All Hands All Brand for Your Public Lands Event, June 19 – 21, 2026
Many volunteers once again came together for the annual All Hands, All Brands habitat work party. This year we saw Oregon Hunter Association Chapters from Bend, Redmond, Ochoco, Emerald and Capital. Also present were RMEF from around the State, BHA, MDF and Western Beavers, USFS Ochoco Wildlife Biologists, Oregon Department of Forestry Lead Wildlife Biologist, Oregon State University College of Forestry Educator and an ODFW Wildlife Biologist.
Volunteers began showing up at Sugarcreek CG as early as Monday and we began numerous projects on Wednesday.
June 17: 5 volunteers went to Guzzler 3 which was destroyed two years ago in a fire. The apron was removed along with the fence wire and posts. Two other volunteers performed maintenance on Guzzler 4 & 5 with one having a dead lightning struck tree needing to be taken down due to its proximity to the apron.
June 18: 10 volunteers split up into two groups and one went to Guzzler 900N and took down the old fence along with removing the apron which had been destroyed by fire. Guzzler 900S needed work on the apron with it shifting and in need of realignment. This apron needs to be replaced. Time was then spent at Derr Meadow patching up the fence. The 2nd group removed the wire from fence at Guzzler 6 which was being replaced due to fire. Guzzlers 7 and 8 had minor maintenance done to both with 8 being plugged at the exit pipe from the tank. This group then went to the major fence project meeting up with Monty Gregg and walked the project to better understand Friday’s mission. We installed a buck and pole fence at this site years ago to protect an Aspen Stand however the fence burnt in 2024.
June 19: 22 volunteers went to the main fencing project off the 300 road to prep it for Saturdays main work party. A smooth wire was set around the entire .8-mile-long project and T posts were spread around the site. Capital Chapters gas powered T Post pounder was put to use by those that drew the short straw. Ross Scrocca, USFS got several volunteers re-certified on chainsaw use. Ross and his son Josh dropped a couple of large dead trees that would eventually fall onto the fence and seeing the two work together was impressive. We are very fortunate to have Ross as one of our volunteers and his willingness to keep us up to date on chainsaw use. The perimeter of the fence line was also cut out to make way for an ATV. State Police Fish and Wildlife Senior Troopers Scott Vaughn and Taylor Jerome visited our two main work party sites which was appreciated.
Vanessa Petro, ODF Lead Wildlife Biologist is assisted by her two sons Aldo and Sawyer.
June 20: 48 volunteers spent the day completing three projects.
Complete the fence build placing 2.4 miles of wire around the fence.
Build a fence around Guzzler 6 along with building the apron over the top of the water tank.
Fell several trees into a stream bed.
Friday evening, we had an appetizer get together which was rather impressive. Dave Fields, USFS, smoked several types of cheese for us, Elly Young made her famous Razor Clam corn fritters and there was even a Shrimp Seafood Boil along with Smoked Salmon and to many other delicious items to mention.
Our Saturday potluck was again a big hit with everybody bringing a side dish with the main course being BBQ steak. Desserts were fantastic, our free raffle was put on again with many nice donations, we heard from 3 young women staying at Rager that were doing Sage Grouse monitoring and Chad Marks-Fife, USFS Eugene area once again provided entertainment with the playing of his stringed instruments and singing.
We ended the event Sunday morning with a nice breakfast of beer pancakes, bacon, eggs, juice and more.
Overall volunteers put in 635 habitat hours and 386 hours of driving to the project and back home. With the federal volunteer rate being $36.14 that is an impressive value of $36,898.
