2019-Women's Only: Trail Construction @ Gateway Mesa Open Space (Legacy Trail)

Start Date-End Date: 08/24/2019-08/24/2019 Land Manager Office: Town of Castle Rock Parks & Recreation Department Land Manager Contact: Barbara Spagnuolo Funding Partner: Castle Rock Service Center, Town of Programmatic Partner: Summary: For women and girls ages 14+! 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: Join us for our second annual Women's Only project, and the second of three projects at Gateway Mesa Open Space this year! Created for women, by women, this project is exclusively reserved for women and girls ages 14+. You'll be led by our fantastic women Crew Leaders as you continue building a new, two-mile section of trail alongside dozens of women from across the state. 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. Breakfast and lunch will be provided by our volunteer Crew Chefs. 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.As a women-only project, volunteers will also help contribute to creating a supportive community of women in the outdoors! Need-to-Know Details: Minors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or olderon single-day projects. 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, please emailoutreach@voc.orgor call 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, -104.802257 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 60 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 58 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 58 Total Unique Volunteers: 58 Total Volunteer Hours: 490 Staff Hours: 17 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 58 female volunteers attended our second annual Women's Only Trail Construction Project at Gateway Mesa Open Space. While we opted for a more traditional project approach and less of a programmatic one this year, the project was still centered around strength and community. Nearly half of the women present were attending their first VOC project and we had 9 women attending their second. In total, the women successfully completed 1,000 of some rough trail! The day culminated with a great raffle, flower cookies from Rose, and cold La Croix (+ some additional swag) supplied by REI. Overall, this was another successful women's only project with positive feedback from both volunteers and LM's. Successes and Challenges: Initially, finding a project location proved to be challenging, however, once we got the go-ahead from the Town of Castlerock said we could host this project at Gateway Mesa, it was easy planning and execution. They are great partners and have a strong and active group of women on staff. Due to challenges with initial land managers turning down a Women's only project, then some date shifts, we lost some leadership to other projects. Recruitment proved to be a challenge. Especially when it came to tool managers, thankfully Kelly Clouse stepped in and volunteered her time. We did get some feedback that the programmatic piece and group lunch that occurred during the first women's only was missed, we tried to have a mini-gathering at the end, but was hard to do with the shuttle system. Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: