Two PCTA Technical Advisors will be on the trail this year in California and Southern Oregon overseeing American Conservation Experience corps crews, instructing at PCTA volunteer trainings and assisting PCTA Regional Representatives during the field seasons. This important technical assistance comes through our partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. We’d like to thank them again for their support.
Shaughn Dugan has been working with crews in Southern California since January and will be transferring to the Northern Sierra region this week. Benjamin Barry recently began his season in the Southern Oregon/Northern California region and will be transferring to the Southern California region in late August. Learn more about them below…
Shaughn Dugan is continuing a diverse career in conservation that was inspired by his brother’s 2007 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. He served as an Americorps member with the Northwest Service Academy maintaining sections of the PCT in 2010. Since then, he has spent his time exploring and working all over the country. In 2012, he cycled across the U.S. with a fellow NWSA alum, volunteering at soup kitchens and bicycle co-ops along the way. In 2013, he fought wildfires as a part of a U.S. Forest Service hand crew in Deschutes National Forest. Wanting to get back to trails community, he returned to trail building in 2014, leading a crew in Colorado with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps on the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Dugan is a roving mandolin player, lover of books and 2010 graduate of the College of William & Mary. He is planning a PCT thru-hike for 2016.
Shaughn Dugan
Benjamin Barry will be spending the next five months working on the PCT as a Technical Advisor. Ben began his career in trail stewardship with the Montana Conservation Corps and the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation in Missoula, Montana and McCall, Idaho. Most recently, he served as the Field Coordinator for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Teen Trails Program.
Ben proudly claims Humboldt State University as his alma mater, where he received a B.S. in Natural Resources. He is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Wilderness Management from the University of Montana. In his free time, Ben can be found trail running, untangling his fly fishing line or spending time with his wonderful German shepherd, Ernest.
Benjamin Barry