Where You’ll Be:
Cherry Creek State Park is one of the most popular and scenic parks in the Denver metro area, known for its expansive reservoir, diverse wildlife, and beautiful open spaces. With a mix of prairie, wetlands, and cottonwood-lined trails, the park offers a peaceful natural escape just minutes from the city. It’s also a hub for outdoor recreation, environmental education, and habitat restoration.
What You’ll Do:
Volunteers will work in an area where informal foot traffic from hikers and birders has begun to impact sensitive wetlands and create conflicts with active beaver habitat.
The primary goal of this project is to construct a new crushed gravel trail that reroutes use onto a designated, sustainable path. Volunteers will also help close the existing informal trail to allow the area to recover.
The second priority is to construct fencing to delineate a wetland viewing area. Over time, this space will be enhanced with benches, viewing areas, and interpretive signage, creating a new park amenity while protecting surrounding habitat.
Please bring your own lunch for the day.
Why It Matters:
Cherry Creek State Park receives around two million visits each year. Creating a designated trail and formal viewing area in this part of the park helps spread visitor use more evenly and reduces pressure on heavily used trails elsewhere. This project also provides a sustainable way for visitors to experience wetlands and wildlife, including birds and beavers, while protecting the habitat that supports them.
Eligibility Requirements:
- Ages 14+
Youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult aged 21 or older.
Project Difficulty:
This project is considered moderate to difficult please check our difficulty rating criteria here for more details.
General physical considerations for participating on this project. Some or all may apply: extensive digging and excavating to make way for new crusher fines trail; tool use; digging, shoveling, moving soil and rocks; repetitive bending, lifting, and walking; may require hiking to access work site while carrying tools; you can expect to bend over, pick objects up, move rocks, carry tools, swing heavy tools, dig, and stretch; hauling heavy wheelbarrows.
Access Factors:
Vehicle Access: The park is 2WD accessible. Depending on where we park, volunteers may be parking in one area and carpooling to the project site
Other Notes: The project area is fairly exposed. There are bathrooms throughout the park. The nearest bathroom to the project site may be a short drive away.
If you enjoy trail construction, you can view similar projects here.
