Description
Start Date-End Date: 05/21/2021-05/21/2021
Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation
Land Manager Contact: Bob Finch
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Provide beginner mountain bike opportunities for the community on this Friday project.
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 work gloves. Please click here for 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.
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:
James Q. Newton Park encompasses 600 acres just one mile from the center of Conifer. Easily accessible from town and from Highway 285, James Q. Newton Park is a gem of the Denver Mountain Park system, offering a range of trails for hikers and mountain bikers as well as picnic tables, fire pits, volleyball courts, horseshoes, and group shelters.
What You'll Do:
Join us for an early summer Friday at James Q. Newton Park, where you'll work with volunteers ages 14+ to break ground on a new, family-friendly/beginner mountain bike trail. This project is a great introduction to trail-building and a fun opportunity to get outside and explore Denver's Mountain Park system!
Why It Matters:
With 20,000 visitors each year, James Q. Newton Park experiences plenty of demand from Denver-based visitors as well as local users from Conifer and Evergreen. By building a sustainable, beginner-friendly biking trail, you will help expand recreation opportunities and provide children and beginners with the chance to try a new hobby.
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 125,000 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: 39.511373, -105.296559
Additional Information: 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 and, if desired, overnight accommodations.VOC will not be providing meals or campsites 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 Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Moderate
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 20
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 31
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 31
Total Unique Volunteers: 31
Total Volunteer Hours: 285
Staff Hours: 10.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Tool Manager Rosa and Trainee John Crawford arrived on site around 6:15 and we began to set out tools/equipment around the pavilion at James Newton Park so crew leads would easily be able to pull tools for their tool talk and later for the actual trail building. Set up went smoothly. Volunteers were not huge fans of the cold brew Corvus Coffee but they much enjoyed watching the expression of other's trying it for the first time. The Cliff bars, on the other hand, were a hit.
All volunteers who did not cancel beforehand came to the project and arrived well before we headed out on trail. Several folks were new to VOC as well as trail work and were very excited to have the opportunity to come out and volunteer. Above that, everyone was ecstatic about our new mask policy.
The day started out with a quick talk from Bob Finch explaining the purpose of the trail we were building followed by breaking into crews of 6/7 to get an introduction to the tools being used during the day. Most crews were hitting their section of trail by 9:30 and, while the initial start was a little slow as folks learned the ins and outs of trial building, overall the work moved quickly. By 3:00 PM we had cut past our mid-point on the trail building itself and were nearly done naturalizing a social trail that crossed through our new tread. By 3:30 all crews had stashed tools and were heading out for the day.
Successes and Challenges: Successes:
Learning new trail work went well for many new volunteers
We surpassed what was expected on the first day
Challenges:
A couple people mentioned wanting regular rakes for some of the work instead of Mcleods
Probably could have had more Mcleods overall
A couple crew leads mention having difficulty with Bob and Brad (another DPR employee helping TA) who gave conflicting trail expectations. There was also some disgruntled expressions towards the fact that both Bob and Brad would talk to volunteers when they saw them doing something they did not prefer but failed to inform the Crew Lead so there was more miscommunication than necessary.
Lessons Learned: Always bring more Mcleods than necessary
Ask leads to look over trail list and suggest any items they might desire for new trail construction
Request a more detailed trail notes section from whomever is TAing so expectations are more clear
Talk to land managers beforehand and request they inform crew leads if they see volunteers doing something they don't approve of so that the crew leads are on the same page
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: A volunteer mentioned wishing they could see which volunteer projects were actually open while checking-in on projects. They thought perhaps a sign-up sheet with open projects listed might be a nice way for volunteers to sign up. I did mention that such a list would most likely be empty as most of our projects fill within a week of opening.
One crew lead was really upset by Bob Finch saying he would hire a paid crew instead of volunteers if he could. Crew lead said it gave the wrong impression and was done in bad taste.
Personally found Bob's communication erratic, hard to follow, and sometimes conflicting with earlier statements. Bob often failed to communicate changes in trail expectations to Brad who was also working to TA on the trail that day which led to them sometimes coming through a section after one another and "correcting" the other's direction.
Bob's method of trail building is unlike any I have ever seen and I think this did lead to a few crew leads who have been doing trail work for a while to feel very confused and unsure of themselves when making decisions.
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 14 and older |
