2021-Tree Planting @ Jackson Lake State Park

Start Date-End Date: 10/02/2021-10/02/2021 Land Manager Office: CPW - Jackson Lake State Park Land Manager Contact: Tyler Sewald Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Camping available at this designated International Dark Sky Park! Spend a fall day planting trees! 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. 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 this year's limited number of projects and volunteer spots, 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: In an area originally inhabited by the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe people, Jackson Lake State Park is known as an "oasis on the plains" and serves as a popular destination for boating, fishing, swimming, bird-watching, and water skiing with over 3,000 acres of land and water. The centerpiece of the park, which neighbors the South Platte River, is Jackson Reservoir, which was created in the early 1900s to support agriculture and a growing population. The area surrounding the reservoir began to see recreational use in the early 1960s, which ultimately led to the development of Jackson Lake State Park. In 2020, Jackson Lake became Colorado's first state park to be certified as an International Dark Sky Park. What You'll Do: Spend a fall Saturday in the peaceful plains, where you'll work with volunteers ages 18+ to plant trees! Why It Matters: Jackson Lake State Park is a popular destination that has seen record visitation during COVID-19, increasing the need for hands-on maintenance. The park has been removing harmful russian olive trees, and will be planting new trees which will provide a better experience for the park's many visitors while protecting the area's wildlife, plants, and natural resources. 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: 40.383074, -104.091911 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 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 if you choose to stay and enjoy the park! 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: Moderate High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 20 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 25 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 25 Total Unique Volunteers: 25 Total Volunteer Hours: 234 Staff Hours: 12 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Volunteers planted a variety of species of ball and burlap and large container trees in one campground at Jackson Lake State Park. They have had to remove many russian olive trees, so this helps replace trees in the park, as well as helps to diversify the species of trees in the park as well. These trees will hopefully grow well and provide future shade to visitors as well. Successes and Challenges: JLSP pre-dug holes with an excavator, which was hugely helpful to getting trees in the ground! The three crew leaders were awesome. One crew split into two groups which helped to get more trees in the ground. We planted 27 trees, but didn't get to 7 trees, which left work for JLSP employees to finish off. I think having one more crew or working maybe one more hour would have been enough to get them all in the ground. Lessons Learned: We had a crew chef on this one, but lunch was a little late being totally ready to serve, so that cut into planting time as well and wasn't initially taken into account of the overall planting time. I think for tree planting, I should have over registered the number of volunteers by a fair bit, this is the type of project where the trees HAVE to get in the ground quickly and can't be left, so we all felt a little bad not to get them all planted for the park. Special Notes: The OSI ball and burlap planting guide was very helpful for all crew leaders. Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: The exposure and heat got to one woman a little bit, but she was very good at taking care of herself and letting her crew know she was feeling the heat and needed to take a pause. Luckily, her husband was also on the project, so he was also able to help monitor her when she wasn't feeling well. Description of Work Completed: