2018-14er: Redcloud/Sunshine Trail Restoration

Start Date-End Date: 08/17/2018-08/19/2018 Land Manager Office: BLM - Gunnison Field Office Land Manager Contact: Jim Lovelace Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Colorado Fourteeners Initiative Summary: Get two 14ers in one! Restore the trail leading to these remote mountains. Description: About the Stewardship Site: The Silver Creek Trail is located by beautiful Lake City, a small Western Colorado mountain town hardly touched by time, and serves as the main route to the summit of both Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks-known as two of the "easier" 14,000-foot peaks to climb in Colorado. The site is one of Colorado's most magnificent and pristine landscapes, offering rugged beauty and a truly remote experience. About a six-hour drive from Denver, volunteers can visit hot springs and ghost towns along the way. About the Volunteer Experience: Camp in the rugged and remote beauty of two "14ers", Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks, as you work with up to 40 volunteers to repair the rocky trail that leads to the summits. Your efforts will help maintain the unique beauty of this area (home to endangered butterfly species!) and you'll be rewarded with hearty meals from our spectacular volunteer Crew Chefs as well as stunning views, a great workout, and even better company! Camping is available Thursday night through Sunday morning. About the Overall Impact: This project will improve the condition and sustainability of the Silver Creek Trail, making it a safer and more enjoyable experience for the many hikers that visit Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks. Furthermore, the restoration will encourage users to remain on the trail, preventing harm to the nearby habitat which includes endangered butterfly species. Need-to-Know Details: Minors:Youth under 18mustbe accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects. 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: 37.944209, -107.421831 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Difficult High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 35 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 61 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 61 Total Unique Volunteers: 25 Total Volunteer Hours: 695 Staff Hours: 81 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: The location of the Redcloud/Sunshine project is perhaps one of the most beautiful that I've been to. The drive itself is also beautiful, albeit long. The first 5 hours are on paved roads, and quite easy to navigate. Volunteers coming from the front range get to pass through Lake City, and a few stayed the night here before the project began. The shelf road is gravel and contains steep drop offs, however it offers ample pull outs and no large rocks that require high clearance. While 4x4, high clearance vehicles are ideal- I believe that any vehicle can make the trip if they drive slowly enough. I saw several passenger cars and even a two passenger roadster. I would not trust a tool truck on this road, as it is too narrow and the drop off very large. The logistics of getting all the necessary gear to the site were slightly more complicated than a typical project. I was fortunate to have the expertise of last year's seasonal, Katie Goodleaf, to help me figure them out, as she was originally Tool Manager. Due to some volunteer switch ups and cancellations, Katie then had to switch to Crew Chef with little notice. I would highly suggest having a tool manager for this project. In the end, I took the VOC truck with a topper and Katie took her personal vehicle. Katie was allowed to use the tool truck kit for gas, and I think this is appropriate to do for volunteers using their personal vehicles to transport our gear. Fitting all the supplies into these two pick ups was extremely challenging and time consuming. Katie was not able to leave as early as she had hoped on project prep day, so we strategically packed based on what would need to be set up first. I arrived around 3pm, and was eventually assisted in my efforts to set up by CFI, BLM, and random hikers in the area. I had arrived before Jim and the BLM, so unlike last year, the area was not staked out for volunteers. While the site is extremely popular, volunteers had no problem finding areas to camp (although perhaps a bit more crowded than preferred). In order to provide a well organized and consistent experience, Jim (BLM), Ben (CFI), and I had arranged to discuss project logistics on Thursday night. This was extremely helpful and I think led to the most successful partnership between CFI and VOC this season. We discussed the work plan and the realms of responsibilities for staff and volunteers. I was able to communicate with my team before the project started, which was unique for a CFI project. We had all agreed that CFI would hike up early Friday morning, laying out the timber steps and waiting for volunteers to arrive. We decided to go a non-traditional route in terms of crew structure. Instead, we had VOC Crew Leads give a tool and safety talk to all volunteers and Jim did an instructional talk on timber check installation in the morning. From this point, volunteers paired up in order to bring the correct type and amount of tools to the project sites. Volunteers were encouraged to hike at their own pace, as CFI leaders were waiting at the work site. As volunteers arrived, CFI was able to promptly get them to work on different tasks. I enjoyed this structure, as I felt it cut down on the amount of wait time that volunteers often face on project mornings. From Thursday until Saturday, it rained on and off. The rain was substantial and often times cold. At times, you could tell that it was discouraging to volunteers, but overall they kept good attitudes about it. From past projects, it has been clear that volunteer's comfort level with weather is often different than land manager's and project partner's. On this project, we made sure to go over the weather plan that Ben, Jim, and I had come up with. I also made it clear that if a volunteer was uncomfortable with the weather, they were able to leave the site. However, it seemed that volunteers were comfortable with the three of us making the weather call, and that in and of itself never became an issue. The work itself was wonderful, as volunteers accomplished even more than Jim had hoped to. With the small group size, volunteers were able to get a lot of attention and picked up skills very quickly.The work and hike in was exhausting, and you could see it on the volunteers. I'm not sure there's any way around it, but it should be noted to share this information with volunteers beforehand so they can be prepared. I also feel that the group got to know each other well, although there was not a lot of post-work socializing as everyone was so tired. However, Friday night hosted a butterfly expert and Saturday night had the raffle- which volunteers seemed to enjoy having spread out like that. Katie very generously donated some Merf's hot sauce to the raffle that she had used in that night's dinner recipe- it was a big hit! Several volunteers asked for the recipe and it will be sent out with the Thank You emails. Luckily, we got done early on Sunday but the drive home was still exhausting. Arriving at Ops late in the evening and at dark was uncomfortable. I was also alone for the unloading and it was not only uncomfortable but extremely exhausting and frustrating after such a long day. It is not an option to wait until Monday because there is only one truck with a topper and it is in high demand. Overall, a great a project but there are several logistical components to keep in mind. Successes and Challenges: Successes: -The amount of work accomplished. Jim and I had planned to install a fair amount of timber steps over the entire weekend. When I arrived, Jim had told me that he was able to move 74 timbers to the higher section of the work site, but that he had no expectations to install them all. Volunteers were able to install 53 timber steps in the first day! This allowed Jim, Ben, and I to adjust our work plan to accomplish our main objective by Saturday and work on additional tasks on Sunday. -The working relationship between the BLM, CFI, and VOC. We were all able to work well with each other on this project, playing on each other's strengths. Jim and Ben pitched in on various aspects of the project, often going above and beyond my expectations. On Friday, I gave the Welcome speech, on Saturday Ben did, and on Sunday Jim did- I thought this was a nice switch up from normal projects and helped make the welcome and thank yous fresh, especially on a three day project. -No fire ban. The weather was rainy and cold, and many volunteers turned in early at night. However, this is one of the few projects this season that didn't have a fire ban. Volunteers were able to enjoy fires on Friday and Saturday nights. -Flexible sign ups. With volunteers being able to sign up for any single day or combination of days, I feel that we were able to recruit more volunteers than if we had made them sign up for all three. This project is far away and nestled into the start of the school season- I think this flexibility was important. -Beautiful work site. It is not a surprise to me that some of the volunteers were there for the third year in a row. Easily one of the most beautiful spots I've been in Colorado. -Opportunity for outreach. There was an incredibly high amount of traffic at the trail head and on the trail. Throughout the weekend, there were always hikers approaching the tent or work site asking for more information about what was happening. Important for the PM to take many hand out materials to this site (which I luckily had)! Challenges: -The weather. It was rainy and cold for a majority of the trip. Volunteers had great attitudes overall, but the weather certainly tested morale more than once and even made some skip out on the second day of work. -The hike in. The trail is very steep, and repeated the 3 mile trek was difficult on many. Luckily, Jim and I had anticipated the fatigue and put work lower on the last day of the project. but it was clear that the previous day's hikes still had an impact. -Getting supplies to the site. There is no easy way to accomplish this. A tool truck is far too large to make it up this road, and shuttling tools would be close to 2 hours round trip. Last year's seasonal, Katie Goodleaf, was able to rent an additional, larger pick up truck last year- but I was not aware this was on option. I was fortunate enough that Katie was on my project team and aware of this issue. She packed her personal vehicle and I packed our only covered truck to the brim and we barely fit everything. If it weren't for Katie's previous experience, I feel that I would have been in a bad position. If you are to return to this site, you'll need to figure out logistics a bit in advance. -I had a few volunteers summit/try to summit during the project weekend, despite requests that they not. While two at least waited until the end of the project day, one left during the middle of the workday to do so. I had asked leaders to get names of those trying to summit to make sure that we kept track of them, but volunteers were warned they were on personal time and officially off the project while attempting to summit. No direct issues were caused, as the two who summitted after work still made it in time for dinner. The one who attempted to summit during the work day turned around due to unfavorable weather. -Camp. While the area itself is beautiful and has many camping spots, it is a bit crowded due to the popularity of the area. Also, there is heavy road traffic throughout the night, and many arrive extremely early in order to summit. This constant car traffic made it difficult for some to get adequate rest. Lessons Learned: In the email, I said, " The hike in is 3 miles and steep in parts..." and some volunteers seemed to be confused as to whether this meant camping or the work site. I had included a map that showed camping right next to the driving road/parking lot but will be more aware of phrasing in the future. When CFI is acting as the TA, you will not receive work notes in advance to share with your Crew Leads. Important to manage these expectations with your leaders. Having a plan for water. Crew Chefs will either have to be willing to drive their personal vehicle into town or be on VOC insurance in order to make the nearly 2-2.5 hour trip to go into Lake City to fill the water at the public water spigot in the Public Park. I made the trek on Friday late afternoon, as that evenings activities were taken care of by Jim; however, I did not like leaving the project site for so long, as there is no service and I would have preferred to be available in case of emergencies. With how small a group this ended up being, I think breakfast could be moved to a half hour slot of time. When I had it from 7-8am, it felt like everyone was ready to go much earlier and we were just waiting around. 7:30-8am would allow volunteers to get a little extra rest and not feel like they were waiting so long. Special Notes: This project, and often CFI projects in general, are not typical in terms of crew leadership. It is important to discuss this with VOC Crew Leaders beforehand in order to manage expectations and thwart any frustrations. For example, VOC Crew Leads gave a tool talk to the entire group, and then essentially functioned like normal volunteers. I had talked to them beforehand about this, and they seemed to be happy with the arrangement through the project. Water from nearby streams are so heavy in minerals that they will likely clog/destroy filters. Stewardship Education: The work that volunteers completed this weekend is to help the sustainability of the trail and help the mountainside keep vital moisture for the endangered Uncompahgre Fritillary Butterfly. Jim organized for a butterfly researched to talk to the group about their work, and the Uncompahgre Fritillary Butterflies that inhabit Redcloud mountain. While everyone was a little disappointed to learn that the butterfly is fairly unattractive and mostly dead at this time of year- this service learning experience was well received. I think groups really enjoy learning about the direct impacts they're making. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: I felt very uncomfortable unloading the vehicle so late at the Operations center, but it had to be done as it is the only truck with a topper and was needed the next day. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: