Description
Start Date-End Date: 09/25/2021-09/26/2021
Land Manager Office: USFS - South Platte Ranger District
Land Manager Contact: Chris Kuennen
Funding Partner: National Forest Foundation
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Celebrate National Public Lands Day and help forests thrive on this chainsaw 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 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 pack your own lunches. Please see below for more information on meals.
You must bring a face mask and work gloves. Please click here for our full packing list of required and recommended items.
All volunteers must keep a mask within reach at all times.We will ask you to wear a mask when working closely together (within arm's reach) on a task, such as moving a large rock.
If you are not vaccinated,we encourage you to reconsider your participation at this time due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. People who are unvaccinated are more at risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death. If you choose to volunteer while unvaccinated, you must wear a mask for the duration of the project.
Cancellation & Waitlists: Due to limited spots on this year's projects, 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. 116 and we can help you find an open project, if available.
Where You'll Be:
The Buffalo Creek area is an approximately 90-minute drive Southwest of Denver, in the Pike and San Isabel National Forests. With plenty of U.S. Forest Service designated campgrounds and 50 miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails - many of which tie in to the Colorado Trail - this area is a popular destination for urban-dwellers seeking to escape the city while avoiding I-70 traffic.
What You'll Do:
Join us for National Public Lands Day as we help care for Colorado's forests! This project for volunteers ages 18+ will consist of two types of volunteers: chainsaw-certified volunteers to cut dead and dying trees, and volunteers to help clear debris from felled trees and move it to an area where our Forest Service partners will later collect it. In doing so, you will help promote a healthy forest ecosystem by mitigating threats of disease and wildfires.
Camping is available Friday and Saturday night; VOC's volunteer Crew Chefs will provide breakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as dinner on Saturday night.
*Only certified sawyers will be allowed to operate the chainsaws. If you are certified, please register and send your certificate to Kelly Clouse at kclouse@voc.org.
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 trees in the area, you will reduce the impact of wildfires and help the trees grow stronger and the forest more resilient.
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: 39.323114, -105.246187
Additional Information: Only certified sawyers will be allowed to operate the chainsaws. If you are certified, please contact Kelly Clouse at kclouse@voc.org to provide a copy of your certification.
To help provide a fun and safe experience for all, there are a few temporary changes to be prepared for:
You must pack your own lunches.Please see below for more information on meals.
You must bring work gloves.Pleaseclick herefor our full packing list of required and recommended items.
If you are fully vaccinated,you may work without a mask. If you are not yet fully vaccinated or if you prefer to wear a mask for any reason, please continue to wear a mask on VOC projects. We will have spare masks available if needed.
Camping is available on both Friday and Saturday night. Please note that VOC doesnotprovide any camping equipment (tents, sleeping bags, etc.) but will providebreakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as dinner on Saturday night. More information about camping will be sent via email approximately two weeks before the project.
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 20
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 30
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 30
Total Unique Volunteers: 17
Total Volunteer Hours: 258
Staff Hours: 23.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Saturday had more swampers than sawyers so each sawyer was able to have at least 1 swapers. Everyone was given an overview of the prescription, safety concerns for the day, and general schedule. The first day sawyers mainly focused on felling trees within the prescription. Most felled anywhere from 5-10 trees that day. Sunday no new sawyers but lost a few swampers. The main focus was finishing the area each sawyer was assigned and then going through and cutting any boles on the ground that were 6" or less to add to the piles. Volunteers helped load all the saws and equipment before leaving.
Successes and Challenges: Successes:
The majority of fellers were more experienced allowing for more trees felled than the previous project
Everyone was extremely safe, no injuries and no heat illness or serious dehydration
The stars were amazing and folks had a fun time sitting around at night listing off planets, constellations, and different satellites. A few also got some amazing photos of the milkyway.
Challenges:
Despite the emails, I was told finding and getting into the gate was an issue and at least one person turned back because they couldn't figure out how to open the combo lock
Lessons Learned: I took a lot of the lessons learned from the last forest health and applied them. Making sure everyone had the gate combination, asking each sawyer to go over their experience as well as what they were hoping to get out of the project, and going over the prescription with everyone and having copies for folks to look at if they wanted. While there was a snaffue with the gate, I think it would be difficult to mitigate without having someone willing to wake up an hour early and spend their breakfast waiting by the gate for a person to potentially not be able to figure out how to open it. The majority of folks had no issue.
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Something that would be nice for future projects similar to this (where acres thinned is the measurement), it would be nice to have a bought version of Avenza (or something similar). I used the "Fields Area Measure Free" app and have found that it's not very reliable unless you keep you phone on and unlocked the whole time you are tracking. Avenza is also nice because it allows the maps to be shared to others so they can see what has been completed.
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 18 and older |
