Description
Start Date-End Date: 04/22/2017-04/22/2017
Land Manager Office: USFWS - Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR
Land Manager Contact: David Lucas
Funding Partner: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation, Colorado Lottery
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Celebrate Earth Day by helping to build a new trail with the whole family!
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
Located on the site of a former weapons manufacturing facility, the 15,000-acre Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (Arsenal NWR) is now one of the largest urban refuges in the nation. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the area is home to more than 330 animal species, including bison, deer and coyotes, bald eagles and other raptors.
About the Volunteer Experience:
This project is taking place on a very special day - Earth Day! At VOC, we believe there's no better way to celebrate our earth than by digging in the dirt and giving Colorado a little TLC (Trail Loving Care). In honor of Earth Day, VOC will work with the City and County of Denver and the Arsenal NWR to construct 6,600 feet of new trail along First Creek. Volunteers ages 10 and up will build the trail by hauling and spreading an aggregate material known as "crusher fine." Tasks will be easy-to-moderate in difficulty.
About the Overall Impact:
The Arsenal NWR's eastern boundary is accessible to numerous local residents but has few amenities. Now, you have the opportunity to help the area become a valuable open space where thousands of people can gather, play and experience Colorado's great outdoors!
NOTE:MINORS ON VOC PROJECTSYouth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects.
A Grand Milestone Signature Project
Latitude/Longitude: 39.798446, -104.789672
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 120
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 118
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 5
Total Volunteer Days: 123
Total Unique Volunteers: 123
Total Volunteer Hours: 1039.5
Staff Hours: 51.25
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Volunteers braved a rainy morning that turned into a sunny spring day to help construct the First Creek Trail at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife refuge. Hosted jointly by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Denver Parks and Rec, the new 1.5 mile trail will help to connect the existing First Creek Trail at the Arsenal's SE corner, opening recreational access to the property to residents of NE Denver neighborhoods such as Montbello and Green Valley Ranch.
After a soggy start, the clouds broke just as work got underway. Volunteers were ultimately able to connect the trail from it's current intersection at Old Buckley road, all the way up to e. 64th avenue, a distance of just over 3,800 ft!
This was also VOC's first of our "Grand Milestone Projects," celebrating 2017 which will mark VOC's 1,000th volunteer project. In addition to all our hard working volunteers, we were thrilled to have VIPs present to help explain the importance of the work to the local enivironment and community. These included Colorado Department of Natural Resources Director of Reclamation and Mining Safe Ginny Brannon, Denver District 11 Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore and Denver Parks and Recreation Manager Happy Haynes and Deputy Manager Scott Gilmore.
Finally, VOC received two great project sponsorships. The Colorado Lottery is our main funding partner for the grand milestone projects and provided a water bottle for each volunteer and provided a beautiful banner for volunteers to sign to commemorate the effort. Which Wich also provided a generous lunch donation to keep our hard working volunteers energized.
Successes and Challenges: Ultimately, this project went off very well and had a great group of veteran volunteers on the project team. We also had good turnout in spite of the poor weather in the morning.
The only real snag was having less work than we wanted to staged at the beginning of the day by USFWS. This is partly because VOC initially indicated we would likely work from the north end to the south, but that changed when it was determined that the south end would be used for staging our Earth Day Grand Milestone kick off. However, USFWS staff had already staged much of their available material on the north end of the project site. This wasn't a major issue. The agency partners were pleased with the final outcome, but we likely would've accomplished much more if we hadn't created a bottle neck at the end of the day due to lack of materials.
Lessons Learned: The above challenge probably could've been addressed with an eariler site visit. Our Team Lead scheduled this on the Monday before the project which, in retrospect, wasn't enough time for the USFWS to adjust project staging to meet the needs of the new plan. Work plan adjustments like this are a common occurenece and project benefits from having the project team site visit early enough that agency partners can succesfully respond to changes in the plan.
Special Notes: none
Stewardship Education: The VIPS mentioned in the summary all gave presentations on the history of the Arsenal Wildlife refuge and the importance of the project to the local environment and community.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: none
Description of Accidents/Incidents: Just a few scrapes and blisters.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 10 and older |
