2021-Habitat Restoration @ John Martin Reservoir State Park

Start Date-End Date: 10/16/2021-10/17/2021 Land Manager Office: US Army Corps of Engineers - John Martin Reservoir Land Manager Contact: Katie Schober Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Help remove invasive tamarisk to improve reservoir and habitat health. 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. Pleaseclick herefor 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: John Martin Reservoir State Park, aptly nicknamed a "sapphire on the plains", offers a variety of activities for visitors from fishing and boating to camping, hiking, and birding. The park is also home to plenty of history: on a branch of the Santa Fe Trail, visitors can follow a trail used by traders and colonizers; you can also find petroglyphs from the area's early inhabitants. A dam built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1939 and 1948 created the park's namesake reservoir, which now provides important habitat for a variety of species. What You'll Do: Discover a new corner of Colorado as you help remove invasive tamarisk from the shores of John Martin Reservoir. This lesser-known park is worth the trip: you'll have access to all the amenities the park has to offer including plenty of post-project recreation opportunities like disc golf, hiking, boating, and fishing. Campsites will be provided by the park and VOC's volunteer Crew Chefs will provide breakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as dinner on Saturday night. Why It Matters: Tamarisk, also known as salt cedar, is an invasive species that tends to hog light, water, and nutrients, which harms native plants and the wildlife that depend on them. At John Martin Reservoir, tamarisk is threatening to take over the shoreline and has reduced nesting grounds for threatened and endangered piping plovers and interior least terns. By helping to remove the tamarisk, you will be taking part in a multi-year effort to encourage native plant growth, improve recreational areas for visitors, and ultimately return the habitat to its natural state. 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 126,000 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: 38.070200, -103.019900 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 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: Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 25 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 45 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 45 Total Unique Volunteers: 24 Total Volunteer Hours: 461.5 Staff Hours: 34 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: VOC partnered with the USACE and CPW to preform critical weed removal of invasive tamarisk at John Martin Reservoir. On Friday, volunteers arrived after 5pm to set up camp at the Caddoa Group Campground, East of the reservoir near Hasty Lake. This area had a stand alone building and pit toilets for our use over the weekend. On Saturday morning, the remaining volunteers arrived and completed check-in. Volunteers were given informational handouts about tamarisk and the importance of the project for both the park and the larger ecological benefit. At 8am, volunteers were given a morning talk from VOC staff and USACE contact, Katie Schober. Volunteers were also given a brief tool safety talk for the various chopping and lopping tools they would use throughout the weekend. From camp, volunteers carpooled the 1 mile drive to the worksite. The worksite was along the shoreline of the output of the dam into the Arkansas River. This area is also called the "stilling pond". Volunteers were briefed on general sight safety and begin work around 8:30am. The chainsaw crew removed the tamarisk from the root, volunteers loaded the tamarisk onto trailer beds, CPW and USACE staff loaded the tamarisk into the chipper, and USACE staff applied herbicide to the cut stump of tamarisk. USACE used Garlon 3A, and riparian approved herbicide to prevent the tamarisk from propagating off the root stump. this herbicide needed to be applied within 15 minutes of cutting for full efficiency. The sawyers moved slowly through this project sight, as the tamarisk was difficult to remove. The tamarisk was dulling chains quickly as well as throwing chains. Sawyers also noted that they found rocks intertangled in the root stumps. CPW provided dump trailers to collect the wood chippings, and brought the material to a dump pile to be disposed of after the project. Volunteers found their rhythm and were able to remove 0.6 acres of tamarisk from the Arkansas River shoreline by 4pm. Volunteers returned to camp where saws were sharpened and tuned. At 5:30pm. Katie Schober provided a dam tour at the top of the dam where she discussed the history of the dam, which volunteers found very interesting. On Sunday, we had a smaller crew and no new volunteers. Volunteers were able to complete the same quantity of work, as they were all ready to work right at 8am. We did not provide a morning talk as there were no new volunteers. During the workday, volunteers came across much more poison ivy than on Saturday as we pushed further downstream. VOC provided topical dressing on site, however, only one volunteer reported concerns with coming in contact with the plant. Volunteers were more exhausted this day, however at lunch time CPW provided fun stickers and VOC staff handed out raffle items to help boost moral for the remainder of the day. Volunteers worked until 2 pm, helped load tools, and were dismissed from the worksite. By the end of the weekend, Volunteers removed 1.23 acres and 24,500 lbs of tamarisk. Successes and Challenges: Success: We removed double the quantity of tamarisk that USACE was expecting. There were no injuries or close calls. The weather was mild which allowed volunteers to work longer without feeling totally exhausted. Challenges: With the chainsaws and chippers running all weekend, it was difficult to communicate over the sheer noise and commotion. With all the moving parts, the timing was difficult and there were moments where volunteers were waiting for the sawyers to "catch up". Lessons Learned: Tamarisk near the shoreline was a lot more difficult to remove with the chainsaws, and it was more rocky in that area. We determined it was a better use of the time for VOC sawyers to tackle the "easier" tamarisk more inland. CPW will remove the more difficult tamarisk at a later time. Special Notes: CPW and USACE both brought a very large number of staff to be involved. Permitting for this project began in 2018 and so it has been a long time coming for both agencies. They were very satisfied with the quantity of work we completed. Stewardship Education: A "Why Tamarisk" document written by the USACE staff can be found here:Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado\VOC - Program_Boots on the Ground\Projects\2021 Projects\John Martin Reservoir Volunteers were also provided history about the park and dam. The dam was built from 1942-1949 to help provide water for agriculture and reduce devastating flooding near Las Animas. It has a capacity of 400,000 acre-feet but current is filled to 16,000. Sand Hill Cranes and other water fowl frequent the park as an area to rest during migration. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: At a few separate occasions, volunteers were getting too close the the sawyers working in the tamarisk. One volunteer who had done this repeatedly was asked to not get so close, which resulted in a bit of a confrontation. Sawyers were also notified to tell volunteers to stand back if they were getting over crowded and volunteers were addressed as a whole about this issue. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Terry Cline noted that she came in contact with poison ivy. She was offered topical dressing, but declined and used her own personal benedryl. Description of Work Completed: