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AUGUST BACKCOUNTRY BOUTIQUE: RAF SPATULA
Summertime grilling just got more fun with this heavy duty custom-designed spatula! Made by an RAF supporter, this spatula features the letters ‘RAF’ and a bottle opener. To order the August Backcountry Boutique Item, click here. Please allow two weeks for delivery. If you have questions, please contact Tricia: contact@theraf.org or 406-570-5398. Thank you for your support of the Backcountry Boutique! We welcome photos…
Read More2020 SUMMER NEWSLETTER
Wondering what the RAF has accomplished? Your RAF volunteers have been busy working to improve, create and preserve airstrips for recreational access. Our grant program has helped complete projects from Washington State to Vermont. Meet our new State Liaisons, read about Colorado’s Airport of the Year, and get the update on Ryan Field. We are…
Read MoreYOUR INPUT COULD SAVE A TONGASS FLY-IN CABIN
Alaska’s Tongass National Forest is the largest National Forest in the nation. There are 144 public use cabins in the Forest, accessible by boat, trail, seaplane, and wheeled aircraft. Twenty-six are accessed by flight only, and may be in jeopardy of closure. “These cabins are a true treasure in one of the most beautiful parts…
Read MoreGETTIN’ IT DONE AT RED’S
How do you mow the tall spring grass on Red’s Wallowa Horse Ranch airfield in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness – without the use of motorized equipment? You trail in 20-year-olds Bird and Bat, who team up for the kind of job they know well. With just the right experience, these two mules – with Jim and Holly Akenson…
Read MoreRYAN FIELD HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!
Not surprisingly, word about a place as beautiful as Ryan Field gets out. The RAF welcomes visitors with backcountry flying skills appropriate for this special place. RAF volunteers have built rustic amenities that campers are welcome to use. During the construction project now through October, we expect our contractors and volunteers to create extra traffic.…
Read MoreNEW CALIFORNIA LIAISON KATERINA BARILOV
Please welcome Katerina Barilov as a new Liaison for California. Since January, 2019, she had served as an RAF Ambassador. Originally from Russia, Katerina lives and works out of a small airport in Santa Paula in southern California. Along with a team of engineers based in Silicon Valley, she is growing a start-up that is building an electric aircraft that will…
Read MoreNEW ARKANSAS LIAISON HARPER GOODWIN
In eighth grade, Harper’s dad gave him a book, How to Become an Airline Pilot, then career day in high school “sealed the deal,” Harper says. “The job was described to me as something like, ‘Fly around the world in fast moving jets with lots of levers, knobs, gauges and important procedures, while wearing a cool…
Read MorePILOTS FIND DARKNESS TO VIEW NIGHT SKY
What is it like to view Comet NEOWISE from the sparseness of Oregon’s Alvord Desert, a large ancient dry lakebed east of the Steens Mountains, close to the borders of Oregon, Idaho and Nevada? “At night the Milky Way was overwhelming,” RAF member Richard Greenstead said, “and the opportunity to view the comet in such…
Read MoreIMPROVEMENT PROJECT TO CLOSE SCHAFER AUG. 23-31
RAF Montana Liaison Scott Newpower reports that the US Forest Service is CLOSING Schafer airstrip (8U2) from August 23 though August 31 for runway improvements. Schafer lies within a Wilderness Area where no motorized equipment is allowed, so the work will be done by a team of mules. The project includes plowing, grading, rolling and…
Read MoreRYAN FIELD BARN RAISING
Maybe you’ve already seen the gem of an airstrip called Ryan Field near Glacier Park, Montana, and know about the RAF’s vision to “raise the barn.” Thanks to the response from generous donors from across the country, our plans are coming together! When Ben and Agnes “Butchie” Ryan first saw the tamarack, pine and cedar…
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