2021-Wildlife Habitat Restoration @ Guffey #2

Start Date-End Date: 07/10/2021-07/11/2021 Land Manager Office: BLM - Royal Gorge Field Office Land Manager Contact: Sarah McClernan 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 emailoutreach@voc.orgas 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. Please note this is not the exact same location as our Guffey #1 project; this project will take place approximately 20 minutes North, about halfway between Hartsel and Guffey and just west of Eleven Mile State Park. What You'll Do: Spend a July 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, pronghorn, and elk, 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. Click here to watch a video from our Guffey #1 project. 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: 38.895985, -105.646889 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: 20 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 31 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 4 Total Volunteer Days: 35 Total Unique Volunteers: 21 Total Volunteer Hours: 211 Staff Hours: 26 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: VOC had extra room in the budget to include a second fence removal with the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office. 5-7 Volunteers arrived on site Friday to camp the night, as this location is about 2.5 hours from Denver. This site was extremely windy, which presented challenges for keeping the shade tent up and for keeping stove burners on. The fence we were to remove was a 4 strand barbed wire fence, attached to juniper logs. Volunteers removed the wire and U-staples from the logs, and then pushed the logs over for them to naturally biodegrade over time. The wire was set along the access road stretching the entire fence-line, so there was no significant distance that material needed to be hauled. On Saturday morning, volunteers arrived by 8am, checked in, and enjoyed breakfast. At this time, a buffalo was spotted on site. I believe this buffalo escaped its fence from the adjacent property, as VOC staff was explicitly informed by the land manager that buffalo do not graze in the parcel of land the project was on and that we would not be near them at any point. VOC Staff contacted the land manager, and the range manager came out to locate the buffalo and resolve the issue. The buffalo was approximately 200 feet away from camp when spotted on the hill, and did not come any closer once it saw our group. Around 8:30 am a brief morning talk was given, and the 20 volunteers were slit into 3 crews where CL's gave tool safety talks. From there, we hiked the 1 mile walk out to the project site. When we arrived on site, VOC staff gave a quick demo on how to remove fence, and volunteers were sent to begin work. The site lacked any shade, and volunteers were urged to drink water. Around 11am, a volunteer notified VOC staff that they forgot their water bottle at camp and had not drank any water all morning. At this point, I pulled the volunteer aside and gave them one of my spare water bottles. I checked to make sure they were okay, and asked them to finish the whole 32 oz bottle before returning to work. At 12pm, 2 of the older volunteers decided they were done for the day, and they hiked out to their vehicles. Volunteers made quick work of the fence and at 1:30pm we decided to call it a day. We could have worked until 3:30 and finished the whole fence, however VOC staff made the call to end early for a few reasons. 1) It was a hot day and there was no available shade. Volunteers were losing energy quickly and it was safer to end the day before we reached the hottest hour of the day. 2) We had a few volunteers joining us on Sunday, and VOC staff wanted to provide the opportunity for them to participate. At 1:30 we began the hike back to camp, and arrived at 2pm. Volunteers were provided cold water and Skratch hydration mix to help them rehydrate properly. At this point VOC staff called the Sunday volunteers to notify them that Sunday would be a short day, and allow them to cancel their registration if they liked. Both volunteers chose to cancel their registration. On Sunday, volunteers began their hike back to the fence at 8am. By 10:45, the work was complete and volunteers returned back to camp. Volunteers assisted in loading the truck and by 11:45am everyone was off site. Successes and Challenges: Success: We had some returning volunteers from prior fence removal projects, and they made quick work of rolling the barbed wire. Once volunteers were oriented with the work, they enjoyed the ability to work while chatting and were able to enjoy quite a bit of social time while working. Challenges: The heat slowed some of the volunteers quite a lot, and provided a few safety concerns throughout the day. Luckily, the breeze kept volunteers from overheating. Lessons Learned: 20 volunteers can easily remove 1 mile of fence in a single day if the material is not hauled very far. Giving a tutorial to volunteers is the best way to incorporate visual learners, and made the work more clear to new volunteers. Fence removal projects that don't require hauling material very far can and should be sold as a social project, as volunteers spent a lot of time chatting and enjoyed that they were able to make good connections with their crew. Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: none Description of Accidents/Incidents: none Description of Work Completed: