Tired of getting skunked on the river permit lottery game? Put in some elbow grease and sign up to get on a tamarisk eradication trip put together by the park service. Every year, a group of locals bands together for the Drew Hyde Memorial Fund work trip in Dinosaur National Monument to help eradicate invasive tamarisk. Not for the faint of heart (or hands that blister easily), the work trip isn’t easy; it involves long, hot days using everything in the arsenal — including shovels, hoes, saws, and a monstrosity of a tripod rigged with a come-along — to combat the pesky plants. It’s all in honor of Drew Hyde, one of the most voracious volunteers the project has ever seen. “Volunteering for a service trip in Dinosaur is a unique and rewarding experience,” says longtime participant Holley Gardel. “Not only do you get to see the river through the eyes of a park manager, scientist, or conservationist, but you get to give back to a place that gives so much.” As for the work, she adds, it’s hard. “It’s not a vacation or a booze cruise — it’s nonstop physical work, and it seems like there’s no end to it,” she says, adding the trips usually have room for up to 15 volunteers. “But doing it with the greatest people and in honor of someone we all loved very much is super special. Blood, sweat, laughter, hand tools, sore muscles, and deep camaraderie. Our buddy would be proud of us for keeping the stoke burning for this ass-kicking, tammie-wrestling project.”
