2021-Riparian Restoration @ Southern Plains Land Trust #1

Start Date-End Date: 04/24/2021-04/25/2021 Land Manager Office: Southern Plains Land Trust Land Manager Contact: Jay Tuchton Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Restore valuable streambank habitat on this prairie preserve near Lamar. 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. 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 Southern Plains Land Trust creates and protects a network of shortgrass prairie preserves, including Heartland Ranch near Lamar. This preserve spans approximately 25,000 acres, an area larger than any of Colorado's state parks as well as several national parks! The rolling grassland terrain supports black-tailed prairie dogs, pronghorn, and a large herd of reintroduced bison. Several rare plants, a variety of native vegetation, and dozens of miles of seasonal streams can be found throughout the ranch. Public visitation at the preserves is extremely limited, and volunteer projects such as this one offer the unique opportunity to visit for free and learn about this remarkable area! What You'll Do: Join us for a Spring weekend in the southeast corner of Colorado. There are many sites throughout Heartland Ranch in need of TLC to restore the important streambank habitat. Working alongside volunteers ages 12+, you'll help install structures such as rock dams, Zuni bowls, and media lunas to help control erosion on streambanks and, if possible, plant cottonwoods and coyote willows to further improve the habitat. 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. Why It Matters: This work is vital to improving watershed health in the Arkansas River Basin, the largest basin in Colorado by area. By installing these erosion control structures and adding native plants to the landscape, you'll help slow water movement and improve stream health within these large and important preserves. 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: 37.684968, -102.895284 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 a face mask and work gloves.Pleaseclick herefor our full packing list of required and recommended items. 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: Easy, Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 35 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 32 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 2 Total Volunteer Days: 34 Total Unique Volunteers: 34 Total Volunteer Hours: 783 Staff Hours: 65.5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Rain and wind storms Friday afternoon gave way to a beautiful night as volunteers arrived. SPLT staff were excited and grateful for how much volunteer interest the project generated--Executive Director Nicole Rosmarino said many times it was the most people they'd ever been able to get out to the preserve. About 30 people each day meant we completed a ton of great work--16 one-rock dams constructed, 400 sumac planted, 47 willows planted, and three cottonwoods transplanted. On Saturday, three crews spread out along Penrose Draw and a tributary (both dry) to build dams. Two additional groups of volunteers went to gather rocks and load them into trucks that ran the rock loads to the dam crews. Despite some work stoppages while crews waiting for rocks to build with, the system overall was fairly efficient. On Sunday, three CPW staff brought 500 sumac plants and a number of willow cuttings, along with planting supplies, and volunteers planted in Penrose Draw and Rural Creek. We were able to get 400 of the 500 sumacs in the ground--impressive for how labor intensive the process was! Successes and Challenges: Successes - SPLT was really excited about how committed VOC volunteers were -better mask compliance with consistent reminders during the morning welcome and evening raffle - The Colorado Water Conservation Board grant calls for 31 dams to be built in Penrose draw over two years and we completed exactly half, so the project is right on track! The sumac plantings were a big bonus Challenges - One incident report for a smashed finger Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Nicole from SPLT suggested grocery shopping for the food locally in Las Animas or La Junta if possible. SPLT is trying to make an argument that they bring economic diversity to the community. Also requested that we add a question to our survey for the October project asking people to estimate how much they spent on gas/food/etc in the local towns. Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Don Davis crushed a finger lifting a rock into a truck bed on Saturday. We cleaned and bandaged the wound, but it bled through the first bandage. We re-cleaned and re-wrapped the finger again and Don stopped working for the day. Full incident report is saved in the project folder. Description of Work Completed: