2020-Trail Construction @ Tolland Ranch #1: Mike O'Brien Memorial Project

Start Date-End Date: 08/01/2020-08/02/2020 Land Manager Office: Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department Land Manager Contact: Ari Addes Funding Partner: Mike O'Brien Memorial Trail Fund Programmatic Partner: Summary: Construct a trail connector outside of Nederland in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest. Description: Photo courtesy of Julie Majors (2019). 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 sign up for one or all days of this project,though we encourage multi-day registration to limit the number of interactions and potential exposure. 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 and, if desired, overnight accommodations.VOC will not be providing campsites or 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. 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 emailoutreach@voc.orgas 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: The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests cover more than 1.5 million acres across north-central Colorado; they stretch north to the Wyoming border, west across the Continental Divide, and south through I-70 to Mount Evans. On this project, we'll be working on a trail easement located on private land in the forests. The camp and work site is about an hour's drive from Denver or Boulder. What You'll Do: Celebrate Colorado's 144th birthday with VOC! Sign up for one or both days to join us in building a new section of multi-use trail, including the opportunity to build rock structures. Please note volunteers may be required to hike up to four miles total, with some elevation gain, in order to access the work site and return. Why It Matters: The trail volunteers build will ultimately help establish an 8-mile route that will connect two heavily used trail systems: the Jenny Creek/Rollins Pass area to the west and the Magnolia Trails System to the east. This trail will open up recreational access in the area and enhance the visitor experience by enabling users to remain on a single trail for their backcountry adventures. 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: 39.927687, -105.589931 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 and, if desired, overnight accommodations.VOC will not be providing campsites or 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: Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 18 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 31 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 31 Total Unique Volunteers: 20 Total Volunteer Hours: 316 Staff Hours: 37 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: We had a great weekend out at the Tolland Ranch. We ended up with 17 volunteers on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. We had a couple of late cancellations that were scheduled to come out both days. Kellie got their spots filled for Sunday but those two no showed. We had a small but mighty group. All told we cut in about 0.25 miles of trail. Some still needs finishing work which Kate will manage on the project next weekend. Chris and Ari with Boulder County POS were very happy with the progress we made. We were able to have volunteers park in Eldora parking lot which is really why this project was possible. If we could not park at Eldora, access would have been very difficult or impossible. We had three crews on the first day and two crews on the second day due to lower numbers. Crew leaders did their ice breakers and safety talks in the Eldora Parking lot. From there, there was about a 1 mile hike into the work site. The week before, Kate and I flagged the route with flagging tape since there are a couple of intersections. I want to be sure we didnt lose any volunteers. Henry and I laid out tools at the project site on Friday evening. Crew leaders did their tool talks with volunteers once at the project site. Each volunteer had a pick, mcleod and a shovel to avoid tool sharing. I did not notice any tool sharing and crew leaders had alcohol wipes so that if we did need to share, they were able to wipe them down. Crews were well distance along the trail and did not need to leap frog each other. Dave Riter and Dave Smith had the fist two sections. Those sections could use some touching up next weekend. Joe OBrien did an amazing job with his crew at the top section. the trail digging was actually pretty difficult. the slope is steep so there is a lot of earth to move. There are also a lot of roots and rocks in the trail to work around. If something looked like it was going to be difficult and time-consuming, we just skipped it. The biggest priority was to get tread in. The second was to scatter the down trees that the foresters cut down as we were able. some of the down trees were still in really big chunks but they would like us to scatter what we can. After both workdays, Henry sanitized all the tools. We left a cache of sanitized tools out there for the project next weekend. Successes and Challenges: Successes: no one got lost on the hike, Chris and Ari are great partners, Clint was very happy that this project was happening and was pleased with how the weekend went, we got 0.25 miles of trail cut with a much smaller crew than initially planned, I did not witness any tool sharing, everyone wore masks, or was well distanced when they needed to take them off. Challenges: I wasnt sure how Dave and Dave would do with the new protocols but seemingly it all went well. Their sections of trail need a little work yet, but it seems all COVID protocol was followed. Once Chris and Ari found out that we were not providing food, they were very adamant on providing food for volunteers on Sunday. I told them that was not necessary but told me they were going to do it anyway. I assumed when we rescheduled with them we told them what was going to be different about the projects but they said they did not know there was not going to be food. They brought breakfast burritos on Sunday morning and pizza for lunch that afternoon. They want to do it again next weekemd. Maybe it is ok since we are not providing it. I was sure to let vols know that it was provided by Boulder County and they seemed take/eat the food if they felt comfortable with it. Lessons Learned: volutneers are down to follow our new rules. I feel like with the small groups, and especially with a large camping area, we could have allowed camping for volutneers or could in the future as we feel comfortable. I know it is not all about the space, it is also about just providing that environment for people to want to gather. Special Notes: Clint was happy to talk about Mike in the morning orientation. He was very happy about the project starting and how much we were able to do over the weekend. Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: none Description of Work Completed: