Meet Rachel – Project Wilderness Board Member

Hi I’m Rachel, Project Wilderness’ most recent addition to the board. My therapist friend told me something recently that struck me. Of all the activities/medications/remedies in the world for your mood, the only two that health care professionals universally agree will make you happier: exercise and volunteering. Bonus! Sign up for a clean up with us and help your local wilderness, plus you’ll boost your mood!

Recently I volunteered to “Paint The Town Clean” – a group of 50 volunteers worked with local business owners to paint their store fronts that had been hit by graffiti tags. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and very productive. But the second I was done, it struck me that my heart is really with nature. The pleasure and satisfaction of a wilderness clean up, for me, far outweighed even this amazing volunteer effort. There’s just something about nature that sooths the mind – I think “being out in nature” should be the third universal suggestion for mood elevation.

So when that 5 am alarm sounds on your precious Saturday and it’s time to make good on that project you signed up for – hopefully that medial information about volunteering can be as useful of a mantra to you as it has become to me.

With that said here’s a recap from our last couple cleanups:

June 12th, Working with partner organization Clackamas County Dumpstopers we removed 768 cubic feet of garbage which included 11 tires from the wildcat mountain rd area of the Mt Hood National Forest!

July 31st on Memaloose road in Mt Hood National Forest 11 Volunteers removed 1,536 cubic feet of garbage! Way to go!

On August 14th at 9am in Hood River County Forestry we’ll be hosting another cleanup on Kingsley Road. Give Dominic a call for more details – (503)484-6292. Also use the box in the upper right hand corner to subscribe to this blog to keep updated and help out when we make it in your area! Together we’ve removed 14,976 cubic feet of garbage from public land in Oregon & Washington in the past 12 months!

Rachel Taleff

Board Member