Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/12/2013-10/12/2013
Land Manager Office: Flying W Ranch
Land Manager Contact:
Funding Partner: Flying W Ranch
Programmatic Partner: Coalition for the Upper South Platte
Summary: Cairn participants spent their Saturday raking, seeding, and mulching over 1/2 an ancre of land destroyed by the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012. The project really emphasized problem solving skills, teamwork, and endurance to spread this much land with buckets and manual labors. Students lined up for a bucket brigade hauling 2 large piles of mulch to spread over the area, coming up with efficient systems to hand off buckets, trade off tasks for tired arms and legs, and motivating one another to continue working hard. Students learned all the impacts fire has on the land, water quality, and the tactics land managers use to help restore the land via erosion control measures (seeding and mulching). The scope of work was easy, yet somewhat physically demanding - it was the perfect balance to allow everyone to work together as well as get to know one another.
Description:
Cairn participants spent their Saturday raking, seeding, and mulching over 1/2 an ancre of land destroyed by the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012. The project really emphasized problem solving skills, teamwork, and endurance to spread this much land with buckets and manual labors. Students lined up for a bucket brigade hauling 2 large piles of mulch to spread over the area, coming up with efficient systems to hand off buckets, trade off tasks for tired arms and legs, and motivating one another to continue working hard. Students learned all the impacts fire has on the land, water quality, and the tactics land managers use to help restore the land via erosion control measures (seeding and mulching). The scope of work was easy, yet somewhat physically demanding - it was the perfect balance to allow everyone to work together as well as get to know one another.
Latitude/Longitude: 38.905904, -104.878072
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 35
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 5
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 21
Total Volunteer Days: 26
Total Unique Volunteers: 26
Total Volunteer Hours: 208
Staff Hours: 10
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary:
Successes and Challenges:
Lessons Learned:
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
CUSP and Flying W provided pre- and post stewardship education.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
I know I need to do a better job of making sure the students understand WHY seeding and mulching prevents erosion. There seemed to be a disconnect between the work and the purpose. Will do better at briefing and debriefing on Cairn Projects...as the project e-mails and information is clearly not enough!
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
None
Description of Work Completed:
The Cairn Youth Program traveled south to Colorado Springs for their October Project in partnership with the Flying W Ranch. The ranch was destroyed in the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire and they are just breaking ground on restoring 160+ acres that was impacted. Cairn raked, seeded, and mulched a half acre over the course of the day, helping prevent further erosion, flooding, and destruction of this drainage area. The weather was cool and breezy, but the students stayed warm with the help of a generous donation of beanies from SmartWool. The Flying W Ranch was thrilled not only with the amount of work done, but the quality. This project, though not technical, was physically demanding. Students created a bucket brigade, handing off buckets of mulch down the road to be spread at the bottom. Bucket after bucket, full and empty, they traveled up the line. This was a perfect second project for Cairn, as it forced them to work together as a team, problem solve, as well as get to know one another a bit better. November's project will be held at the Plains Conservation Center in Aurora, helping restore a section of trail to protect the surrounding high plains habitat.
Details
| 13 and older |
