2012-Columbine Trail Construction

Start Date-End Date: 09/22/2012-09/23/2012 Land Manager Office: USFS - Salida Ranger District Land Manager Contact: Ben Lara Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Help construct a new trail that will ease congestion on Salida's most popular trail, the Rainbow Trail, and increase recreational opportunities in the area. Description: STEWARDSHIP SITE The City of Salida has become a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy the extensive trails and river sports along the Arkansas River.This surge in recreational users has helped boost the local economy. The city boasts spectacular views of the Collegiate Peaks in the Arkansas Valley. VOLUNTEER PROJECT - WHAT & WHY Celebrate National Public Lands Day! Help construct a new trail that will ease congestion on Salida's most popular trail, the Rainbow trail, while increasing recreational opportunities for an array of user groups. We'll be constructing a connector trail from a network of lesser used trails to the popular Rainbow trail. The connector trail will help accommodate Salida's boost in visitors and trail enthusiasts by offering easier access to existing trail networks. Click here to register: http://bit.ly/M4ngrK PARTNERS U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Salida Ranger District Salida Mountain Trails (SMT) Roundup Riders Heritage and Trails Foundation National Forest Foundation OTHER FUN STUFF Meals: Saturday breakfast through Sunday lunch Camping: available Friday and Saturday nights As part of National Public Lands Day, all volunteers will receive a fee-free coupon for BLM lands! Latitude/Longitude: 38.52590179443359, -105.997802734375 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 100 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 103 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 2 Total Volunteer Days: 105 Total Unique Volunteers: 64 Total Volunteer Hours: 1002 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: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: On September 22-23, around 60 volunteers worked on the Columbine Trail Construction project in Salida. Volunteers worked hard to construct 1,700 ft of new, multi-use trail including 4 switchbacks, 10 drainage diversion dips, and 15ft of retaining rocks walls. This new connector trail will ease congestion on the popular Rainbow Trail and help increase recreational opportunities in the area. A big shout out to Michael Kunkel and his family for allowing VOC volunteers to camp on his property! The project was a great partnership between VOC and ranger district that has been extremely successful and enthusiastic in developing a thriving volunteer population. Salida Mt trails continues to be great partners through financial and volunteer support for the project which was much appreciated. Highlights of the project were, overwhelming support from the community (over 40 prizes were donated from local businesses for the volunteer raffle), 60% of the volunteers on the ground were from the Salida community, the Salida ranger District provided 6 of the 8 crew leaders (all whom went through our OSI crew leader training in the spring).