Passport in Time New and old memories merge during program

It was the 23rd annual Passport in Time Project at the Savenac Historical Tree Nursery located at Haugan during the weekend of July 13-15. During that time, more than 30 volunteers showed up from all over the United States to paint, build and landscape the area.

Passport in Time is a national program where volunteers travel to historic sites and help with preservation projects, and Savenac is recognized as having the longest-running program in the nation. On Friday, July 13, volunteers were treated to a barbecue and presentation, as well as holding their annual reunion. The reunion celebrates people who have had an impact on the history of the 110-year-old nursery.

During the presentation, two young PIT volunteers, Tyra Trumble and Rebecka Seward, gave a slide show of activities various crews did during the week. There was a landscaping crew who cut down tree limbs, and put in new posts and plaques. A lodge pole crew who cut and skinned logs and made several pine beds for some of the cottages.

There were crews who did painting, built picnic tables, refurbished a porch, repaired screens and windows and cleaned out buildings. There was also a kitchen crew who kept everyone well fed for the week. This was Seward’s 11th year coming to Savenac to help out. Her parents and siblings started to come here when she was just 16.

Seward has also worked on PIT projects in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. She likes visiting Montana from her hometown of Boise, Idaho, where she earned her degree in biology.

“It’s peaceful and nice here. It’s a great place to get away,” she said after the presentations were over.

Milwaukee Railroad enthusiast John Schontz gave a presentation about the history of the railroad in the area, and on a national scale. Afterward, an award was presented to Superior School Superintendent Scott Kinney for Outdoor Education. The school has offered sixth graders a week of outdoor activities for the past 50 years as part of their Outdoor School Program. A program co-directed by Dawn Bauer, who also works at the school. Kinney said Superior School was nationally recognized during the 2017-18 school year by the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools Award, in part because of the Outdoor School Program.

PIT volunteers come from all over the country to participate and are of all ages. This year, the youngest members to help out were Lolo National Forest Archeologist Erika Karuzas’ children, 4-month old Ruthie; 4-year-old Isabelle; and Cora, who is 9 years old. One of the oldest members was Phil Schlamp, who talked about his happy years as a Forest Service ranger during a part of the presentation where people shared fond memories about the historic nursery.

During Seward’s presentation, she mentioned two members of the crew who had passed away during this past year. They are long-time Savenac employee Coon Dog, and PIT volunteer Roger Swan, who drove his tractor for years as he worked around the facility.

“I missed smelling his cigar in the shop,” Seward said to a roomful of teary-eyed volunteers and guests inside the old tree nursery packing building. “I thank you, Coon Dog, for all the years you put in here at Savenac.”

For lunch, the crowd sat at freshly painted white picnic tables — sitting under large shade trees outside the cook house. A line formed to get helpings of pulled pork sandwiches, chips and salads. Following was a dessert of a large, chocolate frosted cake, which included frosting photos of the work volunteers did all week. All this was under sunny, blue skies and fresh mountain air, a perfect ending to a perfect Montana-made week.