Description
Start Date-End Date: 06/02/2018-06/02/2018
Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation
Land Manager Contact: Bob Finch
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: WAITLISTED: Restore the popular Chavez Trail in one of Denver's oldest parks.
Description: NOTE:This project is full. Please register to be added to the waitlist; we often have spots open closer to the project date.
About the Stewardship Site:
Not far from Denver off I-70, Genesee Park feels a world away with over 2,000 acres to explore. It is one of the oldest parks in the Denver Mountain Parks system and is home to the historic Beaver Brook Trail, coveted hiker-only trails, and a herd of bison! Its proximity to Denver and diverse recreation opportunities - from picnicking to backcountry hiking - makethis park a popular pick with everyone from families to groups.
About the Volunteer Experience:
Celebrate National Trails Day by restoring the popular, hiker-only Chavez Trail in Genesee Park! Volunteers ages 14+ will start the day with breakfast provided by our volunteer Crew Chefs, then get to work on improving the trail's sustainability by redefining the trail tread and creating rock and drainage structures. Volunteers will also close a number of user-created "social trails" by spreading woodstraw mulch and native plant seeds in order to restore the natural environment. Lunch will also be provided.
About the Overall Impact:
Muddy, eroded trails result in hikers going off-trail, which inadvertently creates "social trails" that damage the natural environment and lead others off designated trails. By improving drainage structures, volunteers will reduce the harmful impacts of erosion and social trails and ultimately create a safe, enjoyable, and more sustainable hiking experience for the area's many visitors.
Need-to-Know Details:
Minors:All youth under 16mustbe accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day 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: 39.717208, -105.318602
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 75
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 72
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 3
Total Volunteer Days: 75
Total Unique Volunteers: 75
Total Volunteer Hours: 563
Staff Hours: 18.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: All project work was completed. the work that was completed did not stray away from the original work plan. Project accomplishments include: 8 rock steps installed, 60 feet of rock wall installed, 4 feet of rip rap installed, 20 feet of trail constructed along the Chavez Trail, 500 feet of user created trails were closed, 3200 feet of trail was maintained along the Braille Trail, 16 rolling dip drains were constructed, and 1 ton of road base and 1 step were installed. Overall, there was not enough work for the amount of volunteers that had come out.
Successes and Challenges: Successes: Had plenty of of volunteers! A great turnout for National Trails Day. Completed work efficiently and quickly. Work was completed to standards. Folks seemed to have a great volunteer experience. Everyone was punctual and ready to work.
Challenges: Not enough work to make for a full volunteer day. People were completing their sections very quickly. This left people hanging around trying to find work. Trying to get a hold of Bob on the radio was a bit difficult in the canyon. If I were able to get a hold of him, folks could have helped do some social trail closures further down the trail. The volunteer to crew leader ratios were a little bigger than they should have been. for some groups this lead to a lot of waiting for work.
Lessons Learned: Try to have one or two more crew leaders in case attrition does not happen. Ensuring a couple more crew leaders will help spread the volunteer numbers a little better amongst the crew leaders, and can help make sure that everyone has something to do.
Discuss with land manager about adding more work to scope. There was a lot of trail maintenance that volunteers can easily breeze through. Think about adding more technical sections, or more trail construction sections.
Think about having an educational piece at the beginning of the day about the type of work that will be completed. I know some folks had thought the trail had looked just fine, and they were wondering why were doing work along it in the first place. Explaining to volunteers that even though a trail looks fine from just glancing at, there is some technical work that is necessary in order to make it sustainable for years to come.
Special Notes: We had REI and American Hiking Society at the project. REI had generously donated t-shirts specifically for the event. The American Hiking Society also brought a generous donation of t-shirts and postcards that they could write their local congress representative about why it is so important to save and preserve the trails across Colorado, along with making sure that the Land and Water Conservation Act does not expire. At the registration table, I put out the postcards with an explanation of what to do with them, and encouraged volunteers to fill one out; however, we did not have any participation with the postcards.
A French travel TV show,Echappes Belles, also filmed the project.
"Echappes Belles" is a 90 minutes weekly TV Travel magazine produced by the company Bo Travail. This filming is to be included in one our next episode about Colorado and Wyoming. Broadcast is planned on Saturday January 19th on the national channel France 5.
Stewardship Education: N/A
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Nothing from this project needs immediate attention from the projects team or VOC staff.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: We did have two accidents from one volunteer. He initially got his car stuck at the beginning of the morning. He tried parking his vehicle when his back tire fell off the edge of the road and rolled off the road. Our tool managers, Paul Smith and Gary Nelson were able to help get his car out by using the the VOC Noble truck and a strap. The volunteers bumper had fallen off by being pulled back onto the road and the bumper catching the lip of the road. He was not upset with VOC. The tool managers helped him re-attach his bumper. This same volunteer had rolled his ankle somewhere along the trail. He was able to walk out back to his vehicle and drive himself home. He was given ice and filled out an incident report. That report has been turned in. We do not expect any follow up from the volunteer. He left the project early to go home and rest.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 14 and older |
