Description
Start Date-End Date: 05/04/2019-05/04/2019
Land Manager Office: City of Aurora
Land Manager Contact: Eric Watts
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: A great introduction to trail work: close to the city and open to ages 12+!
Description: Project photo by Ciarra Hill
Where You'll Be:
Located just north of the Aurora Reservoir, the Pronghorn Natural Area is a newly-accessible open space that offers visitors 600+ acres of prairie and plentiful opportunities to view the namesake Pronghorn Antelope and Mule and Whitetail Deer as well as various raptor and other bird species. The area is easily accessible from the city and provides residents with outdoor recreation opportunities on the east side of Denver.
What You'll Do:
On this large project of 75+ people, you'll continue building a trail that was started by VOC in 2018. You'll work in small groups of 8-10 people to create new portions of a natural-surface trail that meanders through the prairie in Aurora's Pronghorn Natural Area. Open to volunteers ages 12+, this project is a fun and easy introduction to trail work as well as agreat opportunity to spend time with family; discover new, local places to explore; get your feet wet as a new volunteer; or meet people from across the Front Range! Breakfast and lunch will be provided, and a post-project happy hour will be hosted at Dry Dock Brewing Company's South Dock location, about a 15-minute drive from the project site with 15% off beer for volunteers!
Why It Matters:
The City of Aurora has few hiking opportunities and the Pronghorn Natural Area holds great potential for outdoor experiences. However, there are currently no developed trails in the 600+ acres. Your work will change this by creating a natural-surface trail, opening public access to the pristine prairie and helping the City of Aurora further its goal of encouraging active lifestyles and creating healthy environments for residents and visitors alike. Furthermore, the trail you build will ultimatelybecome part of the Triple Creek Trail, a $1.5-million project to connect the southern end of the Sand Creek Greenway to the Aurora Reservoir, linking to regional trail systems that will eventually provide a loop from the Aurora Reservoir west through Highlands Ranch, north to Arvada, and back to Aurora through Commerce City.
Need-to-Know Details:
Minors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or olderon single-day projects.
VOC will teach you everything you need to know day-ofand provide all tools and equipment, including 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: 39.638800, -104.674254
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 80
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 76
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 20
Total Volunteer Days: 96
Total Unique Volunteers: 96
Total Volunteer Hours: 802
Staff Hours: 17.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: A great day out a pronghorn natural area! we had a nice breeze and cloud cover most of the day. In total, we had 96 volunteers come out and one guest appearance by Dan Williams (76 adults and 20 youth). Accomplishments include:
4065' (0.77 miles mapped on GPS) of new trail constructed
~250' of existing trail maintained (widened and regraded)
10 existing drains maintained (enlarged and cleaned out)
We finished the trail all the way to the road which was to goal that was set out from the begininng. We finished up about 3pm.
Successes and Challenges: Successes: since we had done the project last year, we knew we would need a lot of mcleods and square shovels and were sure to have them. the happy hour at dry dock was a great success! i would say we had about 25 people show.
Challenges: we had a porta potty at the trail head and one at the road where we were ending, but they were both faily far from the worksite when we were starting out in the morning. we collected tools at the road and then people had to walk back a little less than 2 miles back to the trail head where they were parked. not a whole lot of complaining about that but i dont think people particularly liked it. it was a bit warm but all crews had water jugs with them and took breaks when necessary
Lessons Learned:
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
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Details
| 12 and older |
