2021-Wildlife Habitat Restoration @ Guffey

Start Date-End Date: 05/22/2021-05/23/2021 Land Manager Office: BLM - Royal Gorge Field Office Land Manager Contact: Matthew Rustand Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Improve big game winter habitat by removing fencing. 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 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 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: An approximately 90-minute drive from Colorado Springs, the tiny town of Guffey sits at 8,658 feet in remote Park County. Destinations such as Eleven Mile State Park, Cripple Creek, and the Royal Gorge are a relatively short distance away along with plenty of trails, campgrounds, and fishing spots. What You'll Do: Spend a May weekend in the quiet of Park County as you work with volunteers ages 14+ to remove an old barbed wire fence on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management's Royal Gorge Field Office. This mile-long fence can injure big game wildlife such as deer, moose, and bears, or otherwise hinder their movement across the landscape. By the end of the weekend, you'll have made a visible impact on the area for these animals. Camping is available on both Friday and Saturday night, and VOC's volunteer Crew Chefs will provide breakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as dinner on Saturday night. Why It Matters: This area is a popular winter habitat for many big game animals including elk and mule deer, but many of them can get injured or entangled in the fencing. By removing these fences, you will help protect local wildlife and open up migration routes. In just a weekend, you'll have made a lifetime of difference for these animals! 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: 38.733201, -105.52777 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 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. 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 High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 12 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 35 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 35 Total Unique Volunteers: 19 Total Volunteer Hours: 301 Staff Hours: 31 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: VOC partnered with the Bureau of Land Management- Royal Gorge Field Office to remove a 1 mile section of barbed wire fence impeding the movement of deer, elk and pronghorn through their natural migration corridor. VOC Staff, tool manager, and chef arrived on site on Friday the 21st to set up camp. Friday night we hosted an informal test run of the fence removal process, volunteers found this entertaining and exciting. Volunteers arrived on site by 8 am on Saturday morning to begin work. There was no hike to the fence from the camping area, so work begin around 8:30 am. Volunteers made quick work of the fence removal, and work ended early on Sunday. The area received heavy dose of rain the week leading up to the project. Consequently, the ground was soft and the T-posts were easily removed using the T-Post puller tools. Volunteers used fencing pliers and bolt cutters to remove the barbed wire from the T-post. Once the wire was removed, crews worked to roll the barbed wire into tight spindles, using the end of the wire to secure the spindles closed. Volunteers then placed the barbed wire and T-posts on a brewery blanket, and dragged the material to the road where BLM staff would pick it up. The most labor intensive part of the project was hauling the wire and material to the road. Volunteers enjoyed the problem solving required to remove stubborn T-posts, and celebrated each time one was removed. The dynamic of the group was strong, and people noted they have not had that much fun since the beginning of the pandemic. The weather in the area over the weekend played nice, although there was a potential for storms all weekend. We received evening rain showers, but ultimately the weather did not impact the efficiency of our work. While there was large safety concerns with handling barbed wire, not a single injury was reported all weekend. Thick, leather work gloves were enough to protect volunteers from the barbs on the wire. Successes and Challenges: Successes: Efficiently removing all sections of fence, and all T-posts (excepts 2-3 stubborn or overgrown posts). We were lucky to have Scott Hill, who had ample experience removing fences. His suggestions helped volunteers find a better method to remove and roll the barbed wire. The cloud cover allowed for volunteers to work efficiently without getting overheated or dehydrated. Challenges: Navigating the fence line in places was difficult, lots of shrubs and steep hills slowed crews down quite a bit. Removing the material to the road was very difficult in some sections, and took much time to navigate through the tight corridor. Lessons Learned: Bolt cutters were the chosen tool by most volunteers. They cut the wire much quicker and caused less hand strain. It would have been more efficient to have straps to tie around a group of removed T-posts so that volunteers could carry them out easier. The T-posts would have been impossible to remove if we did not have the T-post pullers. A better map of the area to give all volunteers would have been more efficient for navigating how to remove material to the road. Special Notes: BLM was a great partner on the project. They had clear and concise information, and provided great notes on directions to the site. Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Volunteers were moving material to the roads, therefore, there was a concern of volunteers getting lost on their return. We were all within shouting distance of each other, but there were times were volunteers were out of range of sight and sound which presented safety concerns. Description of Accidents/Incidents: No incidents. Description of Work Completed: