Skógræktin | Thórsmörk Trailteam

Jul 31

Our friend Tony Newby

We were deeply saddened to hear the news that Tony Newby passed away on July 18th.

Tony was one of the founders of the Forest Service trail programme and had worked closely with our international volunteers for many years. In addition to programme development, Tony specialised in leadership training and gave his time generously to the establishment of the Thórsmörk programme. He brought invaluable experience from his career of managing conservation volunteers in the UK.

Since our arrival in Thórsmörk in 2013, Tony was at the centre of our team and had a huge influence on all those he worked with, trained and mentored over the years. He was a unique character and will be missed by his many Iceland friends.

We would like to offer our deepest sympathy to Tony‘s family and friends at this sad time.

2015 On the road to Básar

2017 With the volunteers

(Photographs by Andy Jefferies, Chas Goemans and Jade Alexis)

May 11

Back on the trails again

It is always exciting to get back on to the trails at the start of each season and see how our trail work looks after the winter. These early surveys help with planning for the season as we can prioritise damaged areas and also review the techniques that were used and see what has worked best.

Although the winter has had some impact on the network as it always does, the first trails and old worksites that we visited are looking quite good. There is still plenty of maintenance work for us to do however and we look forward to the arrival of our first volunteers and getting started on the practical tasks in about two weeks time.

Steps on the west of Valahnúkur, where maintenance work was focused last season.

One of the viewpoint benches added last summer.

Timber ‘ladder’ steps added on an area of slippery bedrock last summer (just waiting for additional landscaping at the edges).

Apr 12

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Returning to Thórsmörk

We made an early start to the season this week with our first trip to Thórsmörk.

As well as delivering equipment ahead of the volunteer teams, it was a valuable opportunity to take a look at conditions on the trails and in the forest as the snow clears, and to make some final decisions about our work priorities for the season.

It was very nice to back at our volunteer camp at Langidalur (it felt like returning home), and exciting to begin preparations for another Trailteam summer. Our first international volunteers will be with us in less than 6 weeks time and we are looking forward to getting back on work on the trails.