2012-Family Planting and Hoop House Construction at High Plains Environmental Center

Start Date-End Date: 05/05/2012-05/05/2012 Land Manager Office: High Plains Environmental Center Land Manager Contact: Jim Tolstrup Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Bring the whole family to construct a native plant nursery at the High Plains Environmental Center Description: STEWARDSHIP SITE High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC) is a unique, urban environmental park, located within Loveland's Centerra community. Open to the public, the nonprofit center is comprised of 76 acres of land and 3 miles of trails that surround two lakes covering an additional 200 acres. HPEC offers numerous public education programs, and engages volunteers in habitat restoration so that wildlife and native plants can thrive. VOLUNTEER PROJECT - WHAT & WHY Over the last three years, VOC volunteers have been helping HPEC restore many acres of disturbed habitat, planting thousands of native trees, shrubs, and plants during that time. This year, join us for a new, exciting project to construct a native plant nursery at the center. This "habitat factory" of sorts will produce 20,000 native plants a year for large-scale native plant restoration efforts. Tasks will include: Planting hedges around the nursery Planting demonstration beds featuring native shrubs and wildflowers Constructing a greenhouse and nursery beds Transplanting seedlings of native plants Mulching the newly constructed nursery area Parts of this project, such as transplanting plants, are simple and can be completed by children or people who are unable to do physically strenuous tasks. Those who want more physical work can help with construction/technical-work using power drills and equipment. Help is also needed to lift five gallon shrubs, carry heavy buckets of pea stone mulch, and digging and planting. Come for just the morning or afternoon, or stay for the whole day. PLEASE INDICATE IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU ARE COMING FOR JUST THE MORNING OR AFTERNOON. We'll see dramatic results by the end of the day. PARTNERS High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC) Chick-fil-A OTHER FUN STUFF Meals: light breakfast, lunch Latitude/Longitude: 40.42620086669922, -105.08999633789062 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 50 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 27 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 7 Total Volunteer Days: 33 Total Unique Volunteers: 34 Total Volunteer Hours: 219 Staff Hours: 28 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: 1. What were the most significant areas of achievement on this project? Hoop house was constructed 500 transplants (of native plants) were completed Two 90x5ft garden beds were constructed Half of the area was laid with weed mat, and spread with peastone 2. What areas need improvement from this project? More importantly, what constructive ideas do you have in order to improve these areas? What can VOC’s committees and staff do to implement these improvements? Low volunteer numbers impeded amount of work achieved. Should have lunch closer to worksite; not make volunteers walk and giving them the opportunity to leave. Idea was to bring them back to the area where their cars were – in case they needed anything; but then with low volunteer numbers we had some attrition over lunch…and any attrition made a bit impact! 3. What did you try new on this project that worked better than on prior projects? · N/A 4. How much work was completed? If not 100%, when will it be completed by the agency? Did the agency provide everything they agreed to in the MOU? · 75% - HPEC to finish laying peastone and securing weed mat. 5. How did the agency feel at the end of the project? · Thrilled with the transformation; maybe a little bummed about not getting all the work done – but was aware that it was due to low numbers. 6. Could the agency have better supported the team’s efforts? How? · HPEC did great in supporting the planning and volunteer support. · Perhaps prioritizing and setting goals for the day (especially when having low numbers) would have been helpful. i.e. goal is to get all the weed mat down first; or goal is to finish a, b, c. 7. Was this project a good volunteer and crew leader experience (i.e., did the volunteers enjoy themselves and did everything appear seamless)? How might we further enhance their experience? · Yes; Jake Isaacson was a fantastic Crew Leader/TA for the construction part of the project. HPEC staff lead two other parts, and VOC Staff two other parts. It was a very dynamic project with many moving parts and a lot of variety of mini-projects to be done during the day. · Towards the end of the day, people were clearly getting tired…though they were motivated to get done, I wanted to make sure they left feeling accomplished and not overworked. 8. Any Crew Chef issues -- was there enough food and was it on time? · Chick-Fil-A donated sandwiches; we over requested simply because our numbers were low. o Leftovers were donated to Homeless Shelter on Park Ave. in Denver. · Tom Ledgerwood = Rock Star Crew Chef…fantastic; great food selection…volunteers enjoyed it. · Dede Williams was there as a volunteer; not Crew Chef…voiced her opinion on Chick-Fil-A in front of volunteers…not cool. 9. Any Crew Leader issues -- sufficient number, consistency in work? Did any Crew Leader Trainees graduate? · Jake Isaacson was the only Crew Leader/TA on site as a volunteer, otherwise staff took over these roles and did a sufficient job. o Being sensitive to not spread out volunteers leaders too thin; by encouraging staff to take more of those roles as possible on projects. · No graduations occurred. 10. TA issues? Were construction notes clear and expectations explained to everyone? Were the notes provided at orientation? Were the TAs readily accessible to CLs and Project Team members? · Jake Isaacson – understood the project and we had a conference call with HPEC so he was well prepared despite not having a site visit ahead of time. · HPEC Staff also understood the scope of the project and how to lead volunteers in the construction portions. · Jake was accessible at all times and willing to help. 11. TM issues? Did you have sufficient help with the tools? Will you have any Project Team members helping at the next tool maintenance? · HPEC helped supply the list of tools they needed; and we were able to supply everything they requested and made some additions ourselves. · Additional wheelbarrows for this project would have been helpful to lay the peastone…this discussion was had at the site visit and we opted for more buckets over wheelbarrows because of the limited space on the worksite; but after work began that day, it became clear that additional wheelbarrows would have been helpful. 12. Are there any pieces of “tribal knowledge” that might benefit other project teams/committees? · N/A