2016-Mike O'Brien Memorial Project: Pennsylvania Mountain Trail Construction & Family Camping

Start Date-End Date: 08/20/2016-08/21/2016 Land Manager Office: Mountain Area Land Trust Land Manager Contact: Frank Falzone Funding Partner: Mike O'Brien Memorial Trail Fund Programmatic Partner: Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center Summary: Help construct new trail in a pristine location near Fairplay, while kids partake in a fun environmental education program! Description: About the Stewardship Site The Pennsylvania Mountain Natural Area is located near Alma, just northwest of Fairplay. Encompassing 500 acres of land and with the 13,000-foot 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 support of the community, Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT) purchased 92 acres as part of a multiphase project. This effort ensures the ongoing scientific research conducted by more than a hundred scientists for nearly 40 years. The trail is on MALT property, and VOC volunteers built the first part of the trail in 2015. Located by the project site is the Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center (BPEEC), which educates people about environmental issues, sustainable agricultural, and energy practices in a natural setting. About the Volunteer Experience FOR VOLUNTEERS AGES 12+: The work will be somewhat strenuous, conducted at an elevation of around 11,500 feet. After a short hike to the project site, volunteers will construct new trail as well as build trail structures like drainages and steps, as needed. This project is great for experienced trail builders, as well as first-timers that are up for a challenge! FOR YOUTH AGES 6-11: While adults and older youth are volunteering, 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 campsite to the project location, kids will be dropped off at BPEEC along the way. At the end of the day, adults and kids will come back together around the campfire to share stories and eat dinner (s'mores for dessert, anyone?), followed by the thrill of sleeping under the stars in a relaxing and safe environment. And, rest assured, everyone will sleep well after such a great day in the outdoors!Please note that breakfast and lunch will be provided throughout the weekend.Be sure to download VOC's YourCO app prior to the project and take the pledge to care for Colorado! By doing so, kids will be awarded a cool VOC OUTDOOR VOLUNTEER patch that they can proudly affix to their backpack, jacket, or other outdoor gear. About the Overall Impact The completed loop trail will provide exceptional recreation and science research opportunities as well as future public access to this pristine location. The trail constructed this will also pass two historical mining cabins. Further, through a combination of environmental education, stewardship work and sleeping under the stars, this immersive opportunity is sure to inspire in youth a lifelong commitment to caring for nature. Latitude/Longitude: 39.253341, -106.115527 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 80 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 113 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 39 Total Volunteer Days: 152 Total Unique Volunteers: 85 Total Volunteer Hours: 1263 Staff Hours: 64 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 70 adult and 20 youth volulnteers spent the weekend of August 20th volunteering high in Colorado's Mosquito Range, just outside of scenic Fairplay, CO. Volunteers worked to complete a half mile of trail in the Pennsylvania Mountian Natural Area, which is managed by the Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT). In addition to the construction of basic trail, volunteers completed 4 rock steps, 5 drainage structures, 3 Cairns and a climbing turn. The newly completed Pika Trail now loops about a mile through the high alpine environment, above and below treeline. The trail will not only provide a great community resource for Park County residents and visitors, but will also assist MALT with the guided hikes and research teams managed on the property. While their parents and older siblings performed trail work, 15 youth, ages 12 and under, spent both days at Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center. The first day was packed full of environmental education activities. Kids went on a guided nature hike, did some Beaver CSI work to figure out what the beavers were up to, fed the animals, learned about insects and got to look at some from the creek, and played a lot of camoflauge (a hide and seek type game)! The second day was spent playing in the mud, and hiking up Penn Mountain to see what their parents had been working on all weekend. Camping was provided at Bristlecone View Ranch. A big thanks to Bob White for making his property available at no cost to volunteers for camping, and for being a generous host. Volunteers were treated to a beautiful campground, campfires, and an outdoor screening of True Grit (the John Wayne version)! Successes and Challenges: For a second year, we were a little low on volunteer numbers for the trail work, leading to a hard push to get the work complete on Sunday. However, everyone worked extremely hard to bring the project home. Something we may want to consider for future family camping trips; The trail work at Penn. Mt. is boderline appropriate for 12 year olds, given the high altitude combined with very physical trail building. It's really more of a 14 and up project, but the activities at Beaver Ponds are boderline appropriate for 12 year olds given the high amount of much younger children. When there are only a handful of 12 y/os working alongside their parent's in different crews (2016) this is ok, but when their is a large group of pre-teens on one crew (2015) it can make it difficult to accomplish much work of this nature. Lessons Learned: Park County seems to be a tough place to recruit a large project. VOC TA Dave G. adjusted the route of the trail and trimmed a lot of the potential work to fit the group size. We could have accomodated 20-30 more volunteers on the trail and there was much more we could have accomplished. Perhaps the low population base in Park County is a detriment to a large project? Pretty much all the volunteers were from the Front Range. Regardless, we were able to complete the loop which was the main goal of our LM partner. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Provided extensively at the Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center by their staff and VOC staff. Learned about animals, plants and habitat. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Kevin Hosman, Director at Beaver Ponds, asked for a small contingent of volunteers to finish a little trail work. Since we do not pay BP anything, and they generously give of their limited resources to make this project happen, it felt inappropriate to say no to him. TA Dave G. stopped by BP after the project on Penn Mtn was complete, to give Kevin trail layout advice. One VOC staff and one volunteer stayed for an extra hour to complete the work. Kevin was ecstatic. We may want to consider BP as a place to bring corporate SWATs who want an overnight experience, or the Cairn Youth Program. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: