2022-FactSet SWAT: Habitat Restoration @ Bear Creek Greenbelt

Start Date-End Date: 05/26/2022-05/26/2022 Land Manager Office: City of Lakewood Land Manager Contact: Lee Blair Funding Partner: FactSet Programmatic Partner: Summary: FactSet SWAT @ Bear Creek Greenbelt Description: Where We'll Be Join VOC and your colleagues at FactSet for a morning at beautiful Bear Creek Greenbelt in Lakewood. This popular park is a favorite for hiking, boating, biking and riding, but has been overrun by invasive weeds that threaten the native plants and wildlife communities. Help remove an invasive weed called Teasel, which crowds out the native plants. Why It Matters These efforts have kept this aggressive and highly destructive (although pretty) weed from advancing. Diverse ecosystems in the area will be healthier, and a variety of native plants will be able to make a comeback. Pulling up and digging out the invasive species before it flowers and produces seeds will prevent it from advancing into areas, helping maintain this incredible natural landscape. Latitude/Longitude: 39.6526196, -105.1668355 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 15 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 18 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 18 Total Unique Volunteers: 18 Total Volunteer Hours: 54 Staff Hours: 8 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: 18 FactSet volunteers arrived on Thursday morning at Bear Creek Greenbelt for an invasive species removal project with City of Lakewood Parks. We met at the Stone House Parking lot, roughly a 10 min walk to the worksite because of the access to bathrooms and shade to start the day. Two Lakewood staff joined us to lead the work. FactSet organized brought breakfast burritos for the group. Lee showed volunteers how to remove the teasel by removing the head first and then cutting down the stalks. We got started around 9:30am, took a water break around 10:45am, and finished up work around 11:45am, to leave time to walk back to the vehicles. In all, the group filled 28 garbage bags with teasel heads and stalks, clearing roughly 3,000 sq. ft. Successes and Challenges: Successes FactSet employees grouped up nicely and created a small competition on who could fill the most garbage bags Moved the project to be in the morning (originally scheduled for 2-5pm) to avoid the afternoon heat Challenges Some of the FactSet leadership, particularly the main contact, were late so we started around 9:10am Lessons Learned: Always bring a registration table. I thought with such a small group I didn't need it, but the table helps with getting everyone together and looks more official Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: