2018-14er: Quandary Trail Restoration & Partner Palooza

Start Date-End Date: 09/08/2018-09/09/2018 Land Manager Office: USFS - Dillon Ranger District Land Manager Contact: Ben Hanus Funding Partner: National Forest Foundation Programmatic Partner: Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, Colorado Mountain Club, Friends of the Dillon Ranger District, REI - Recreational Equipment Inc. - Denver, CO Summary: Work with volunteers from a variety of organizations as you repair the route to this popular peak. Description: Starting in 2017, VOC is partnering other Colorado outdoor stewardship groups and the U.S. Forest Service through the National Forest Foundation Find Your Fourteener campaign so that together we can do more on our majestic Fourteeners. We are working collaborativelyto increase the pace and scale of trail improvements and ecological restoration. Our vision is to work together, with you, to build and maintain a sustainable trails network, ensuring these peaks remain healthy and inviting for decades to come. With help from skilled, passionate volunteers like you, we can complete even more on-the-ground work on Colorado's Fourteeners. Every volunteer in the Fourteener community is important in this long-term effort, and we are grateful for your help! About the Stewardship Site: Located six miles south of Breckenridge, Quandary Peak is one of Colorado's most beloved and hiked 14ers. Its close proximity to Denver and relatively short hike to the top make this mountain one of the most heavily hiked 14ers in the state. At the summit, hikers are rewarded with views Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Bross, and some distance to the northeast you'll be able to make out Mt. Grays and Mt. Torreys. At 14,265 feet, Quandary is Colorado's 13th-highest peak. It is named after a group of miners who were unable to identify specific minerals they found on its slopes in the 1860s, which caused them to be in a "quandary." About the Volunteer Experience: Volunteers will be installing erosion control structures, steps, & small retaining walls using native stone quarried on site. Work may also include Alpine restoration via transplanting of native plants and the closure of social trails. Tasks will be physically difficult and at high altitude, with all work sites located abovetree line. This project is perfect for the hardy adventurer who can appreciate the challenge of working in a unique high altitude environment. If you sign up for this project, you can expect to get your hands dirty with staff and volunteers from the following organizations: Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD) Rocky Mountain Youth Corps U.S. Forest Service National Forest Foundation About the Overall Impact: Although the unique high alpine plants at Quandary Peak are able to withstand extreme temperatures and climate conditions, a lot of trampling human feet can do a lot of damage! By caring for the alpine tundra via trail restoration and improvement, erosion reversal, and re-vegetation - while still allowing hikers access to the summit - volunteers will help to preserve and protect the natural integrity of Quandary Peak for years to come. On behalf of all of the organizations involved in the Find Your Fourteener campaign, thanks again for your interest in this project! Need-to-Know Details: Cancellation:Our land manager partners rely on VOC volunteers to accomplish critical stewardship needs, and our projects often have wait lists. If you need to cancel, pleasecontact Jamie Burkeat 303-715-1010 ext. 116 as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce. Latitude/Longitude: 39.3973, -106.1064 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Difficult High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 30 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 64 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 2 Total Volunteer Days: 65 Total Unique Volunteers: 40 Total Volunteer Hours: 627 Staff Hours: 38 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: This project was a very successful collaborative effort between a multitude of organizations (CFI, FDRD, NFF-FYF, RMYC, USFS). Emily from the National Forest Foundation was very helpful in the pre-planning of this project. She set conference calls and action emails, keeping us all on tasks in the middle of our busy seasons. Every org had staff presence on the ground and I felt very supported, with everyone asking how they could help. I also had an amazing project team and the lead up was extremely efficient and easy. Most of the volunteers arrived Friday evening, where they were greeted by the Social Chair, Jaime. On Saturday morning, I led the registration for all of the volunteers and organizations. FDRD and CFI had sent me their registrations beforehand to streamline the process, and I thought it worked very well. I also displayed stickers and information from all the orgs on my table. Ben from CFI led a Crew Leader meeting in the morning, handing out work plans and establishing sections. In the morning talk, every organization had the opportunity to share with the group who they were and their role in the project. The work day went well, with a variety of tasks and hike in times. It was nice to have such a variety of distances, especially with the difficulty of working on a 14er paired with its popularity as a project. After work, volunteers enjoyed a happy hour filled with free items from NFF-FYF (Shirts) and REI (Shirts, Bandanas, Stickers, Chap stick)! REI also helped me host an amazing raffle! I thought combining our items worked really well. We set everything out on the table and let each winner pick their item. Eddy had all the volunteers participate in a large game of rock-paper-scissors to decide the winner of the REI 2 dome tent! Everyone was actively engaged and seemed to enjoy themselves. The only downsize is that I think it's hard to get people to participate in a membership or donation with all of this going on. It's hard to convince people they need to pay for anything when they're getting so much for free. The evening was enjoyed with a fire, as the ban had recently been lifted. As always, Sunday seemed to be off to a slower start. Once the volunteers got on the trail, things went smoothly. Sections were able to finish up their work for safe passage and left CFI in a good spot for their fixed crew to finish any small, needed remaining aspects. Some volunteers elected to work almost two hours extra. This is good because it shows how well the experience was going, but I also felt bad that my Tool Managers had to dedicate that extra time (even if they were good sports!). On our way out, we noticed that one of our wooden VOC direction signs were missing. After a minute of searching, we found it across the road and in the middle of a river/creek. I'm not sure if this was a disgruntled volunteer/local or if it just happened naturally as it did rain. Successes and Challenges: Successes: -Collaborative effort! With so many organizations, I was a little worried how logistics and organization would go on project day. Emily from NFF did a fantastic job of keeping us all on the same page and on task as the season progressed- with calls starting in May! I highly suggest these conference calls for the larger collab efforts. It seemed like we were able to problem-shoot some issues that had occurred in the past, like streamlined registration. - CFI: I feel that every project with CFI has become more streamlined and effective as the season progressed. CFI did a great job of making a work plan for the weekend and leading a Crew Leader meeting on Saturday morning. Materials were ready to go and the weekend was great from a technical leadership perspective. -The amount of free swag from REI and NFF-FYF easily made this project one of the most exciting for volunteers. REI also brought AMAZING raffle items! Everyone left a winner -Crew Leading: This could easily fall into a challenge if you're not careful. As mentioned in the Special Notes, setting expectations is important. I feel that with pre-project communications, Crew Leads were happy with how the weekend went (as opposed to our first VOC-CFI project of the season). I also saw several VOC Crew Leads signed up as normal volunteers. CFI projects are great for them to just put a tool in the dirt and to learn new technical skills from CFI leaders. -Katie as Crew Chef. She is amazing! Even seasoned Tool Managers remarked on how awesome she was to work with. Not only does everyone seem to love her meals, she brings hot sauce for the raffles and it's been super popular. -The fire ban was lifted the night before the project- hooray! -Left with 5 radios, came back with 7! as Crew Leaders had found some in their backpacks from previous projects. -Schedule: It was nice to start a 14er project at 7 instead of 8. Just make sure to ask your Crew Chef ahead of time if they're willing to cook earlier! Katie made the plan to have cold items/lunch at 6 and warm items out at 6:30am. It worked very nicely for us. -The weather was wonderful for the weekend, with the only rain being on Saturday late night. Challenges: -On Sunday, Ben remarked that the schedule made for a short day. I had sent him the schedule prior to the event to make sure it was okay and he didn't mention it then. -Some volunteers elected to volunteer for almost two extra hours. I felt bad that the Tool Managers (Joe and Nancy) had to dedicate that much more time than anticipated. -The nature of work on 14ers always produces risks. -Large traffic delaying work. There were over 400 hikers walking through Quandary on Saturday. This made it hard to get a consistent workflow. -Although I had talked to CFI several times about tools and PPE, it was still a little rough in execution on the day of as they didn't have any of their items staged. -One volunteer was confused on directions and unfortunately I didn't have good enough cell reception to help her. She ended up leaving a message saying she couldn't find us and went home. I followed up with her as soon as I had service, and luckily she was in good spirits about the ordeal. Lessons Learned: -A lot harder to get people to donate on this project and I think that might be due to the amount of free stuff. Membership and donation incentives don't seem as exciting or worth it when your hands are already filled with free stuff. -Make sure to work with partner organization in the past to come up with a streamlined registration process. I compiled a master roster list from each org and was the point of contact in the morning. It was easy for everyone to go to the same table and to go through the same process. CFI had also shared its online waiver in advance for me to put in the 2 and 1 week emails to help as well. -It had been mentioned to me a little late to follow through on but trying to secure a Breck Brewery donation would have been great for this project. Special Notes: Expectation setting is very important for the VOC/CFI projects in term of leadership. Please see the email I sent Crew Leaders prior to the project below: Hello Quandary Crew Leaders! Thank you all so much for choosing to spend your time leading volunteers on this project! I don't plan to have a call with Crew Leaders for this project, so I wanted to check in with you all on the work plan. Crew Leading on a CFI (Colorado 14er Initiatives) project tends to look different from a typical VOC project, as they take on the Technical Advisor role. With rapid work happening on the mountain, it's hard for them to give us a clear view of what the work on project day entails. Attached is the work plan I recently received from them. I know it isn't the most detailed, but I hope it's better than nothing! Another difference with CFI/collaborative projects is the fact that there are staff and leaders from multiple organizations on this project (9 Staff from CFI, 2 Staff from FDRD, and 2 Staff from NFF). In the past, this has sometimes causes a "too many cooks in the kitchen" situation, leaving many to feel frustrated or disorganized. Ben from CFI and I have been working hard on our partner projects to keep this from happening and we will likely have a Crew Leader meeting on Project Morning (Saturday morning, before 7am) to go over each Leader's roles and responsibilities on the project. Our last couple of CFI/VOC projects have been great, and I expect this to continue into our last big push on Quandary! I just wanted to manage expectations on the front end. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns- please let me know! I hope you all get to enjoy a nice, long, relaxing Labor Day weekend, and I look forward to working with you all soon! Thank You, Erica Miller Seasonal Project Manager Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: