Norton Creek Disaster ..................................................................... 7 Smokejumper Killed in South American Accident ........................ 26 NSA Sets Second Vietnam Trip ...................................................... 41 Contents Message from Message from the President ....................................2 Help Needed in Locating MSO 1969 Rookies ..........3 Pounder and Jumper Team with Wives to Save the President Chianti .............................................................4 Blast from the Past..................................................6 Down to the Fire in ’Chute Is an Esquire Tale..........6 an annual meeting that would Remembering the Norton Creek Disaster and the meet the quorum requirements Deaths of Two Friends ......................................7 Another Kind of Volunteering for conducting business. You Jemez Caldera Dendroglyph Survey ................17 responded with a vote of 762 in My Toughest Race .................................................20 favor of becoming a board-driven The Legacy of Skip Stratton and the organization and 9 opposed. Your Ridge Runner.................................................21 Well-Known Kayaker and Author, Smokejumper, action allows the NSA to con- Swept Away in South American River ..............26 tinue to thrive. A Smokejumper’s Experience with Death Was a Third, I can report that the Lifesaver ........................................................27 NSA Trails Program is heading Off the List ............................................................29 Patagonia and Machu Picchu Volunteering— for another outstanding year. Give a Little … Get a Lot ................................32 A total of 23 projects are on Book Review: The Custody Of Sha-ash’gaz ............33 by Jim Cherry schedule for this summer. Proj- A Story of a Historical Structure and Persistence...34 (Missoula ’57) ects will take place in 9 differ- Long Delay Finally Ends as Crew Completes Bridge...........................................36 President ent states (UT, MN, WV, CO, Corral, Storage Shed Highlight OR, CA, ID, MT, WY) from North Fork Project .........................................38 This being my first message to May to September. So far, that Trails Program Seeks Grant Writer ........................39 our NSA membership, I want amounts to 190 volunteer weeks The View from Outside the Fence ..........................40 NSA Second Vietnam Tour Set ...............................41 to lead off with a sincere thanks of commitment and doesn’t The U.S. Forest Circus...........................................42 to John Twiss (RDD ’67) for include all the time and energy Odds and Ends .....................................................43 the outstanding leadership that put in by the Trails Organizing Smokejumpers Win First NSA Leadership Award ...46 he provided through these past Committee to make it all come NSA Improving Social Media Effort .......................48 several years of growth for our together. That’s impressive! Our organization. He hands off his hats are off to all of you who are duties to me with the NSA in getting set for another week of a strong position for facing our fun, fellowship and a valuable future challenges. Along with us contribution to our nation’s for the ride into the future are resources. new board members: John Pack- Fourth, our NSA Board of ard (RAC ’65), Mike Overby Directors has a couple of com- Smokejumper, Issue No. 77, July 2012 ISSN 1532-6160 (MSO ’67), Hiram (Doc) Smith mittees that are hard at work to Smokejumper is published quarterly by: (MSO ’59) and Gary Baker bring better service to our mem- The National Smokejumper Association (MSO ’67). bership. One committee under c/o 10 Judy Lane Second, I want to thank our the coordination of Mike Overby Chico, CA 95926 NSA membership for the excel- is working to develop a stronger The opinions of the writers are their own and do lent response to the Board of and more flexible NSA website. not necessarily reflect those of the NSA. Permis- Directors’ request for your vot- This is important in our ability to sion to reproduce Smokejumper in any manner must first be obtained in writing. ing on the question of whether communicate with our member- NSA Web site: http://www.smokejumpers.com to change our organizational ship and also to be able to tell Managing Editor: Chuck Sheley structure from being “member our story to the general public. Associate Editor: Ed Booth driven” to being “board driven.” The committee is looking at Editing: K. G. Sheley This had become a critical issue ways to better include our photo Photo Editor: Johnny Kirkley if we were going to be able to do gallery/history section which has Illustrators: Dan Veenendaal, and Eric Rajala business and fulfill our mission not been available since a hacker Printing: Larry S. Jackson, Heidelberg Graphics, www.HeidelbergGraphics.com statement. With our large and infected our site and caused us to Cover photo: Mark Hentz (Courtesy Tony widely dispersed member base, take the site off-line for a period Sleznick) it was no longer practical to have of time in order to rebuild. An- Check the NSA website 2 www.smokejumpers.com other issue the committee is looking at is more inclu- and how to implement them in their personal desires sion of the Trails Program that would ideally allow for to leave a legacy through the NSA. on-line registrations and much more. It was an honor for the NSA to work in collabora- The other NSA Board committee under John Pack- tion with the USFS and BLM base managers in mak- ard’s coordination is looking at our whole financial in- ing the first of the annual awards for theAl Dunton vestment/management policy and practice. Earlier this Smokejumper Leadership Award. Award winners for year the NSA received a $125,000 bequest from the 2011 were Gary Baumgartner (FBX 88) and Frankie estate of Richard Eriksson (MSO 60). It is the desire Romero (MYC 89). Congratulations to Gary and of the Board to encourage other major gifts through Frankie. The selection process for the 2012 award is bequests, insurance policies, deferred gifts and other now underway. gifting channels. The committee will be helping our Don’t forget that the NSA has a scholarship pro- membership to understand these gifting opportunities gram for providing financial support to students who are committed to obtaining advanced education. Ap- plicants must be: 1) direct family members of smoke- jumpers or smokejumper pilots who have died in the line of duty or military service, or 2) active smoke- NSA Members—Save jumpers or smokejumper pilots, or 3) direct family members of active smokejumpers or smokejumper pi- This Information lots, or 4) currently enrolled in an accredited program Please contact the following persons direct- that will lead to a college degree or other accreditation. ly if you have business or questions: For further details and an application, contact Larry Lufkin at 360-790-8351 or [email protected] before Smokejumper magazine June 15, 2012. Articles, obits, change of address Chuck Sheley 530-893-0436 [email protected] 10 Judy Ln. Help Needed in Chico, CA 95926 Membership Locating MSO 1969 John McDaniel 785-668-2093 [email protected] Rookies P.O. Box 105 ave Dayton (MSO-69) is trying to put together Falun, KS 67442-0105 Da trail project in 2013 for the Missoula Rookie Class of 1969. If you have any contact information for Historical items anyone listed, please contact Dave at 406-251-3914 or Photos, letters, documents [email protected]. Larry Longley 360-654-1720 • John J. Adams [email protected] • Richard M. Barry 16430 Marine Dr. • Douglas S. Chester Stanwood, WA 98292 • Joseph Delaney All else • James Elliot NSA President • William J. Gibney Jim Cherry 641-927-4428 • Thomas E. Jellar [email protected] • Frank Jewell 2335 300th St. • Stephen Hester Ventura, IA 50482-8502 • William E. Krech • Luther Lemke • Gary Walter Lyon Smokejumper base abbreviations: • John Mohn Anchorage .......... ANC Grangeville ........ GAC Redding .............RDD Boise ................. NIFC Idaho City .......... IDC Redmond ............RAC • Ronald L. Myers Cave Junction ........ CJ La Grande .......... LGD West Yellowstone WYS • Gary G. Owens Fairbanks ............ FBX McCall ...............MYC Whitehorse Yukon YXY • Michael T. Stewart. Fort St. John ........ YXJ Missoula ............MSO Winthrop ......... NCSB Check the NSA website 3 www.smokejumpers.com Pounder And Jumper Team With Wives To Save Chianti by John Snedden (Boise ’73) n late September 2011, our friends Janie and Bruce Johnson – brother of Gary Johnson (FBX- I74) – and my wife, Mary, and I made a trip to Croatia and then on to the Chianti region of Tuscany in Italy. Our goal in Italy was to drink wine, sample food, give thanks, and enjoy the process. Our “hotel” was a charming room in a thousand- year-old castle on one of many hills near Greve, 12 miles south of Florence, surrounded by vistas so gor- geous that it was almost surreal. The scenery from the castle included thousands of acres of mixed-species forest in autumn yellows and reds, punctuated with sporadic inclusions of large, neatly cultivated olive orchards and an infinite num- ber of carefully manicured vineyards. From our castle there were hundreds of forested hills and valleys visible. On almost every hill there is a castle, a town or a huge personal estate –and each one grows grapes and/or olives, and all produce wine and/ or olive oil. The bad news this year is the severe drought