Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/21/2017-10/21/2017
Land Manager Office: CPW - Barr Lake State Park
Land Manager Contact: Michelle Seubert
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: This project is perfect for families, with tasks for all ages and skill levels.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
Barr Lake State Park is located a short drive away from Denver in Brighton, Colorado. The park is a great spot for families, naturalists and fishermen, with an abundance of recreation opportunities from birding to boating.
About the Volunteer Experience:
Volunteers ages 8 and up will help restore the Fox Meadow Trail along the lake shore. Tasks will include laying down new crusher fines, painting an observation deck and removing invasive species. With this variety of work, there will be something for all ages and skill levels to do! Breakfast and lunch will be provided by VOC.
About the Overall Impact:
The Fox Meadows Trail has been degraded by heavy use and erosion. With only two full-time staff, Barr Lake State Park needs volunteers to help complete this critical work.
NOTE: MINORS ON VOC PROJECTS
Youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects.
Latitude/Longitude: 39.943205, -104.759703
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 75
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 69
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 3
Total Volunteer Days: 72
Total Unique Volunteers: 72
Total Volunteer Hours: 501
Staff Hours: 23
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: My main point of contact in prepping the project was Arland Huff, a Barr Lake employee. He was very familiar with running volunteer projects at the park and super helpful in getting everything prepped and planned out for Saturday. The scope of work was relatively straight forward (painting, invasive removal and crusher fines) the only caveat being that Arland designed a wooden box system for laying down the crusher material so we would have to get the CLs acquainted with that system.
Come Saturday we had a bit of a cold front compared to the sunny, warm week we got to enjoy. Volunteer turnout was good, but I think the cold accounted for some of the no shows that occurred. None the less we had plenty of people to fulfill all the work groups we needed to get going. Turns out the crusher fines boxes worked really well and made for a very consistent tread in width and depth, which can be an issue on some crusher projects with volunteers. The painting group of 10 was also off to a quick start with so many volunteers in that one group. Lastly, there were only about 4 volunteers with Steve doing invasive removal but the area was sparsely populated with the target species so having a small number of volunteers on that task kept them busy. Arland had a number of paid and volunteer park employees helping out with each group and checking in on work accomplishments, which really helped keep everyone on track.
By lunch time most groups were 75% done with their work tasks, which was great but left me scrambling to find additional work for the groups that would inevitably finish early. Arland and I were able to come up with some side tasks such as shoreline cleaning but ultimately he didn't have a whole lot of additional work in the area, so we would end up finishing the day early. It was tough for me to estimate how long the crusher trail (first priority) was going to take since I had never used the box system before but I should have inquired about additional work at the site visit. He had work in the park at other locations but it didn't seem like it would make sense logistically to try and relocate those willing to stay and work. When all was said and done we wrapped up the project around 2 and the volunteers seems happy with the work they accomplished and how the day turned out. So ultimately I don't think it was a huge deal that we finished early, we were just glad to accomplish all the work to the high standard that Arland set.
Successes and Challenges: Successes
Finishing all the work to Arland's standard (which were high)
Volunteers enjoyed the site
Weather warmed up making for a perfect volunteer day
Challenges
Utilizing a new system for crusher, was just tough to know how it would go/ how long the work would take. But ultimately I really liked the box system.
Finished the work early and there was no back up work to be done
Lessons Learned: Back up work, back up work, back up work :)
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 8 and older |
