Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PASSPORT IN TIME
preserve a piece of history
NATIONAL FORESTS NATIONWIDE
I've never worked so hard, had so much fun, learned so much, or gotten so
dirty in just one week! We feel guilty calling these experiences 'do-good
vacations' because we have such a great time.
—Martha Blair, volunteer with Passport in Time
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Your chance to be a Deadhead has more or less expired. But there's still plenty of time
to be a Pithead. That's what volunteers of the U.S. Forest Service's Passport in Time (PIT)
program jokingly call themselves. PIT is a volunteer program giving everyday Joes and Janes
the chance to assist professional archaeologists and historians in surveying, excavating, and
restoring historic and archaeological sites.
Some Pitheads have more than 2,500 volunteer hours under their belt. They literally finish
up one project and head to the next. PIT even keeps an honor roll on which volunteers (at last
count, more than 350) with lots of contributed time get recognized. Obviously, being a Pithead
can be addictive.
Eva and Don Peden of Landers, Wyoming, went on their first dig in 1992 after their
daughter sent them a two-line classified ad she'd spotted in the back of a magazine. Now, they
go on at least two digs every year and have logged more than 500 hours on the PIT honor roll.
They've excavated tepee rings in Wyoming's Thunder Basin National Grasslands, uncovered
bison bones in Nebraska, and dug through prehistoric sites in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
CRASH COURSE
Archaeologists spend four years of college learning some of the skills you can pick
up in just one PIT project. Some of the more common Pithead skills:
•
Mapping
