Slingin' Shit !!!

Well as many of you know, twice a year the government contracts a helicopter to support bringing human waste off of Scout's Lookout. Many people have voiced their dislike of the dollars spent to bring barrels of human waste off of the mountain, however many of those same people would not hesitate to step into the bathroom at Scouts Lookout. There isn't much in the way of choice when the urge hits you.

This time around we were a little anxious as the canyon had received snow just days earlier. The guys heading up the hill had to clamp on special traction gear to their boots to navigate the slick sections of refrigerator canyon and walter's wiggles. The morning started out very cold, but as the sun came up it felt good to be outside doing this project. It is a great time of the year to be up on Scouts Lookout, as there are few if any visitors that would dare climb the trail. It makes for a very peaceful experience, up top!

Check out this video, it may give those of you who wonder how we fly "shit" off the hill, that needed visual.



So the next time you find yourself at Scouts Lookout and you take the opportunity to relieve yourself, just remember that yes someone is shoveling your waste into a barrel and we are flying that crap to the bottom of the hill.

Your tax paying dollars at work... we're glad we could support such an important operation. Our hats are off to the real hero's in this project, those men and women that hike up the hill on a regular basis to shovel shit... thank you "Mr. Shit Shoveler" for making our visits to the park more tolerable.

cheers,

Hiring Completed!

It has been a very difficult season for hiring... the 2010 application process brought some of the strongest candidates that we have seen in a very long time. It has not been without complication... we have hit some brick walls in hiring and experienced some difficult decisions. We would like to thank everyone that put in for one of the few positions available this season... We encourage those who were not contacted, or did not get selected to apply again next season.

With that, we would like to introduce you to the 2010 Zion Helitack Team!

Michael Reid - Program Manager
Ben Thayer - Senior Lead Crewmember
Ben Suerig - Lead Crewmember
Norman "Iceman" Allen - Senior Crewmember
Thea Hamm - Senior Crewmember
Bryan Quimby - Crewmember
Carol Adam - Crewmember
Kristin Matjasich - Crewmember
Cresston Lay - Crewmember

Congrat's to everyone who will returned and to those newly hired.

Cheers,
M.L.

Grand Canyon Helitack

In the absence of much to report for Zion Helitack, we would like to share an exciting video highlighting our neighboring park. Grand Canyon National Park has a 365 day exclusive contract with one of the most unique utility helicopters in the business. The MD 900 Explorer is a twin engine NOTAR helicopter. The NOTAR helicopter refers to the lack of a tail rotor. It makes this helicopter fairly quiet as helicopters go. This is important due to the sound quality over our national parks, and Grand Canyon requires a lot of helicopter work. This helitack crew works behind the scenes to support the water pipeline, wildland fire, and search and rescue within the park. A job that requires hundreds of hours in flight, over some very breathtaking scenery. The following video is of the rescue performed on Hermits Trail. We would like to thank the Grand Canyon Helitack Crew for sharing such an awesome video:




Zion National Park has utilized the great tool that is short haul, many times during the past few years. We have counted on professionals from the Grand Canyon to perform these necessary life saving short hauls. The Grand Canyon Crew is very well trained and exemplify professionalism in every evolution that they have performed for Zion N.P. We are anxious to learn from them as we enter into a new program element for Zion Helitack. It is our hopes that we will be approved to engage in short haul training for the 2010 season. Undoubtedly we will look to our neighboring National Park for support in training and becoming proficient with the tool, short haul.

Until next time!
cheers,

Certificate is in!

This is just a simple and short post to let everyone know that we have pulled our first "certificate" for seasonal hiring. We dove in head first today, muddling our way through the hiring process. It is important that everyone who applied be aware of a couple of things:

• Numbers - qualified applicants for the GS-3 level equaled 210, applicants for the GS-4 level equaled 54, applicants for the GS-5 level equaled 31... so total number of applicants equaled approximately 295!!!!
• We have funding for 3 GS-4 positions available (this does not mean that we will only hire GS-4's, however it does mean the we will not be hiring any GS-5's)
• It will take us a couple of weeks to get through the initial process of narrowing our applicant pool down to a reasonable number of qualified applicants.

So be patient... and if you have not heard anything from us by mid to late February you can feel free to contact us and inquire about our current situation. We will try to post the names of the crewmembers who have accepted a position, by the end of February.

Good Luck