Description
Start Date-End Date: 09/20/2018-09/20/2018
Land Manager Office: Brighton, City of
Land Manager Contact: Bob Woods
Funding Partner: Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Build a new, soft-surface trail in Brighton's Evergreen Demonstration Garden.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
A short drive northeast of Denver, Brighton Park in the City of Brighton offers the Evergreen Demonstration Garden, a unique area that provides visitors with the opportunity to view, and learn about, a variety of evergreen species. Visitors to the site can scan a QR code on their phone to receive information about each tree species in the garden.
About the Volunteer Experience:
Open to volunteers ages 10+, this is a great way to give back with the whole family! You'll spend the day working alongside trees and shrubs in Brighton Park as you build a new, soft-surface trail connecting visitors to different areas in the Evergreen Demonstration Garden, which offers an educational collection of evergreen species. Tasks will be easy to moderate and will involve digging, moving soil, and moving and spreading a gravel-like material known as "crusher fine". Light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Volunteers will also have the opportunity to explorevolunteer crew leadershipas a Crew Leader for a Day, in which you can sign up to lead small groups of volunteers through the various tasks and ensure that everyone has a safe, rewarding, and fun experience!Contact your Project Manager, Jackie Curry, at 303-715-1010 ext. 129 to learn more.
About the Overall Impact:
By building the new trail, volunteers will improve visitor access to this important educational resource in Brighton Park. Your work make the visitor experience more enjoyable - and more sustainable - by providing a clear path between the various garden beds in the park.
Need-to-Know Details:
Minors:All children under 16mustbe accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects.
Parking, Food & Facilities:The project site will be easy to access and a light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
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: 39.996018, -104.811311
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 40
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 48
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 48
Total Unique Volunteers: 48
Total Volunteer Hours: 310
Staff Hours: 21.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Bob Woods from the City of Brighton had a team come out to the project site before project day and used a machine to cut out the trail for the volunteers. I would say this step really helped us complete the project in one day. If we were to arrive at the project site without any previous work done, cutting the trail by hand would have taken most of the project day, and we would not have completed the project. Gail came out to help set up the breakfast and lunch items, which was incredibly helpful!
Dawn, Dylan, and Ed were volunteers that stepped into a Crew Leader position for the day. They all did a great job in providing direction and making connections with their crews. For projects that don't require a lot of technical work, these folks would be great options if you need a crew leader for a day.
Project goal remained the same and volunteers really knocked out the work! By 10:30 AM, the crusher fine piles were almost gone. With how quickly the volunteers were working we decided to take an earlier lunch, because after lunch we just made finishing touches to the trail and pulled weeds in the beds around the trail. During lunch we held a raffle, the most popular prize was the Snooze gift card, volunteers certainly wished there were more to give out.
After lunch, we made finishing touches to the trail, and pulled as many weeds as we could in the surround tree beds. Overall, volunteers constructed 700 feet of crusher fine trail.
Successes and Challenges: Successes:
Had great crew leaders for a day on this project
Created connections and provided clear leadership
Bob and Daniel from the City of Brighton were flexible and helped provide tools
Bob and his supervisors were very happy with the work that was completed
Challenges:
Finding a crew chef
Many of the go-to crew chefs were unavailable
Lessons Learned: Seeking out more crew chefs earlier in advance. I was able to buy and prep food for this project on my own, but it took more time out of my week that I could have been using in the office or using flex time from the previous weekend's project.
Special Notes: This trail is different in compared to others. The Evergreen trail leads people through different landscapes and elevations of where certain trees grow. There is a QR code on the sign that is at the trailhead that one can use to learn more about the trees that are around the trail and can educate visitors while they walk through the park.
Stewardship Education: Bob and other city of Brighton staff gathered the volunteers around the trailhead and showed everyone how to use the QR code and how to navigate the trail and the information that is paired with it on any mobile phone.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents: A couple volunteers were stung by wasps around the area. Neither of them were allergic, or had any type of reaction to the stings. I had kept an eye and checked up on them through out the day to make sure they were still feeling okay.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 10 and older |
