BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sun Valley Resort will host the 5Point Adventure Film Festival, showcasing stories of adventure that have the power to ignite positive social change, on Thursday, May 4.

The Carbondale, Colo.-based festival will benefit the Pulaski Users Group, a group of volunteers who clear trails in the backcountry around Sun Valley. It will start at 7 p.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House.

Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5point-adventure-film-festival-tickets-609907318207.

The Pulaski Users Group, aka PUG, is named after the Pulaski, which is half axe, half hoe. It chops and cleaves, excavates and grubs and this two-in-one tool is an essential piece of shaping any trail. It was named after Ranger Edward Pulaski, one of the heroes of the 1910 Big Burn fire, which decimated much of North Idaho. Charged with leading firefighters near Wallace, Pulaski saved lives when he ordered firefighters to hunker down in a cave during a burnover.

PUG recently received a $48,000 grant from the Legacy Trails Program in February 2023. The money will be used to help PUG volunteers work with the Forest Service to reestablish trails in the Johnson Creek area in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

They will reestablish several trails starting from the Graham Trailhead, working their way up to Pat’s Lake. This area has not been tended since the 1990s and the trails are poorly defined.

PUG also is planning to work on other trails in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area this summer, as well as on trails in the Salmon Challis National Forest. The group will partner with the Flourish Foundation’s Compassionate Leaders Program, the Sun Valley Community School Outdoor Program and others.

To learn more or to volunteer, email Lex Carey at lex@pulaskiusers.org.