Spotlight on Chippewa NF PIT Volunteers

Chippewa National Forest PIT volunteers Dick and June Axelson are listed on the PIT honor roll for volunteering over 3000 hours.

When volunteers Dick and June Axelson walk through the doors of the Chippewa National Forest, we know it is once again time for the summer Passport In Time (PIT) project. Dick and June are dedicated volunteers with an avid interest in archaeology and historic sites around the country. During our Centennial year, Dick and June returned for their 14th PIT project. They are listed on the PIT honor roll for volunteering over 3000 hours to heritage sites!

Passport in Time (PIT) is a volunteer archaeology and historic preservation program of the USDA Forest Service. PIT volunteers work with professional Forest archaeologists and historians on national forests throughout the U.S. on everything from archaeological digs to historic structure restoration, oral history gathering, and curation of artifacts.

Over the years, PIT volunteers on the Chippewa National Forest have helped restore Camp Rabideau and Joyce Estate, both National Historic sites on the Forest. They have labeled and documented everything from stone chips to pottery, and patiently scraped away earth to reveal the stories from the past 10,000 years. In 2008, 28 PIT crew volunteers worked on a prehistoric site near Lake Winnibigoshish. On average, 30 volunteers work on Forest PIT projects each year, with over half returning PIT "veterans". This summer we look forward to the return of Dick and June as well as new faces to work with next Forest site.