2015-Mike O'Brien Memorial Project: Pennsylvania Mountain Trail Construction

Start Date-End Date: 08/29/2015-08/30/2015 Land Manager Office: Land Manager Contact: Jeanne Beaudry Funding Partner: Mountain Area Land Trust, Mike O'Brien Memorial Trail Fund Programmatic Partner: Summary: Help construct a new public trail in a pristine location near Fairplay, while your kids partake in a fun environmental education program! Description: ABOUT THE STEWARDSHIP SITE The Pennsylvania Mountain Natural Area is located near Alma in Park County, sitting just northwest of Fairplay. Encompassing 500 acres of land and with the 13,000-ft. Pennsylvania Mountain as the highest point, sights in the area include ancient bristlecone pines, stunning wildflowers, and alpine researchers in the field.In 2014, with the generous support of the community, Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT) purchased 92 critical acres as part of a multiphase project. This effort ensures the ongoing scientific research conducted by more than a hundred scientists for over 37 years - one of the longest term alpine research sites in the country. The trail will be constructed on MALT's property. Located by the project site is the Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center (BPEEC), which helps people of all ages learn about environmental issues, sustainable agricultural, and energy practices in a natural setting. ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER WORK & KIDS' PROGRAMMING Currently, recreationists from Alma, as well as the surrounding area, can only access the Pennsylvania Mountain Natural Area from MALT's private property. On this project, volunteers will help build a loop trail that will provide recreation and science research opportunities as well as future access to this pristine location. The trail will provide new recreation opportunities in the area as well as access to conduct scientific research. While adults and youth ages 12 and up are volunteering at The Pennsylvania Mountain Natural Area, young kids can partake in a spectacular (and free!) educational program at BPEEC that will include fun environmental activities alongside a caring and professional staff.On both Saturday and Sunday, as volunteers are shuttled from the camp site to the project location, kids will be dropped off at BPEEC along the way. At the end of the work day, kids will be picked up and spend the evening eating dinner and camping with their families.Be sure to check outvoc.org/badge to learn about ways that you and your family can care for Colorado prior to the project! By doing so, kids will be awarded a cool VOC patch that they can proudly affix to their backpack, jacket, etc. Free meals and camping will be provided. OTHER WAYS TO HELP It's not all sweat and toil! There are lots of ways you can participate on project days, including as an assistant crew chef. Assistant crew chefs have a fun, vital, and very appreciated role on the project team - keeping volunteers happy and well-fed! Please emailSteve Wallfor more information. PARTNERS Mountain Area Land Trust Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center Latitude/Longitude: 39.253341, -106.115527 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 100 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 106 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 35 Total Volunteer Days: 141 Total Unique Volunteers: 79 Total Volunteer Hours: 1100 Staff Hours: 81.5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 55 adults and 19 youth spent the weekend volunteering at the Pennsylvania Mt. Natural Area and Beaver Ponds Environmental Center near Fairplay. Volunteers 12 and older spent both days building a new trail on property managed by the Mountain Area Land Trust, which will provide public hiking access to the area around Pennsylvania Mountain. Volunteers under 12got to partake in many fun and exciting environmental activities. Highlights included feeding alpacas and goats, learning about sustainable farming and alternative energy, sawing plants in the greenhouse, examining tree rings to see how old they were, exploring dried up beaver ponds and lodges, catching macro invertebrates in the creek, going on a nature hike, and of course, playing in the mud!Parents and kids rejoined at dinner time to enjoy a night of camping together under the stars. Successes and Challenges: This was a challenging project to bring together. Either the scouting process was not thourough enough (no report was filed) and/or too much of what the land manager could provide was assumed and not readily delivered on. This led to a lot of extra staff time and volunteer time on part of the TA/CLM/TM to bring it all together. There was also staff turnover at VOC and MALT that affected the planning process. That being said, from a general perspective, the project was a great success. The campsite was beautiful, as was the worksite, and the trail offers access to a desireable location. Beaver Ponds was also a great partner for youth programming. There were, however, a short list of smaller problems in the planning process with the land manager that kept it from being an A+. Lessons Learned: Perform a detailed scout and hammer home key logistical points (campsite, toilets, EMTs, scope of work and completeness of project plan). File a scouting report so that other staff and volunteers can access that information. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: As a new partner, MALT was underprepared for what an ideal VOC project should be, leading to a lot of extra time put in by VOC staff and volunteers. Since we were able to resolve most of the logisitcal issues, the main staff concern is that MALT was unable to get their trail head built before VOC came out to build the trail. As of this summary, there is no clear access point to the trail and it's unclear when that will be established. However, I am very proud of what we accomplished, and felt that MALT was receptive to our concerns and an enthusiastic partner. I think that their own vision for the project was unclear and under planned. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: