2018-Monarch Investment and Management Group SWAT @ Castlewood Canyon State Park

Start Date-End Date: 10/12/2018-10/12/2018 Land Manager Office: CPW - Castlewood Canyon State Park Land Manager Contact: Joe Marquez Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Social trail closure at Castlewood Canyon State Park Description: Volunteers will close a non system trail and deter further use by the public. Latitude/Longitude: 39.352865, -104.766059 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 30 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 19 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 19 Total Unique Volunteers: 19 Total Volunteer Hours: 87 Staff Hours: 16.5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 18 volunteers from Monarch closed 526 feet of social trail. That is what we set out to do and they completed the task. Joe Marquez took a group to help install signs but it sounded like that didn't go so well. they did not have the proper materials to successfully install the signs. We decompacted the trail, laid native foothills mix seed, and laid erosion control matting along the full length of the social trail (~1052 square feet) and staked in 7 straw waddles in areas of the trail that are steep and incised. Successes and Challenges: successes - we completed the work that we set out to do. Monarch enjoyed coming out and staff from the park loves having them out. challenges - Joe said he would be out on the trail at the beginning so he could show me how he wanted the seed laid and how he wanted the waddles staked in. When we broke into crews he immediately took a crew to a different part of the park and did not provide quidence on how he wanted the seed dispersed or how he wanted the waddles installed. I taught the volunteers methods i have used in the past with other land managers. When his crew joined us in the afternoon he said we were laying the seed to light and he wanted the waddles installed a different way. This was frustrating because it looked like i didnt know what i was doing. I had explicitly asked him to come out to the social trail with us in the morning so he could show us how he wanted it done. It ended up working out fine but it could have been avoided if he just came out like he said he would. Lessons Learned: We went out to the site before the volunteers arrived so we could see it and get a good idea of what we would be doing, I should have asked more about what he wanted then so we could have avoided going back and redoing some of the work. Special Notes: This was a social trail that VOC closed last year but it never fully re vegetated. fingers crossed that we don't have to go back and do it again! Stewardship Education: why social trails are bad Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: