2018-Trail Construction @ Urad State Wildlife Area

Start Date-End Date: 07/21/2018-07/22/2018 Land Manager Office: CPW- Urad State Wildlife Area Land Manager Contact: Fletcher Jacobs Funding Partner: CPW - State Office Programmatic Partner: Summary: Spend a weekend in the stunning Urad Lake State Wildlife Area. Description: About the Stewardship Site: Located just minutes outside the town of Empire near Berthoud Pass, Urad Lake State Wildlife Area (SWA) is truly a hidden gem. It was established only a few years ago, and the 200-acre area offers plenty of peace and quiet along with fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing opportunities. About the Volunteer Experience: On this moderately sized project of about 50 people, volunteers ages 14+ will have the chance to explore Colorado's newest State Wildlife Area as they repair an existing trail, create erosion control structures from native rock, and break ground on a new, sustainable trail system for hikers. With remarkable campsites and meals from our volunteer Crew Chefs, this is a great weekend getaway for those looking to bask in uncrowded wilderness not far from the Front Range. About the Overall Impact: Established in 2014, the Urad Lake State Wildlife Area (SWA) still needs a lot of trail infrastructure. By repairing the existing trail network and creating new trails, volunteers will help protect local fish and wildlife habitat and ensure safe, sustainable access for hikers, anglers and other recreationists for years to come. 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: 39.742030, -105.853148 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 50 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 104 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 6 Total Volunteer Days: 110 Total Unique Volunteers: 57 Total Volunteer Hours: 925 Staff Hours: 44.5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Friday afternoon, the project team loaded the truck at around 12 PM, and headed straight to the site. WE met with Terry Gimble and Fletcher Jacobs at the gate. Fletcher had provided me with a key to the gate for the weekend in case of emergency. If there is a plan to have another project here in the future, note that Fletcher typically does not stay overnight. Having that spare key is very important. We provided a shuttle for volunteers from the parking lot to the camp site from about 5-8PM. there were't many that showed up Friday evening, likely due to the have traffic on I-70. the majority of volunteers showed up on Saturday morning. They were asked to leave their things at the staging site for the work day, at the end of the day they were able to pitch their tents and get settled.Folks were welcome to sleep in the vehicles, I know some did sleep in the parking lot and then walked up to the staging area in the mornings. This is perfectly fine if they do not want to pitch a tent. Let volunteers know that RVs or trailers will not be able to be parked past the gate. Saturday morning, Fletcher shuttled volunteers to the site. This was extremely helpful; with his help I was able to run registration, help the rest of the project team, and help answer questions up at the site. Terry conducted a crew leader meeting on Saturday morning and broke Crew Leaders into sections. We got started a little late (8:15), as we were waiting for Fletcher to return from the last shuttle to drop anyone off. The work day was very productive, and the weather held up until dinner when we had a brief hail storm. Saturday evening we also had a lot of haze over the campsite and a very distinct smell of smoke hover over the camp site. Hearing concerns from crew leaders and carrying my own worry about the smoke and haze, after dinner I traveled with a crew leader back down the mountain to try and get service to check for any fires in the area. It wasn't until we reached the town of Empire that we finally received service. After checking online and speaking with a local, we figured out it was a fire happening in Vail, and the smoke was blowing into out the camp area. I Sunday, volunteers really put in some great effort to finish up the last day. We had one new volunteer show up for the day. At the end of the day, myself and Fletcher shuttled gear down to the parking lot so volunteers wouldn't have to carry them down. Hindsight, I would have asked people at dinner time on Saturday to breakdown early on Sunday morning to avoid waiting around for people to break down Sunday afternoon. Volunteers completed some very tough work on this project. The majority of work sections on this project consisted of rock work (rock steps, stepping rocks and walls). Our TA, Terry Gimble planned out 1,200 feet of trail construction for the site. We were very close to completing the project, but we were unable to complete about 200 feet of basic trail construction.Our project accomplishments include: 996' of trail renovation, 119' of new trail construction, constructed 1 turnpike (19'), installed 3 stepping stones and 12 rock steps, constructed 4 rock walls, and closed 4 user created trails. Successes and Challenges: Successes: We completed just about all the work that Terry had created for us. We did not complete two lower priority sections of basic tread widening. Location is beautiful! Weather held out Working with Fletcher was fantastic. After doing this project for two years in a row, and being a former VOC employee; he was so easy to work with and knew what it took to help put on a successful project. Had a second person shuttling Challenges: Shuttling took up a lot of time. If Fletcher weren't helping me with the shuttle, things would have taken a lot longer to get going in the mornings Lessons Learned: Although nothing happened, and there wasn't a fire in the near vicinity. Make sure to go over a plan or procedure with Fletcher about fire evacuation. Bring hard hats for folks working in scree area. It caused a hazard when people were searching for rocks above the trail and potentially putting the people below them in danger of falling rocks because the scree is so slippery. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: No accidents or incidents Description of Work Completed: