Pacific Northwest Trail Association

The Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA) is the non-profit partner of the USDA Forest Service in the management of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, along with those trails accessing the PNNST.

The PNTA www.pnt.org provides many avenues in our efforts to educate students, along with maintaining and promoting the PNNST. Our volunteers, like many other organizations, provide many thousands of hours of trail work. 

The PNTA also has a variety of youth programs, where work is done on the PNNST and other projects for our agency partners.

1. We offer our SKY (Service-Knowledge-Youth) Education programs in four to five school districts along the trail, where at-risk youth spend a portion of their school year on environmental education, then 8-weeks during the summer working on the PNNST, while getting paid for their efforts as well as earning school credit. 
2. We have our Quilcene Ranger Corps program, through WSU 4-H, where 13-15 years work on a variety of trail related projects while earning a volunteer stipend. This program is based on the Hoodsport RD of the Olympic NF.
3. SKY Performance Crews also provide a valuable experience for youth in environmental education along with the work they accomplish for the agencies. Salaries for these youth begin at minimum wage and go up as many of them come back year-after-year to work for the PNTA.
4. A contract with Cascade Job Corps, in Sedro-Woolley, WA, has been in place since 2004, providing work-based training for young adults, male and female, of all ethnicities. These youth travel all over the state doing projects for agency partners.
5. One of our other partnerships is with Montana Conservation Corps, in working on the PNNST in Montana and Northern Idaho, with their YES (Youth Engaged in Service) Program.

These programs are paid for with various grants, Challenge Cost Share and Participating Agreements, as well as private funding.

Youth involved in these programs, just like our volunteers, go through First-Aid/CPR, food handling, safety training, LNT, as well as standards related to the projects they are going to be involved with. We also run the youth crews through a ropes course at the beginning of each summer, for team-building exercises.             

That segment of the PCT which the PNTA works on is from the northern boundary of the North Cascades National Park to the Canadian Border. 10.5 miles of the PCNST is jointly shared with the PNNST and a total of approximately 42 miles of the PCNST is involved. Projects which require the most needs are prioritized by the Methow Valley RD, and then the PNTA schedules the paid crews or volunteers.