Antonito-based sign crew

[Paul Davenport]

I want to report that the Friends sign crew that normally works out of Chama during D work session deployed out of Antonito this year during G work session, which proved to be a workable change. Team Leader Larry Marquess took the initiative to reschedule the project for later in the year because of the forest closures that restricted access to the national forests in June. And since G work session was held only in Antonito, that's where the crew was based. We had to go to Chama on Monday to fetch our painting gear and get partially prepared posts for signs we planned to replace but found everything else we needed at the CRF in Antonito, including helpful assistance from other Friends volunteers. Between that support and the mild September, the crew decided by week's end to also work out of Antonito during G in 2023. The C sign crew remains based in Chama so the G crew at the end of the week returned the gear that both crews use to Chama, which is also where our wood inventory is stored. I also want to report that the G crew received some much appreciated support from the railroad. The track gang used their track car to drop a new milepost at a remote location east of Sublette and the Chama-bound train's fire patrol dropped a replacement toll road sign's post for us about a mile west of Osier. In both cases, the crew hiked and carried tools to the locations to plant each new post so additionally carrying a post would have been too much weight. More info in Larry's TL report posted in FIDO.