2019-Weekday Forest Health @ Genesee Park #1

Start Date-End Date: 06/13/2019-06/13/2019 Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation Land Manager Contact: Andy Perri Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Help forests thrive on this Thursday project. Description: Where You'll Be: Not far from Denver off I-70, Genesee Park feels a world away with over 2,000 acres to explore. It is one of the oldest parks in the Denver Mountain Parks system and is home to the historic Beaver Brook Trail, coveted hiker-only trails, and a herd of bison! Its proximity to Denver and diverse recreation opportunities - from picnicking to backcountry hiking - make this park a popular pick with everyone from families to groups. What You'll Do: Spend your Thursday helping forests thrive in Genesee Park! Volunteers ages 12+ 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. Join us on July 11 for our second Forest Health project in Genesee Park! Why It Matters: 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 Genesee Park's ponderosa pines, you 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 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: 39.703205, -105.293631 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 50 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 34 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 1 Total Volunteer Days: 35 Total Unique Volunteers: 35 Total Volunteer Hours: 250.5 Staff Hours: 12 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Volunteers gathered at the Genesee Trailhead for this weekday project to clean up and consolidate downed/felled trees and debris into slash piles to be burned at a later date. Volunteers were able to able to fully clear about 4 acres and made a good dent in an additional acre as the day came to a close, for a total of 5 acres impacted. We built about 30-35 new slash piles and added to about 15 other already existing piles. This project was originally scheduled for May, but had to be cancelled and rescheduled for this June date due to snow earlier in the season. The rescheduled date was perfect weather and we finished up right as the afternoon storms came in. Successes and Challenges: Challenge: It isreallyeasy to lose handsaws when you set them down. We were missing 6 by the end of the day when we did a tool inventory and had to send some volunteers back out to scan the area and find them. Luckily we recovered them all, but for future projects it would be worth having some kind of system to make sure people bring back the same tools they go out with. I'd recommend breaking everyone into groups of 3, where one person takes a pair of loppers, one a handsaw, and one is a free set of hands or an extra handsaw. Those three people can switch tools as needed, but they are responsible as a group for keeping track of their kit and returning it at the end of the day. Success: Andy was very happy with the amount we were able to clear. It's a big job with no shortage of work. Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: A few volunteers mentioned that the steep grade of the mountainside and having to walk up and down it while moving branches and trees made this a much more strenuous project than they expected. It was rated as easy on the website, needs to be bumped to at least moderate if we work in this area again. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: