Description
Start Date-End Date: 04/24/2016-04/24/2016
Land Manager Office: City of Colorado Springs
Land Manager Contact: Chris Lieber
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Get outdoors and restore one of Colorado Springs' most prized open space areas!
Description: About the Stewardship Site
If you love the red rocks of Garden of the Gods, you'll love this tranquil place! Red Rock Canyon Open Space, located south of US 24 between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, is a recreationalist's wonderland. Each year, up to 500,000 runners, mountain bikers, climbers, and nature watchers use the various trails that wind along beautiful canyons and ridges of red rock that provide great views of Garden of the Gods. The park is also home to two off-leash dog loops and a free-ride bike park.
About the Volunteer Experience
After an easy hike to the worksite, volunteers will remove invasive weeds brought in by flood waters, and then plant new shrubs and trees to help naturalize the area and stabilize the soil. As tasks are easy in nature, children as young as 6 are invited to participate. A wonderful opportunity to get the whole family involved in caring for Colorado's outdoors!
About the Overall Work
Flooding during the spring of 2015 devastated Red Rock Canyon Open Space, forcing it to temporarily close. The section of the park that volunteers will be working in was inundated with water and received large quantities of silt from the surrounding hill sides. The replanting effort will help naturalize the area and stabilize the newly deposited soil for future rain events.
Latitude/Longitude: 38.847130, -104.880332
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 100
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 65
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 9
Total Volunteer Days: 73
Total Unique Volunteers: 74
Total Volunteer Hours: 584
Staff Hours: 33.05
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: On Sunday, April 24th, 73 volunteers and 2 VOC staff members went to Red Rock Canyon Open Space with the City of Colorado Springs TOPS program. We planted ponderosa pine and sumac trees, removed invasive species, and fixed one social trail. The tree planting was a lot more involved than originally anticipated, but volunteers were very dedicated. We were able to plant 450 trees, remove 3 acres of invasive weeds (mullein and dalmatian toadflax), and close 30 feet of social trail. The volunteers got a delicious lunch of sloppy joes, tshirts from VOC and reusable lunch bags from Colorado Springs.
Successes and Challenges: The project was forced to be rescheduled due to a heavy snow storm that brought a foot of snow to Colorado Springs on the intended project day. Due to the forecast, an unusually high number of people cancelled leading up to the project before it was rescheduled. The rescheduled project date saw lower than normal volunteer numbers due to the changed date.
Lessons Learned: Tree planting is time consuming-- be sure to ask land manager about the process. For this project a 2 ft by 2 ft hole was needed for each tree, a polymer was mixed in with the dirt, the bamboo cage was put in, the tree was planted, and then mulch was put around the tree. We had 500 trees to plant, and did about 450 of them.
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 6 and older |
