WTA wraps up a season of trailhead outreach at Ancient Lakes

At WTA, we frequently highlight our partnerships with both state and federal land managers to celebrate the projects our volunteer crews complete on trail. But WTA also partners with land managers in another volunteer capacity: trailhead outreach and public education.

WDFW ambassadors welcome visitors at the Ancient Lakes trailhead. Photo courtesy of Allie Tripp.

WDFW tries a new idea, with help from WTA

In 2023, The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) launched a statewide ambassador program as part of its 10-year recreation strategy. The agency hoped the program could improve visitor’s experience on WDFW-managed lands while also reducing the impacts on the land.

With trail use rising rapidly, the agency wanted to increase public education and outreach efforts while dealing with staffing and budget cuts. The WDFW ambassador program filled in the gaps where the agency lacked the staff or time to conduct public education programs.

For its pilot year, Erin Browning at WDFW, and Allie Tripp at Washington Trails Association worked together, to hire seasonal WTA staff to manage the program. Those seasonal staff recruited volunteers and trained them to help educate visitors about how to safely and responsibly get outside at six sites across Central Washington over the course of several months.

The volunteers talked to the trail users on WDFW lands about Leave No Trace and other site-specific important information. Over the course of the summer and early fall, volunteers spent 36 days at trails, interacting with hundreds of visitors and gathering valuable data on which sites — and what times of year — yielded the best results for visitor engagement. At the end of the season, the pilot was deemed a success. Visitors raved about  the opportunity to connect with volunteers on site and get additional tips and information.

How WTA helped educate hikers on WDFW lands this year

In 2025, WTA returned to the WDFW ambassador program at Ancient Lakes (WDFW Quincy Lakes unit) under the guidance of Allie Tripp and Chloe Ferrone, who works in Central Washington.

“After needing to step back in 2024 due to capacity shortages, we were excited to come back to the program and see how much it had grown,” Allie said. “We were especially thrilled to get the chance to engage with hikers and other trail users at such a popular trailhead.”

Erin was also happy to continue the partnership.

“We here at WDFW were so excited to be able to work with WTA on our ambassador program once again. It was fantastic to be able to continue the partnership after a one-year hiatus,” she said.

This year, WTA was one of five parnters providing outreach at trailheads, and the site location at Ancient Lakes was a perfect fit for WTA.

“One of the reasons this season was so successful was the fact that this is such a popular destination for a lot of beginner hikers and backpackers who are seeking information about the trails and the area,” Chloe said.

A view over the water at Ancient Lakes. Photo by Selena88.

A recipe for success

Ancient Lakes is located along a strip of land known as the Babcock Bench overlooking the Columbia River. A combination of environmental factors like lava flows, glacial floodwaters, and erosion over thousands of years has shaped the landscape into what visitors see today. Hikers, bikers and equestrians traveling along the area’s trails can look up at towering basalt cliffs and mesas, wander in and out of box canyons, and view potholes, several of which have filled with irrigation water from the Quincy Basin farmlands above.

The area is open year round, and offers an excellent option for early season hiking, with the highest visitation in April and May. Ancient Lakes is also a popular destination for beginning backpackers, as the campsites are a few miles from the parking lot on relatively flat trails.

Every spring, hundreds of visitors flock to the area to take in the beauty of the shrub-steppe and wander among the early season wildflowers and spring grasses. While there is no formalized trail network, there are many trails that take visitors from the lower parking lot east towards the popular pothole lakes, or west towards the Columbia River. The open, sagebrush covered terrain and the towering cliffs make navigation straightforward.

For each site in this year’s WDFW Ambassador program, volunteers were given educational talking points tailored to their location. At Ancient Lakes, the primary talking points WDFW wanted to emphasize were: traveling on durable surfaces, camping on established sites, packing out trash and respecting the area’s wildlife.

A wide range of volunteers

• Get involved
• Ambassadors at WTA have been working this summer to offer support in areas where visitation is high and federal or state land managers have asked for additional support in keeping the public educated and encouraging trail users to be good stewards. Here are a few ways you can be a part of a brighter future for trails:
• – Learn more about becoming a WTA ambassador so you can participate in trailhead outreach events like this one. 
• – File your trip reports after your hikes this summer, here are three examples of how they go beyond just helping your fellow hikers.
• – Sign up for our Trail Action Network and we’ll let you know when you can speak up for trails.

Seventeen volunteers went through WTA’s training program and spent one or more Saturdays at the Ancient Lakes Lower Trailhead. Volunteers were on trail a total of 8 days between mid-April and early June. Some volunteers were current WTA ambassadors, but the majority of participants were completely new to WTA.

During each outreach shift, new volunteers were paired alongside current WTA ambassadors or staff.

“We wanted our new volunteers to feel empowered to engage with recreationists and talk to hikers about things like Leave No Trace while also feeling supported and knowing that they could rely on WTA staff or ambassadors to answer specific questions about the organization,” Chloe said.

Many volunteers already had experience with organizations like Cowiche Canyon Conservancy or The Nature Conservancy.

“Everyone we worked with brought such wonderful energy and professionalism to the table, I was so grateful to every single one of them.” Chloe said. “We also just went out there and had fun.”

A group of backpackers stops by for information and snacks. Photo courtesy of Chloe Ferrone. 

Another successful year of partnership

When we looked back at the season, one statistic stood out. Of the 470 visitors counted at the trailhead over 8 days, volunteers talked to 432 of them, bringing the overall engagement rate to 92%. This level of engagement speaks to WTA’s commitment to bringing information and awareness to trail users.

Both Chloe and Erin agreed that the volunteers did an excellent job. The time volunteers spent at this trailhead meant that the majority of trail users on Ancient Lakes’ busiest days this year walked away with a better understanding of how to recreate responsibly.

“WDFW was incredibly lucky to have WTA’s expertise at Quincy/ Ancient Lakes, which is one of our most popular recreation destinations for hikers, bikers and equestrians in the spring,” Erin said. “WTA was able to welcome and educate hundreds of visitors to this area, proving yet again what a huge asset the partnership between WDFW and WTA is and will continue to be.”

Maintaining the momentum

As we reach mid-July, summer is in full swing out at Ancient Lakes and visitation has dropped significantly as the weather consistently rises to triple digits. Although WTA wrapped up its WDFW partnership in early June, WTA ambassador programs continue to provide outreach at trailheads across the state.

In Central Washington, Chloe and WTA are shifting to trailhead outreach at several Forest Service trailheads in the Salmon La Sac and Esmeralda Basin areas. WTA is also continuing to support the work of Glacier Peak Institute, The National Forest Foundation, and the Forest Service with this trailhead outreach at Lake 22 along the Mountain Loop Highway and Heliotrope Ridge in the Mount Baker area in summer and early fall.