2021-Trail and Habitat Restoration @ Picket Wire Canyon

Start Date-End Date: 05/08/2021-05/09/2021 Land Manager Office: USFS - Comanche National Grassland Land Manager Contact: Jamie Krezelok Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Restore a trail, remove invasive weeds, and explore the largest set of dinosaur tracks in North America! Description: Project photo by Cindy Bond 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: Located south of La Junta in the southeast corner of the state, Picket Wire Canyon is nestled in the Comanche National Grassland and home to remnants of early Colorado explorers and settlers, prehistoric Native American rock art, and the largest set of preserved dinosaur tracks in North America! What You'll Do: Volunteers ages 16+ are invited to join us in the unique terrain of Picket Wire Canyon for this fun, "choose-your-own-adventure" volunteer project! On both work days, you'll have the opportunity to pick between trail work or ecological restoration. One group will maintain a 0.4-mile section of the Picket Wire Canyon Trail, which serves as the main point for non-motorized access to the canyon and is in desperate need of repair. These tasks will be slightly more strenuous, and will include constructing various erosion control and drainage structures. The second group will work at the dinosaur track site to pull invasive weeds and, weather permitting, re-seed with native plant varieties. All volunteers will have the opportunity to visit the dinosaur tracks and campsites will be provided 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: The Picket Wire Canyon is a unique and important piece of Colorado natural and social history. Volunteers' efforts on this project will ensure that the trail accessing the canyon remains sustainable for visitors to the site for years to come. 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. xc Latitude/Longitude: 37.659746, -103.570988 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: Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 20 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 47 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 47 Total Unique Volunteers: 25 Total Volunteer Hours: 488 Staff Hours: 52 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Despite being short on numbers, volunteers were still able to accomplish all work priorities on this strenuous but rewarding trail project. We constructed 22 timber steps (12 on day 1 and 10 on day 2), 2 rock steps, 8 check dams, and 350 feet of new trail. Volunteers also maintained 1320 feet of trail and closed 200 feet of old trail. Successes and Challenges: Successes: -Built all 22 steps with the 22 timbers ordered! Didn't look like it would be possible at the start of the weekend but people really rallied and worked efficiently to make it happen. -Completed a short reroute toward the bottom of the final section Challenges: - The heat on Saturday made working conditions very tough. At least one volunteer had to sit out some of the day due to dizziness and dehydration, but overall crew leaders did a great job of tracking how much water everyone was drinking and scheduling breaks every hour on the hour to make sure crew members took time to sit in the shade and rest. -Carrying the timbers from where they were staged at the upper gate to the crews on the trail was extremely strenuous, time consuming, and difficult to manage while still maintaining COVID protocols, but there was simply no way to do it before the project date. Tool manager Joe and PM Kate carried most of them down together so the crews could work without losing people. However, we couldn't keep up with demand and eventually we had to pull some people to use the log tongs. Since the trail was downhill and the timbers were relatively small (as compared to the logs carried on CFI project in 2020), people were able to keep masks on and we deemed the task doable even though it brought more than two people within 6 feet of each other. We made sure to pull people from the same household when possible. - Ree Rodgers is the replacement for Michelle Stevens, VOC's former contact for the Comanche NG, and she was admittedly a difficult person to work with. She is scattered, forgetful, and generally unhelpful. If we do another project here in the future and she's still with the Grasslands, I would just advise the PM and project team to prepare to give her heavy oversight with a lot of follow-up to make sure she's doing what she says she will. Lessons Learned: The route Google generates is NOT the best way to go. Use the directions from the 2018 Picket Wire project info email. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: