2019-Native Planting @ Tamarack State Wildlife Area

Start Date-End Date: 04/06/2019-04/06/2019 Land Manager Office: CPW - State Office Land Manager Contact: Levi Kokes Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Optional camping the night before! Improve wildlife habitat on this single-day project. Description: Where You'll Be: Located in Colorado's Eastern plains, the Tamarack State Wildlife Area is near the town of Sterling and on the historic Pony Express and Overland Stage route to Denver. The area is open year-round to hunters and fishermen and sees several thousand visitors per year, boasting many white-tail, waterfowl, turkey, and other small game. What You'll Do: Join volunteers ages 10+ in planting native trees and shrubs to replace invasive Russian Olive trees, increase quail habitat, and improve the ecosystem for wildlife as a whole. A two-hour drive from Denver, we will provide campsites for those who are interested in camping the Friday night before - a unique opportunity for a single-day project! Our fabulous volunteer Crew Chefs will provide breakfast and lunch on Saturday for all. Why It Matters: A diverse ecosystem is a healthy ecosystem. By planting native vegetation and increasing quail habitat, your efforts will ultimately improve and increase habitat for other species in the area including pheasant, turkey, eagles, snowy owls, pronghorn, mountain lions, elk, moose, and waterfowl. Need-to-Know Details: Minors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects. Minors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects. Volunteers are responsible for providing their own camping equipment.VOC will provide meals, 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, visit www.voc.org or call 303-715-1010. Latitude/Longitude: 40.832429, -102.804050 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 25 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 27 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 3 Total Volunteer Days: 30 Total Unique Volunteers: 30 Total Volunteer Hours: 387 Staff Hours: 44 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 30 volunteers ventured out to Crook, CO for the native planting at Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area. We had a wonderful day with great weather. The project was broken up into two different tasks: first task: The staff at the wildlife area had some heavy machinery come in and rip out rows of Russian Olive that was planted back in the 70s or 80s. They got a youth corps crew from Greeley to come out and chip the trees that were pulled out. VOC came in to plant native trees to replace the habitat that the Russian Olive was providing. We planted 2 sites and each site had three rows of trees. Levi estimated 1 acre of land planted with 400 plants (175 osage orange, 75 cottoneaster, 150 service berry). We used a tree planter and a fabric roller (both were hitched to a big tractor). Volunteers (2) sat on the tree planter and put the trees in the ground. Other volunteers followed up behind and made sure the trees were standing up and packed in. Once the tree planter had a good head start, the fabric roller rolled out black weed fabric. Volunteers followed behind and cut a slit where the tree was so that it was through the fabric and placed a stake so that the fabric didn't billow up in the wind. second task: Quail is historically very common at the state wildlife area, but through studies at the area, population numbers are dropping. Currently, the populations are residing in the trees in the riparian area around the south platte. staff would like to draw the quail out to the sand hills in the area. Volunteers planted 4 quail plots, each having 3 40' x 40' squares. about 100 shrubs were planted at each. Staff prepped the area with weed fabric and marked each spot where a shrub needed to be planted. each row was 4 feet apart and each shrub was 4 feet apart. volunteers cut an X at each marking, stuck the spade shovel in all the way, loosened the soil, stuck the plant in, packed it in, and put a stake in the fabric near the plant so that the fabric didn't billow. Levi estimate about .5 acres planted in quail plots (all around property) and about 1200 plants (150 american plum, 150 sandhill plum, 300 fragrant sumac, 300 golden currant, 300 chokecherry). All plants were bare root cuttings. The quail plots were all around the property so volunteers were driving from site to site. in total we planted 1600 trees and shrubs covering 1.5 acres. We completed all of the work we set out to do. We made time for lots of training in the morning since some of us were working with heavy machinery we had never seen before. We ended around 3pm when we finished all we had set out to do. what was completed was the original scope of work. The SWA was able to do the project because of a GOCO grant they were awarded and are hoping they will get in again next year as they are anticipating another 5 years of this project to be finished. they would love to have VOC out again and we know we can get the volunteers out there. 30 vols attended and we had 30 vols on the waitlist. Successes and Challenges: successes: completed all the work that was set out. Levi was very pleased. He runs quite a few other properties with one to two other staff.. This project would have taken them a very long time to complete. Levi was very great to work with. Very responsive via phone and email. made sure we had everything we needed for the project (camping on friday, porta potties, extra CPW staff). Since the two different projects were taking place at different locations at the SWA, I was very happy to have Alex out there with me. Volunteers had a good time and spirits were high all the way through to the end. They felt a big since of accomplishment seeing all that they had planted. Challenges: projects sites were all over the area. volunteers had to drive from one site to the next. ended up working out just fine but not typical at a VOC project. Lessons Learned: We can get the volunteers out to the site! perhaps if we do this project again in the future, we can up the numbers. Not too many people took advantage to the Friday night camping, but i am glad they were able to set that up. It was nice for the project team to be able to get out there the night before. I think it should be offered again if we do this project again. We camped at the office instead of at the entrance/check station by the road. Special Notes: From what I saw in VOCOM, there were no local volunteers. Most everyone I talked to came from the front range (Colorado Springs up to Boulder). Stewardship Education: Levi explained a lot about why we were planting and what we were planting. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: none to report Description of Work Completed: