Description
Start Date-End Date: 05/07/2016-05/07/2016
Land Manager Office: Parker, Town of
Land Manager Contact: Jacob James
Funding Partner: Mile High Flood District
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Help restore Cherry Creek just minutes from Denver!
Description: About the Stewardship Site
The historical Norton Farm Open Space is a 72-acre property located along Cherry Creek on the west side of Parker Road in Douglas County. The property's main purpose is as a buffer from the development to the north. For the past few decades the Norton property has been a horse boarding, breeding, and training facility. On the west side of the property is the Cherry Creek Trail, which is bordered by mature cottonwood trees and offers stunning views of distant mountains. A portion of the property lies in a riparian zone, near where volunteers will be working.
About the Volunteer Experience
Tasks will be easy- to- moderate in difficulty, and include spreading seed mix for native plants, removing invasive weeds, and planting wetland, tree, and shrub species. This project is best suited for volunteers who enjoy restoration activities, and is perfect for first-time volunteers!
About the Overall Impact
This important restoration project will help native plants to return to the area, as well as provide channel and bank stabilization along Cherry Creek. Volunteer efforts will also protect wildlife, as this section of waterway is habitat for the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse, which is found only in Colorado and Wyoming and is considered a threatened species. As a bonus, work done will enhance the aesthetics of the waterway, which runs parallel to the Cherry Creek Regional Trail.
Latitude/Longitude: 39.562015, -104.787356
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 40
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 25
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 6
Total Volunteer Days: 30
Total Unique Volunteers: 31
Total Volunteer Hours: 162
Staff Hours: 37.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Poor weather conditions caused us to reschedule this project from the original date (04/23) to the new one. Weather was still forecast to be fairly bad on the day of the project, with clouds, wind, cold temperatures and the threat of hail and rain around noon. Due to these factors, volunteer turnout was lower than we had hoped, and weather caused us to end early. Despite these challenges, the group was in high spirits and accomplished a solid amount of work for the size and makeup. Due to the weather we made the decision to push lunch back in order to accomplish as much as possible, and in the end this ended up being the correct decision as weather turned from cold and dry to cold with heavy rain almost immediately after lunch. The land manager on site said he was very happy with the flexibility, organization, and amount of work we were able to accomplish despite low turnout.
Successes and Challenges: Successes: Reading the weather forecast and managing work time played out well. In retrospect, pushing back lunch by about an hour (from 11:30 to 12:30) helped us accomplish a lot more than if we had stuck to the schedule. People were in good spirits and working well together during that time, and trying to break for lunch and then return to work in ernest with rain threatening would have been less productive.
Tool loading and unloading, food logistics all went well.
Challenges: Volunteer turnout. We had only about half of the numbers we were hoping for. The likely factors were the reschedule and the weather forecast for the day, in addition to regular attrition.
Wheelbarrows. Based on the notes and plan from the land manager it didn't indicate that there was a need to use wheelbarrows on the project. However on the day of we realized that there was need, which slowed our productivity down somewhat. We were able to address and overcome the issue eventually, but it would have been good to know at the outset.
Lessons Learned: There may have been benefit in "rallying the troops" in an e-mail or call to volunteers before the project to help overcome attrition from weather fears.
Special Notes: N/A
Stewardship Education: N/A
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: None
Description of Accidents/Incidents: None
Description of Work Completed:
Details
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