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Camp caretaker: Richard Anderson has been awarded the Presidential Take Pride in America Volunteer Service Award for putting in more than 4,000 hours of volunteer work on public lands in a single year. He’s currently caretaker for the Lone Pine campground near Idleyld Park.
Volunteering as a campground host might seem like work to some, but to Dick Anderson, the work is a minor detail added to an extended free vacation.
Of course there is labor involved — not to mention duties and responsibilities — but when you love what you do as much as Anderson, a few extra hours of work can go by hardly noticed.
Maybe that’s how Anderson, 56, managed to volunteer more than 4,000 hours of work as a campground host on Bureau of Land Management public lands in 2004.
Since he retired from mill work in Coos Bay, Anderson has managed to volunteer more than 5,500 hours of his free time to BLM campgrounds.
On Thursday, BLM land managers presented to Anderson a presidential award for all of the hard work and dedication he’s put toward their ongoing projects.
“I’ve been on a camping trip since 2003 and I’ve gotten an award for it,” Anderson said in surprise, upon receiving the award at a luncheon meeting between BLM land managers and other campground hosts.
Known as the Presidential Take Pride in America Volunteer Service Award, the plaque honors outstanding public land stewards who put in more than 4,000 hours of volunteer work in a single year.
According to Joe Ross, BLM’s volunteer program manager for the Roseburg district, volunteers put in more than 72,000 hours of work in 2004 in the Roseburg district alone.
That amount of work is equivalent to approximately $1.6 million in unpaid work.
It’s a considerable amount of money one district has saved considering the bureau received approximately $25.6 million worth of volunteered work for all of its projects on public lands throughout western states.
“If you don’t think that’s pretty impressive, you’re not thinking too hard,” Ross said.
Of course Anderson isn’t the only volunteer putting in long hours on public lands. Every one of the couple of dozen volunteers gathered at the luncheon has put in his or her share of time and work, prompting Ross to add, “What happens here is really a team effort. They help us organize and get things done that otherwise wouldn’t get done.”
In the past few years, volunteers have become a valuable resource to public land managers who have to juggle projects and employees with decreasing budgets.
Volunteers welcome campers at campground sites, collect fees, count visitors, act as observers, inform park crews of any infractions or unlawful activities, interpret rules for visitors and keep the grounds clean.
Anderson has been known to go the extra yard for the land management bureau by contributing his carpentry skills to repair BLM signs, kiosks, and even building campground information bulletin boards. His fellow volunteers say he’s also excellent at sending visitors unfamiliar with the area in the right direction.
“He’ll spend half his time sharing information, and Dick is good at it,” said Bill Kubinski, a volunteer who has hosted BLM campgrounds in various states for the past three years.
These days Anderson can be found at the Lone Pine Campground on Rock Creek Road near Idleyld Park. But he’s known to rove from one campsite to another, filling in when other volunteers need time off.
He’s also volunteered at Scaredman, Rock Creek and at the North Bank ranch.
Anderson bought his first recreational vehicle in 1970 and has spent many summer vacations in the Mill Pond area. Working as a volunteer in the Roseburg district, he says, has been a great way to live since he already enjoys the area.
“If a person likes to RV it’s a great way to live,” he said. “It’s been more than fun.”
• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.
Of course there is labor involved — not to mention duties and responsibilities — but when you love what you do as much as Anderson, a few extra hours of work can go by hardly noticed.
Maybe that’s how Anderson, 56, managed to volunteer more than 4,000 hours of work as a campground host on Bureau of Land Management public lands in 2004.
Since he retired from mill work in Coos Bay, Anderson has managed to volunteer more than 5,500 hours of his free time to BLM campgrounds.
On Thursday, BLM land managers presented to Anderson a presidential award for all of the hard work and dedication he’s put toward their ongoing projects.
“I’ve been on a camping trip since 2003 and I’ve gotten an award for it,” Anderson said in surprise, upon receiving the award at a luncheon meeting between BLM land managers and other campground hosts.
Known as the Presidential Take Pride in America Volunteer Service Award, the plaque honors outstanding public land stewards who put in more than 4,000 hours of volunteer work in a single year.
According to Joe Ross, BLM’s volunteer program manager for the Roseburg district, volunteers put in more than 72,000 hours of work in 2004 in the Roseburg district alone.
That amount of work is equivalent to approximately $1.6 million in unpaid work.
It’s a considerable amount of money one district has saved considering the bureau received approximately $25.6 million worth of volunteered work for all of its projects on public lands throughout western states.
“If you don’t think that’s pretty impressive, you’re not thinking too hard,” Ross said.
Of course Anderson isn’t the only volunteer putting in long hours on public lands. Every one of the couple of dozen volunteers gathered at the luncheon has put in his or her share of time and work, prompting Ross to add, “What happens here is really a team effort. They help us organize and get things done that otherwise wouldn’t get done.”
In the past few years, volunteers have become a valuable resource to public land managers who have to juggle projects and employees with decreasing budgets.
Volunteers welcome campers at campground sites, collect fees, count visitors, act as observers, inform park crews of any infractions or unlawful activities, interpret rules for visitors and keep the grounds clean.
Anderson has been known to go the extra yard for the land management bureau by contributing his carpentry skills to repair BLM signs, kiosks, and even building campground information bulletin boards. His fellow volunteers say he’s also excellent at sending visitors unfamiliar with the area in the right direction.
“He’ll spend half his time sharing information, and Dick is good at it,” said Bill Kubinski, a volunteer who has hosted BLM campgrounds in various states for the past three years.
These days Anderson can be found at the Lone Pine Campground on Rock Creek Road near Idleyld Park. But he’s known to rove from one campsite to another, filling in when other volunteers need time off.
He’s also volunteered at Scaredman, Rock Creek and at the North Bank ranch.
Anderson bought his first recreational vehicle in 1970 and has spent many summer vacations in the Mill Pond area. Working as a volunteer in the Roseburg district, he says, has been a great way to live since he already enjoys the area.
“If a person likes to RV it’s a great way to live,” he said. “It’s been more than fun.”
• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.
