2019-Empower Retirement SWAT @ Gateway Mesa Open Space (Legacy Trail)

Start Date-End Date: 08/27/2019-08/27/2019 Land Manager Office: Castle Rock Service Center, Town of Land Manager Contact: Barbara Spagnuolo Funding Partner: Empower (formerly Great-West) Programmatic Partner: Summary: Build a new hiking loop near Castle Rock on this SWAT for Great-West Financial Description: Where You'll Be: Nestled between the towns of Castle Rock and Franktown, the Gateway Mesa Open Space is an easily accessible gem on the Front Range offering scenic overlooks, stunning views of the Rocky Mountains, and 275 acres of diverse terrain ranging from open scrub brush to dense mixed pine and steep cliffs. What You'll Do: Continue building a new, two-mile section of trail! You'll spend the day among conifer forest, ferns, mosses, and interesting rock formations as you build the natural-surface trail and potentially construct stone steps and small drainage crossings. Why It Matters: The current loop system in Gateway Mesa Open Space is 1.6 miles and travels around the flat, exposed mesa through open grassland. The trail you help build will create a secondary, hikers-only loop extension that will provide access to a forested environment completely different from the rest of the park. Need-to-Know Details: VOC will provide all equipmentincluding tools and work gloves. Cancellation:Our partners rely on VOC volunteers to accomplish critical stewardship needs, and our projects often have wait lists. If you need to cancel, pleasecontact Emily Schaeferat 303-715-1010 ext. 116 as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce. About Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is the state's oldest, largest, and leading outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization. Founded in 1984 to motivate and enable people to become active stewards of Colorado's natural resources, VOC has engaged nearly 120,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $24 million. Through award-winning youth and volunteer programs, leadership training, capacity-building programs, and collaborative efforts with nonprofits and land management agencies, VOC is an invaluable resource in Colorado, especially as our outdoor stewardship needs are approaching near-crisis levels. For more information, visitwww.voc.orgor call 303-715-1010. Latitude/Longitude: 39.391751, -104.800228 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 50 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 31 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 31 Total Unique Volunteers: 31 Total Volunteer Hours: 248 Staff Hours: 14 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: This SWAT was the 3rd installment of the VOC / Castle Rock new trail build at Gateway Mesa Open Space. For general information on the site and the Legacy Trail, please see the summary for "National Trails Day: Trail Construction @ Gateway Mesa Open Space" and "Women's Only: Trail Construction @ Gateway Mesa Open Space". On this perfect late summer day, 30 volunteers from Empower Retirement (formerly Great West Financial) picked up where the women's only project left off just three days earlier. The day began with a robust discussion of poison ivy, the primary safety hazard at the open space. Since the first work day on June 1st, VOC staff put together a "poison ivy toolkit" including informational materials, crew leader talking points, and some pre- and post-contact ointments. The Town of Castle Rock did some mitigation work including spraying plants adjacent to active sections, but there was still a significant amount of poison ivy present. Three VOC crew leaders stepped up to lead Empower employees in a diverse set of tasks. One crew was tasked with widening and finishing a few sections of trail started earlier in the season. Another built rock steps and navigated around an active seep. The third constructed a rock mono-wall. A fourth, led by Castle Rock staff, cut new full bench tread through an extremely steep and overgrown section that had been skipped on the last 2 projects due to the technicality and overgrown nature of the section. This group was able to rough in a temporary trail, but the section still needs some form of retaining wall. There is a rock cropping just uphill from the section which would be a good quarry site. All crews began wrapping up at 230pm and had left the site by 300pm. VOC project staff brought Starbucks coffee (donated) and Einstein's bagels (purchased) in the morning. Empower volunteers brought their own brown bag lunches to eat on the trail, making for a light packing load. All of the tools and set-up materials fit easily in the F-150 with a topper. Castle Rock staff were again very pleased with the amount and quality of work and expressed a strong desire to continue the partnership in the 2020 field season. Successes and Challenges: A major success was the great volunteer leadership. Mark, Bob, and Steve all had the technical expertise to lead their (very inexperienced) crews through some challenging work. TA Donna had done a very good job of laying out the trail and providing construction notes for the Women's only project, which we were able to make use of. Castle Rock staff were present in good numbers and very engaged. One major challenge is an abundance of poison ivy. As of yet, project staff have not heard about any serious cases of PI exposure but there is time yet. The plant is nearly everywhere in the first sections of the trail but thins out by sections 30 onward. In late august it is fully mature and beginning to fruit, making it easier to spot and avoid. Another challenge is the highly technical nature of the alignment. It is steep, rich in organic material, and full of complex hydrologic features like seeps and drainage crossings. Most of the challenging sections are now complete (or will be after the October 5th public project) but there may be a few tricky sections to deal with in 2020 as the trail climbs back up to the top of the mesa. Lessons Learned: PI awareness can't be overemphasized. Talk about it in a large group and instruct CLs to discuss again. Bring an abundance of alcohol swabs to clean skin after PI exposure. Brewery blankets are useful staging areas for backpacks and extra layers and help avoid contact with the plant. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: