Skógrækt ríkisins | Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers

Apr 17

Two weeks to go… and the team is ready

In about two weeks time, the Thórsmörk Trail Volunteers return to Langidalur for their second summer season. Ahead of us are 5 months of camping and practical conservation work… and maybe some adventures in Thórsmörk!

This summer, over 60 international volunteers have signed-up to join us. Registration is now completed, (apart from the last few stragglers) and this season we hope to complete more than 200 weeks of trail maintenance and erosion control work throughout the area. We are especially excited about hosting our new 2-week placements. Created and developed last winter, this short-term “free volunteering” programme will be running for the first time this season. Our little programme continues to evolve.

Our training and induction week for team leaders will take place at Langidalur in May following an initial period of preparations and survey work to create this summer’s task list. Everything will be in place in time for the arrival of our first volunteer teams on June 1st.

It is very exiting to be returning to Langidalur, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming our volunteers and getting started!

Apr 1

Sunshine at Monkton Wyld Court

Our weekend pre-summer planning meeting recently took place at Monkton Wyld Court, a sustainable community in Dorset, UK. It was our first activity outside Iceland and the aim of the meeting was to gather together people who will be joining us this summer, to answer questions and explain our plans. We were able to catch up with old friends as well as get to know some of the volunteers who will be joining us in Thórsmörk for the first time this season. We were also able to finalise details of the leaders training week that will take place in Thórsmörk in May. The last stages of preparation for volunteers joining us this season will take place in our forum; Langidalur.is.

Our meeting took the form of a weekend of practical conservation and organic gardening. On Saturday our work included cutting willow, clearing out a stream and processing fire wood. On Sunday the team worked in the gardens, digging and preparing for potatoes and experimenting with the harrow. We do hope that experiencing the human harrow team didn’t put anyone off too much, and we look forward to seeing everyone again this summer in Thórsmörk.

We would like to thank the community at Monkton Wyld Court for hosting the meeting, for their support and friendship, and for the extremely good food!

More pictures from the weekend.

Mar 30

Countdown to summer – Final deadline for volunteer registration

Although our friends in the north might not feel it yet, summer is most definitely on the way!
We are now only about 4 week away from returning to Langidalur to setup the volunteer base camp in preparation for official start of the 2014 programme planned for 20th May.

As we move into our fieldwork season, we need to complete the registration process for everyone intending to join us this summer. Once we are back out on the trails, communications can be difficult (we don’t leave anyone behind in the office) so we ask all our returning volunteers to complete the registration process by 18th April.

Don’t miss your chance!

Mar 8

Summer dreaming…

So we have now allocated almost all of our volunteer places and summer preparations are well underway. After all the planning and interviews this winter, it is quite hard to believe that we will be back in Langidalur and setting up camp in about eight weeks time!

As well as recruiting the team this winter, we have been busy working on a few changes to the programme for next season. One of the most important new developments is the establishment of our new “short-term placements” so that volunteers can join the teams for 2 weeks and take part in the ongoing projects. This season, for the first time, we are recruiting all of our volunteers ourselves.

Another new development that we are very excited about, is the establishment of our new “long-range trail team” that will work on remote sites in Thórsmörk and along the Laugavegur Trail. The use of wilderness camps will allow our teams to access several new worksites on sections of the trails that have seen little repair work in the past. To reduce travel time, our teams will stay for up to three nights at wilderness camps before returning to the relative comfort of the Langidalur base camp. Long-range places will be offered to the team as projects are planned, they will be optional and will of course depend on suitable weather conditions.

The Langidalur base camp will open again in May. We will have a couple of weeks to get everything ready and several improvements are planned. The most significant of these is setting up drying facilities for our clothing and equipment. This was a huge challenge for everyone last season (especially in June) and every effort is being made to find a good solution for this summer. Ummm… dry boots!

Our challenge is to have everything ready for June 1st and we are very much looking forward to getting started.

Still waiting for a place…
We will be reviewing our team allocations on March 15^th to find out how many last minute places are available. We will then contact everyone on the waiting list to let them know about possible places. We would like to complete the groups and finalise the team by April 1^st. Thanks for your patience.

Mar 6

Þórsmörk Team News on Facebook

We would like to invite our new volunteers, and everyone who has worked with us in Thórsmörk and Goðaland, to join our Þórsmörk Team News group on Facebook.