2011-Summit Lake Trail Restoration

Start Date-End Date: 08/06/2011-08/06/2011 Land Manager Office: Land Manager Contact: Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Protect fragile alpine tundra at the City and County of Denver's highest park. Description: At an elevation of 13,001 feet, scenic Summit Lake Park is the City and County of Denver's highest park. Located along Mount Evans Road, Colorado State Highway 5, Summit Lake Park is situated between the 14,264- foot peak of Mount Evans and the 10,600-foot Echo Lake Park, another Denver Mountain Park. Volunteers will be restoring a trail that leads to the lake and repairing a historic stone structure, which is a point of interest to visitors. The park's 160 acres constitute a natural botanical area, which is home to delicate alpine tundra environments, found only at altitudes above 11,500 feet. Rare tundra flowers, some of which have not been found anywhere else outside of the Arctic Circle, can be found in the park. Because of the harsh elements these plant communities find themselves in it can take up to 100 years for individual plants to grow over 1 inch. The restored trail will preserve these ecosystems and lower the impact of visitors by concentrating any disturbance onto single path. There is no fee for this project. Lunch and giveaways will be provided on Saturday by our project sponsor Which Wich. Latitude/Longitude: 39.7424881, -105.5136081 Additional Information: Project scoope kept developing from Denver Mountain Parks. Orginially slated to be a new trail construction project, after the site visit it became an historical preservation project of the rock shelter building and a trail restoration of the old crusher fine trail. A week before the project, Denver Mountain Parks decided to only do the trail restoration work and add ecological restoration work in the new parking lot. That made it difficult for the CLM who had recruited multiple rock skilled crew leaders at the request of Denver Mountain Parks and now had to find ecological restoration skilled crew leaders and ask the rock crew leaders to lead crusher fine crews. The tool managers were also upset because they felt out of the loop on what tools shoudl be brought as the work kept changing. It made for some frustration directed at the agency from the project team and several crew leaders. They would like us to return at some point to build the new trail so something to keep in mind. Camping Available: Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: Desired Number of Volunteers: 75 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 71 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 3 Total Volunteer Days: 77 Total Unique Volunteers: 73 Total Volunteer Hours: 772.5 Staff Hours: 0 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Successes and Challenges: Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Project scoope kept developing from Denver Mountain Parks. Orginially slated to be a new trail construction project, after the site visit it became an historical preservation project of the rock shelter building and a trail restoration of the old crusher fine trail. A week before the project, Denver Mountain Parks decided to only do the trail restoration work and add ecological restoration work in the new parking lot. That made it difficult for the CLM who had recruited multiple rock skilled crew leaders at the request of Denver Mountain Parks and now had to find ecological restoration skilled crew leaders and ask the rock crew leaders to lead crusher fine crews. The tool managers were also upset because they felt out of the loop on what tools shoudl be brought as the work kept changing. It made for some frustration directed at the agency from the project team and several crew leaders. They would like us to return at some point to build the new trail so something to keep in mind. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: On August 6, 65 volunteers spent the day at an altitude of 13,000 feet, restoring trail, building rock structures, and alleviating drainage problems. Volunteers restored 750 feet of trail leading to Summit Lake, just below the top of Mt. Evans, and built two rock viewing platforms on the lake. They also placed rocks and planted plants to improve water drainage in the area. A hard day