Back Country Horsemen Plan Work At Lake Como

The season of Bitter Root Back Country Horsemen (BRBCH) projects is coming to an end. This week, the volunteers will help the Bitterroot National Forest in maintenance and some improvement work at the Rock Creek Horse Camp near the Lake Como dam.

The crews and their stock will be at the horse camp Thursday and Friday, September 16-17,and plans include replacing fire rings and picnic table planks, spreading new gravel and some general cleanup of the campground. The work will be done by combined crews of the BR Back Country Horsemen and Bitterroot National forest.

The funding for this particular project comes from the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020, which is part of the National Parks and Public Legacy Restoration Fund. It was created to get caught up on some priority deferred maintenance projects. The Bitterroot National forest received almost $2 million for various improvements. Some of the campgrounds have included Charles Waters, Sam Billings and Indian Trees Campgrounds.

The Bitterroot Back Country Horsemen are busy each year on the Bitterroot Forest. Included this summer was work on the East Fork Main Trail near the East fork Guard Station on Sula Ranger District, the Blodgett Creek Trail west of Hamilton, the Coyote Coulee loop trails south of Hamilton, and resupply trips up to St. Mary's Lookout west of Stevensville.

Each year they spend about 600 personal hours and over 400 stock hours on the projects and have been doing it for decades. The chapter was one of the first Back Country Horsemen groups in the US, starting in 1976. Bitter Root Back Country Horsemen will have their monthly meeting on Thursday, September 16th at the Corvallis School Cafeteria on Eastside Highway in Corvallis at 7 p.m. Members do not need to own a horse or mule to be part of the group. Find out more about them at their website.