Description
Start Date-End Date: 07/11/2020-07/11/2020
Land Manager Office: City of Greeley - Natural Areas & Trails
Land Manager Contact: Karen Scopel
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Collect data about Greeley plants and animals on this Saturday morning project.
Description: Read Before You Register! Need-to-Know Details:
We greatly appreciate you volunteering your time and energy to care for Colorado's outdoor places during COVID-19. To help provide a fun and safe experience for all, there are a few temporary changes to be prepared for:
You may only register yourself.Every volunteer must sign our digital COVID-specific forms ahead of time to be able to attend.
You must provide your own food. VOC will not be providing meals at this time.
You must bring a face mask and work gloves. Please click here for our full packing list of required and recommended items.
Please come prepared to use the bathroom outdoors. VOC is not providing portalets at this time and public restrooms may be unavailable. Please click here for more information on how to "go" outside.
Cancellation & Waitlists: Due to this year's limited number of projects and volunteer spots, we expect projects to fill quickly with waitlists. If you need to cancel, please email outreach@voc.org as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce. If you are waitlisted for multiple projects, please call us at 303-715-1010 ext. 130 and we can help you find an open project, if available.
Where You'll Be:
Located in Northwest Greeley, Pumpkin Ridge and Hunter's Cove follow the Sheep Draw Creek (a tributary of the Cache La Poudre River), the regional Sheep Draw Trail, and a long-standing history. The area was once used by settlers for farming and sheep grazing, and local stories tell of Native Americans travelling the creek by canoe. In 2017, VOC volunteers helped build the soft-surface Firefly Trail in the northern part of the area, and in 2019, VOC did a BioBlitz at the McCloskey Trailhead. This project continues to follow the draw further up.
What You'll Do:
Join us on a Saturday morning for one of VOC's Citizen Science projects! This form of outdoor stewardship involves collecting data about the area's plants, animals, and insects to support the Greeley Natural Areas program in their site management strategies. Volunteers can explore McCloskey Natural Area's variety of habitats to learn about the area's plants and wildlife as you observe and record their sightings through the free iNaturalist app.
Why It Matters:
Your data collection will help inform the Greeley Natural Areas program about the biodiversity of the Pumpkin Ridge and Hunter's Cove including plants, birds, mammals, and invertebrates so they can develop and implement effective strategies for managing the site. These methods may also be replicated at other natural areas throughout Greeley, taking your impact even further!
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 125,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $25 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: 40.4181, -104.794213
Additional Information: We greatly appreciate you volunteering your time and energy to care for Colorado's outdoor places during COVID-19. To help provide a fun and safe experience for all, there are a few temporary changes to be prepared for:
You must provide your own food.VOC will not be providing meals at this time.
You must bring a face mask and work gloves.Pleaseclick herefor our full packing list of required and recommended items.
Please come prepared to use the bathroom outdoors.VOC is not providing portalets at this time and public restrooms may be unavailable. Pleaseclick herefor more information on how to "go" outside.
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 8
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 10
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 10
Total Unique Volunteers: 10
Total Volunteer Hours: 20
Staff Hours: 10
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: The City of Greeley Natural Areas & Trails hosted their second BioBlitz with VOC. The BioBlitz was held in Pumpkin Ridge and Hunter's Cove.
Successes and Challenges: Successes - The volunteers who showed up were great and very invested in doing the work to help out. They had great attitudes and worked hard. Another success is that near these natural areas, a huge development is going in, so it is timely to document information about species in the area for the City of Greeley to have if needed for anything related to that development project. All COVID protocols were followed and volunteers seemed willing to do so, although no one really used the hands free water station, a few did use the sanitizer, but overall, I think volunteers came prepared with what they needed.
Challenges - We had three No Show volunteers, which made for a small project. The day started getting pretty hot toward late morning and volunteers definitely slowed down. July is probably not the best choice for a BioBlitz in Greeley for two reasons, first, it is somewhat between seasons for things blooming, and secondly, it can get very hot. One volunteer also noted that later in the morning there just didn't seem to be much activity in the area for documenting species and that maybe we should have come out earlier in the day.
Lessons Learned: See challenges section about time of year for a BioBlitz and time of day for a BioBlitz.
I also would do no more than four hours for a BioBlitz, volunteers started to drag a bit at the end as it was getting hot and they had covered a lot of the ground already. In my opinion, a BioBlitz would lend itself really well to short 2-3 hour stints.
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents: None
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 18 and older |
