Coalition for Recreational Trails

Multiple-Use Management and Corridor Sharing

Kwolh Butte Shelter - Oregon

Snowdrifts were a problem at the old shelter location

The task of getting project materials to a remote location site!

The original Kwolh Butte Shelter was completed as a National Guard project in 1988. The site was very remote so material for the log shelter was flown in and accidentally dropped in the wrong location.

It quickly became evident that the siting was wrong as drifting snow nearly blocked the entrance and buried the shelter each winter.

In 2008, a Recreational Trails Program grant for $49,862 was secured to demolish the old shelter and construct a new shelter. This grant was enhanced by the cooperation between OHV groups, who would use the shelter in the summer, and snowmobile groups, who would access the shelter in the winter months.

The original intent was to once again fly the materials in; however, weather conditions limited the opportunity to do so. As a result, the groups collaborated to come up with a new plan.

Materials were brought in on 4X4’s in the summer and, when work continued in the winter, snow machines were used to bring in the materials. A sled was constructed out of an old culvert and was towed behind a snowcat to get the building supplies to the site in the winter.

The foundation was constructed of steel rather than concrete due to weight restrictions.

The project was successfully completed in less than a year as a result of the hard work – some 700 hours of volunteered labor – and collaboration of the Central Oregon Snowbusters, Sisters Snogofers, and the Deschutes County 4 Wheelers.