottom third of the fence, clipping the bottom 18 inches of mesh fencing, rolling the wire, and carrying it to designated pick-up spots.

The group split into three and within hours had the south fence raised to a good height for the antelope.  The east fence, however, proved more difficult as the wire was a much thicker gage.  The group persevered and by the end of Saturday, with many scrapes and a few sunburns both lengths of fence were raised.

Though the group was scheduled for a river trip with the River Company on Sunday, they decided to get up early, return to the pastures, and do a bit of additional work.  They were able to get a section of the north fence raised before heading to the River Company for a fun and exciting afternoon on the river.

Thanks to Dave Denning and his crew, the kids of the Boys and Girls Club got to rinse the dust from the Tuckaway Pastures off with some Class III whitewater action.  By the end of the weekend, though exhausted, the group left Stanley with huge smiles on their faces and the beginning plans of next summer’s trip.

Thanks, so much, to the Elev8 group of the Boys and Girls Club of Magic Valley for volunteering your weekend to this important project.  We appreciate all the incredible effort and time you put into it.  See you next summer!

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