Description
Start Date-End Date: 07/12/2018-07/12/2018
Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation
Land Manager Contact: Bob Finch
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Spend a Thursday helping forests thrive! For volunteers ages 12+.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
With forested foothills, picnic areas, and the popular Evergreen Lake House, Dedisse Park provides a variety of recreational opportunities right in the heart of Evergreen. The nearly 100-year old park is managed by Denver Mountain Parks and connects visitors with Jefferson County's Alderfer-Three Sisters park through a series of trails on the North side.
About the Volunteer Project:
Spend your Thursday helping forests thrive in Dedisse Park! After a breakfast provided by our volunteer Crew Chefs, volunteers ages 14+ will take part in simple, but important, tasks designed to improve the health of native ponderosa pines and reduce the severity of wildfires. The majority of work will involve using handsaws to cut smaller trees at ground level, which will then be collected and removed from the area. Lunch will also be provided.
About the Overall Impact:
When trees grow in clusters, they compete for moisture, nutrients, and sunlight. This weakens the trees and makes them more susceptible to bark beetles and diseases, which in turn leads to dead trees - perfect fuel for wildfires. By reducing the density of Dedisse Park's ponderosa pines, volunteers will reduce the impact of wildfires and help the trees grow stronger and more resilient.
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: 39.634942, -105.340261
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 50
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 55
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 1
Total Volunteer Days: 56
Total Unique Volunteers: 56
Total Volunteer Hours: 343.5
Staff Hours: 17
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: The volunteers blew our land manger's (and my own) expectations out of the water! Volunteers enjoyed some generously donated Starbucks coffee, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Our crew chef Robyn also made some popular homemade breads! Andy and Denver Mountain Parks Seasonals gathered a crew leader meeting to go over exactly what size of trees to cut, how many we should leave, etc. We started the day off with welcome and intros from VOC and DMP. We briefly discussed why this type of work is so important to maintain a healthy forest. Volunteers then divided into groups and sectioned themselves off within the flagged work area.
Andy was so pleased with our work, he had nothing but great things to say. The type of work did not deviate from the planned work scope. By mid-morning, volunteers had completed a great deal of work. Everyone had such a great attitude and really held the morale up for the whole work day. People took plenty of water and snack breaks.
Project accomplishments include:
24 acres of thinning
2000+ trees cut
Successes and Challenges: Successes
Just about all volunteers that registered for the project showed up, we had little attrition for the project.
Great attitudes all around
The weather was nice and cool
Covered a lot of ground by lunch time
VOC hand saws were working rather efficiently
DMP kindly let us their hand saws, but one unfortunately broke in half
Challenges
The only challenge that I think may have impacted the work was the weather. The clouds and thunder started to roll in just before lunch (roughly 11:30). After lunch, we had volunteers move their vehicles closer to the works site that we were moving towards in the case that it began to down pour they would be closer to their cars. The rain didn't start until 2, but by that time we had completed all the work that Andy had planned for us and began packing up.
Lessons Learned: If rain is in the forecast, just make sure to have a plan in place with your land manager of what the rest of the work day will look like. Staying in vehicles until storm passes? Going home? Continue to work depending on how bad the rain is/is lightning is present?
Make sure to discuss what the protocol is for trees that have nests. A volunteer had accidentally cut down a tree the had a baby Robin, and Robin egg. We did our best to make a little sanctuary for the bird and the unhatched egg on the ground to make sure no one may accidentally step on it, or drag a tree over it. Because of this incident we are not sure that the baby bird survived, or if the mother reclaimed them.
Have some snacks and drinks laid for the volunteers throughout the day. This can really make a difference in the work production and volunteer morale.
Special Notes: This project is not like the majority that VOC hosts and manages. This project focused on the reducing forest fires and maintaining forest health. The scope of work we completed with not only help reduce the risk of larger forest fires but will help to ensure the trees can grow healthily. Just about every volunteer was there with a work group. This project seemed to be a great bonding experience for them.
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: The weather is something to keep your eyes open for. The forecast can call for rain in the afternoon but can roll in a lot sooner. Make sure the volunteers know that plan for any thunderstorms that may hit the project site. Also, sawing and swamping trees can be tiring very quickly, make sure volunteers are switching up their tasks every so often to help them carry through the day.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: One volunteer, cut his finger. A very small cut, that was tended to with antibiotic ointment, and a band-aid)
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 12 and older |
