2012-Price Waterhouse Coopers SWAT at South Platte Park

Start Date-End Date: 08/30/2012-08/30/2012 Land Manager Office: South Suburban Parks and Recreation District Land Manager Contact: Skot Latona Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Invasive woody tree removal - Buckthorn, Siberian elm, Russian olive Description: The invasive buckthorn tree is a non-native with prolific seeds that are spread by birds. This tree alters the native landscape and crowds out native species, such as cottonwood trees, wild roses, golden currant bushes, and wild plum. Volunteers will be helping to cut these trees with bow saws and loppers. They will also help drag the trees to an area where they will later be disposed by park staff.Park staff will also beonsite an the project to apply herbicide to the cut stumps and to operate chainsaws if necessary. Latitude/Longitude: 39.36, 105.0 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 20 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 12 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 12 Total Unique Volunteers: 12 Total Volunteer Hours: 74 Staff Hours: 24 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Successes and Challenges: Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Volunteers learned about: invasive trees that start as ornamental and then escape invasive's impacts on native vegetation how to control woody invasive trees Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Great support from park staff who had4 people on chainsaw/brushcutters/hauling and2 on herbicides. Park staff were very please with the amount of work done. We did all of their primary goal and a lot of secondary. Volunteers were very happy with their accomplishments and enjoyed the project. Description of Accidents/Incidents: None Description of Work Completed: We had 12 volunteers. Volunteers helped remove invasive buckthorn trees from South Platte Park. They helped haul buckthorns from 5 acres of riparian habitat as park staff cut and herbicide stump-treated these invasive trees. These impressive, hardworking PricewaterhouseCoopers volunteers walked a quarter mile roundtrip with each haul and they hauled enough to fill a dump truck. Also see project evaluation form in the project file on the I drive. I:\1--Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado Documents\Community Stewardship Programs\Projects\2012 Projects\SWATs\PricewaterhouseCoopers\PwC Project Eval.doc