In 2025, Wilderness Volunteers offered our first-ever women-only projects, with the goal of empowering women and developing leaders through outdoor stewardship. Partnering with the Black Hills Parks & Forests Association, our all-women crews completed high priority trail work and campsite rehabilitation projects in Custer State Park and Buffalo Gap National Grassland in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Our women’s project in Custer State Park also served as a Leader Training project, preparing participants to become Wilderness Volunteers project leaders or acquire basic outdoor leadership skills, from risk management to backcountry food preparation.
With funding support from the National Forest Foundation and Athletic Brewing’s Two for the Trails grant program, we were able to offer full scholarships to 14 women, 10 of whom completed our Leader Training program.
Our all-women stewardship projects gave participants a safe space to voice their ideas, take the lead, and flex their muscles. Volunteering alongside other women fostered a welcoming, collaborative environment where the volunteers felt comfortable and empowered.
In addition to empowering women and developing leaders in outdoor spaces, our two stewardship projects accomplished high-priority, backlogged maintenance needs for two public lands in western South Dakota. Despite being impacted by the government shutdown, our Black Hills National Forest volunteer crew was able to pivot to working in Custer State Park, completing trail maintenance on the popular Trail #4, which provides access to South Dakota’s highest peak: Black Elk Peak. Volunteers maintained 1.5 miles of trail, removing two downed logs and improving 81 drainage features, and closing one user-created social trail.
In Buffalo Gap National Grassland, staff were dealing with public safety and erosion issues caused by the overuse of the Pinnacles dispersed camping area, located just north of Badlands National Park. The Pinnacles sees over 400 campers most weekends during peak season, who typically park on the east side of the road that overlooks the Badlands “wall” (cliff face). Increased use had prevented grass from growing, leading to increased erosion of the loose soil, which also becomes slippery with a small amount of rain. These conditions became a public safety concern: users were parking too close to the eroding cliff and 25 ft.-long campers had gone over the edge.
Our volunteers were tasked with closing campsites along the cliff’s edge, and then creating a designated dispersed campground. The all-women crew designed and built over 800 ft. of fencing to create seven new pull-through campsites and five back-in campsites. They also constructed 342 ft. of log worm fencing to create a picnic table and native grass area for campers to enjoy. Additionally, the group closed and naturalized 10 campsites along the dangerous cliff, and spread native seed in a 63 sq. ft. area. The crew was invited to give the designated dispersed campground a name – and they anointed it “Shee-Rah Campground!”
In 2026, Wilderness Volunteers has two all-women’s projects planned: one in City of Rocks National Reserve and one in Lake Tahoe Basin. The City of Rocks project will focus on building new trails to provide access to climbing routes in a newly acquired parcel of land within the Park. The Lake Tahoe Basin project will be completed in coordination with the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association and will continue a multi-year trail build project (Meeks Ridge Trail) from Lake Tahoe to Lost Lake at the edge of Desolation Wilderness. You can learn more about both of these projects at https://wildernessvolunteers.org/projects.
