2021-Native Planting @ Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area

Start Date-End Date: 04/03/2021-04/03/2021 Land Manager Office: CPW - Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area Land Manager Contact: Levi Kokes Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Optional camping the night before! Improve wildlife habitat on one of our first volunteer projects of the year. 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. 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: Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area offers a peaceful retreat on the plains and, with its unique sandsage habitat, is one of the best places to spot a variety of bird species including Northern Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers, and Upland Sandpipers. This diversity has landed the area on the Colorado Birding Trail; it is also a popular spot for anglers as well as hunters seeking waterfowl, turkey, and white-tailed deer. What You'll Do: In 2019, VOC volunteers planted 1,600 shrubs at the Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area. Help continue this important work by planting more native shrubs to increase quail habitat and improve the ecosystem for wildlife as a whole. This project is open to volunteers ages 10+ and we will provide campsites for those who are interested in camping the Friday night before - a unique opportunity for a single-day project! Why It Matters: A diverse ecosystem is a healthy ecosystem. By planting native vegetation and increasing quail habitat, your efforts will ultimately improve and increase habitat for other species in the area including pheasant, turkey, eagles, snowy owls, pronghorn, mountain lions, elk, moose, and waterfowl. 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: 40.832429, -102.80405 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. Camping is available on Friday night if you wish to arrive the night before the project. Please note that VOC will not be providing any meals or camping equipment on this project. More information about camping will be sent via email approximately two weeks before the project. Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 20 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 19 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 3 Total Volunteer Days: 22 Total Unique Volunteers: 22 Total Volunteer Hours: 220 Staff Hours: 34.5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Since the project was far from Denver, camping was available for volunteers on Friday night at the campground at the entrance to Tamarack Ranch SWA. 22 volunteers total showed up with 3 youth and we planted all 900 plants that needed to be planted. Volunteers were planting in the same areas we planted in 2019. A lot of the plants died due to bad hail storms and drought, so the dead plants were removed and replaced with new plants. Around 530 plants were re-planted in the quail plots and the rest were planted in the tree rows from 2019 and the remaining plants after that were planted along the shores of 3 retention ponds. We planted these species: fragrant sumac, honey locust, Indian currant, American plum. it was quite warm out there (~80) degrees with no shade. Volunteers finished all the planting around 1:30 and we were out of there by 2:00. Successes and Challenges: Success: all plants were planted, volunteers enjoyed themselves and are excited for another season with VOC. Levi and the other staff there was very please with the work and has plenty more years of work for VOC Challenges: no shade - could have brought a pop up tent. We also had trouble with the Noble but it made it back to Denver. Lessons Learned: depending on the number of plants, this can be marketed as a shorter day. Special Notes: since the areas we were planting have been re-planted twice now, the staff there is looking to try new things to get the plants to live and thrive. They are testing out new species each time the re-plant. We also dipped all the saplings in a polymer to coat the roots so that they retained moisture better. Stewardship Education: ecological impact of replacing invasive trees with native trees and shrubs. We werent just planting shurbs for bird habitat so that they could hunted. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: a volunteer asked if we were just planting these trees and shrubs to provide habitat to birds that would then be hunted, and Levi explained the ecological benefit. Description of Accidents/Incidents: no accidents Description of Work Completed: