Cascade Volunteers

Ever heard of OHLEC? 🪵🌲

It’s the 5-step situational analysis used by the U.S. Forest Service and trail crews to keep sawyers safe before a blade ever touches wood. The acronym helps you evaluate the physics and hazards of a log before making a cut:

O – Objective: Where do you want the wood pieces to go?
H – Hazards: Check for overhead dead limbs or environmental risks.
L – Leans & Binds: Calculate tree lean and internal log tension so your saw doesn't get pinched.
E – Escape Routes: Clear at least one or two unobstructed paths to retreat safely.
C – Cut Plan: Finalize your specific cutting technique and technique sequence.

Next time you head out, take a 30-second pause and walk through OHLEC. It could save your saw, your project, or your life.


U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest

There's more than one way to get to a trailhead! The Scorpions Trail Crew reported this for Thursday, August 27th - A crew of eight Scorpions in four canoes paddled across Waldo Lake from Shadow Bay to work the Black Creek trail from the east side TH. This was our 4th trip of the season to Black Creek which was severely burned in the Cedar Creek fire.

We loaded the canoes with three big crosscut saws, Pulaskis, pry bars, a few tread tools and our packs. The lake was very calm in the morning, and we made the roughly half hour, 1.7 mile crossing of Waldo in patchy fog with no problem. At about the 1-mile mark, we crossed Klovdahl Creek and started descending a section of trail on a very steep side slope with about a half dozen difficult logs across the trail. Most of us spent the rest of the day here reworking the tread and bucking up the complex logs. Two crew members forged ahead and cleared another quarter mile of trail before turning back to rejoin the rest of us to help move some big logs. By 2:30, after exhausting every other log moving technique, we finally stumbled on the right plan and managed to get the last very argumentative log off the trail and started hiking back on a high note.

Thanks to the canoe captains and enthusiastic crew we had a very successful day and made good progress on restoring Black Creek trail. We made it about 1.3 miles in from the east TH. From the west TH on our three previous trips this year we worked 1.7 miles. That leaves a very tough 0.8 miles in the center mostly in a high severity burn area.

U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest
Scorpions Trail Crew

We are working out the details for a fall social to be held in October at Horse Creek Lodge. Save the date and come join the fun as we mark the end of a productive and fun trail season!


U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest
Camas Trail Crew
Love Your Lakes
Salamander Trail Crew
Scorpions Trail Crew

Are you ready for your new favorite t-shirt? If you are a crosscut sawyer or know someone who is, you’ll love this one!

Shirts are $25 with $5 flat rate shipping. Sizes and quantities are limited. Check the order form for current inventory. Black, short sleeve, 50/50, unisex style and sizing.

Thank you for supporting Cascade Volunteers and our crosscut saw program!

Order form:
https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/6tvB4UnKfxhM7qOVZfYeAA

Winter trail volunteers Rich, Jan, John and Lyndell added diamonds to trails around Fuji Shelter then headed to Waldo Road to back off the sign bolts within a half-mile of the road. Volunteers are busy assessing their trails in preparation for the snow. Volunteers pick up pieces of fallen blue diamonds but the diamonds can be on the ground awhile before the volunteers make a trip. So, please help out by picking up any pieces you see on the ground. Occasionally we find remnants of old shelters that also need to be removed.

The Willamette National Forest lakes are getting a lot of attention by Love Your Lake volunteers like Bettie Mollette who has adopted Temple, Turpentine and Cleo Lakes.



U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest

New winter trail volunteer Matt Miller joined the team of Lyndell Wilken, Mike Smith and John Hegg in working on the diamonds on the Rosary Lakes trail. He learned what there is to know about maintaining the blue winter trail diamonds. The Doug Orwick family has adopted the Fuji Shelter, Adam Steele the Bechtel shelter and James Sayre the Gold Lake shelter. Veteran winter trail stewards Jan and Rich Anselmo, John Hegg and Lyndell scouted 11 miles of diamonds in the Waldo area. It is gratifying to see the next generation of volunteers stepping forward to join the long-time volunteers.


U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest