[Philmont]: Philbreak Report

Background Information:

Philbreak was a week-long spring-break service opportunity at Philmont
jointly sponsored by the Philmont Staff Association and the Order of the
Arrow.

Scouts and scouters between the ages of 18 and 25 were invited to aid
Philmont in its fire restoration efforts. There were 72 participant openings
across three separate sessions in March. Currently one session is complete,
one is underway, and one begins next week.

I attended the first session of Philbreak.

My Experience:

I arrived at the Philmont Training Center (from which Philbreak was based)
at around 10:00 Sunday morning via private car. I had driven approx. 600
miles from Hurst, TX (near Fort Worth). Most of my fellow participants had
arrived Saturday afternoon from Albuquerque airport via two 15-passenger
vans (rented by the OA). Many participants were away attending church in
Cimarron or Springer when I arrived, but I introduced myself to those that
were around. I unloaded my gear into the Miranda portion of the
Bent/Miranda/Beaubien complex where we were housed -- 21 gentlemen in the
Miranda room and 2 ladies in the Bent room.

Philmont provided the place and the work for Philbreak, but the rest of the
program was largely developed by the OA under the leadership of Sam Stocker,
the OA program vice chief for Philbreak, and Ken Davis, National OA
committee Advisor to Philbreak. They were both in attendance during the
first session.

Lunch was our first official activity. Afterwards, Sam introduced himself,
Ken, Jonathan Short - an OA staffer for session 1, and some key Philmont
staffers such as Marcus Reynerson, the director of the Fire Restoration
Crew, Derek Toms, the Fire Restoration Crew Logistician, Gavin Faulkner, the
Health and Safety Officer/Van Driver, and Brian Gray, PTC Director.

Later in the afternoon we received our medical rechecks (yes, we had to have
our Philmont Class 3 just like everyone else), group picture, and obligatory
trading post visit. We were divided into three crews and introduced to our
Philmont staff foremen and crew members with whom we would work throughout
the week. These staffers were normal summer seasonal staff who had been
hired to stay at Philmont during fall/winter/spring on a Fire Restoration
Crew -- they had been working on this project for several months before we
arrived. They provided some background information about the fire -- how it
started, where it spread, its severity, and their restoration efforts --
seeding, log felling, and log terracing. They explained what type of work we
would be doing and what tools we would be using. (Explained below)

Sunday finished with an opening ceremony led by Sam and Jonathan.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday were workdays. We awoke around 6:30,
donned our work clothes, enjoyed a hearty breakfast at 7:00, packed our
lunches, and loaded into the vans by 8:00. We rode approximately 30 minutes
to the north part of Philmont (just south of Ponil) where we worked most of
the week. The three crews spread out a bit and began work. We were builtlog
terraces to prevent erosion. The fire had burned all ground cover, grass,
pine needles, small shrubs, etc that would normally slow the flow of water
and allow it to sink into the ground. Without ground cover, water carried
incredible amounts of sediment down to various streams. A log terrace is
simply a log placed perpendicular to the slope of the hill, anchored on both
ends, with rocks and dirt placed on its uphill side to prevent water from
flowing underneath it, and short walls of rock and dirt built upward on both
sides to prevent water from rolling around the rock. The log terraces would
catch sediment and prevent it from being deposited in the stream beds.

Building log terraces was a simple but exhausting task. First, Philmont
staffers used chainsaws to cut down trees (note: these trees had burned, so
leaves, needles, and small limbs were destroyed. The remaining trunk and
larger limbs had scorched bark). Then, we would use pulaskis (axe/mattock)
to limb the trees (remove all limbs). Next, a group of three or four
participants would move the log (sometimes with log tongs) to a suitable
location on the hill and anchor it with logs or stumps on both ends. Then,
someone would chink the log (placing rocks in the gaps between the log and
ground) and build the walls on the ends of the log. Finally, someone would
dig (with a pick mattock) the log in (by scraping a large pile of soil from
the ground immediately uphill from the log to cover the chinking, bottom
half of the log, and rock walls). All jobs were tough. Limbing required
much arm and shoulder endurance (like chopping wood all day), setting logs
required lifting heavy logs and moving them on uneven, steep, and rocky
terrain, chinking required kneeling close to the ground to pick up and move
hundreds of rocks, and digging required leaning over (hard on back) to
scrape dirt which was often frozen or filled with rocks and roots.

During lunch each day, each group had a discussion about a
word/idea...Honesty, Success and Failure, Service, Courage. Later in the
evening, Sam and Jonathan delivered a presentation on the word, and we had
further group discussion.

On Monday evening each group participated in some team-building activities.
On Tuesday evening we toured Villa Philmonte and the Philmont Museum
On Wednesday evening we played basketball vs. the philmont staffers at the
high school in Cimarron. (and some participants attended church as it was
Ash Wednesday). We also had a campfire hosted by the Philmont staffers. They
played several songs and Derek told a couple stories. Mark Anderson joined a
few of the songs playing a wood saw with a bow.

On Thursday most of us skied or snowboarded at Angelfire. Some participants
went on a hike instead. We all met for dinner at a restaurant called Bear's
Den near the ski resort.

On Friday we had more group pictures (this time in work clothes), and a
closing ceremony.

The group I worked with did not have an OA staffer, so one of the philmont
staffers volunteered to be our leader for non-work-related tasks (such as
our lunch discussions and team-building activities). We worked just south
of Ponil on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and worked in Horse Canyon (east
of Ponil) on Friday

Throughout the week we had little free time, except for late at night when
we sacrificed sleep to converse with our fellow participants while playing
Spades, Scrabble, Rummy, and Chess. One group decided to skip sleep entirely
Tuesday night. Some went jogging during the evening, while others rose
before sunrise to get several miles of running in before breakfast.

The caliber of participants was incredible. 90% were Eagle Scouts. Many were
active in their troops or crews as ASMs, or Advisors. Some were actively
involved in the OA as lodge and section officers. Everyone was committed to
cheerful service. No one complained, and everyone had a positive attitude.

Participants were from a variety of states --> Washington, California,
Michigan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, New York, and
Minnesota to name the ones I can remember.

Participants represented every age from 18 to 25.

Some participants had never been to Philmont, while others were returning
for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th time. Most had never seen Philmont with
snow.

May participants had attended the other high adventure bases or national and
world jamborees.

Several participants were summer camp staffers at their local council camps.

Those participants who didn't already have a full-time job or plans for the
summer filled out Philmont staff applications at Mark Anderson's request.

Fellowship is what I appreciated most about Philbreak. It was an excellent
opportunity to enjoy a week of service to a great place with great people
with whom I have much in common. Philbreak wouldn't have been the same
without the 18-25 age restrictions (not that I don't appreciate older or
younger scouts and scouters, It's just that I have plenty of opportunities
to be around them in a normal troop or crew setting).

We received a patch, t-shirt, and group picture. All three may be seen at
the following URL:

http://www.3eagles.com/philbreak/

I highly recommend Philbreak.

Nathan Wenneker

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Received on Wed Mar 12 16:54:46 2003