Description
Start Date-End Date: 06/04/2022-06/05/2022
Land Manager Office: USFS - Saguache Ranger District
Land Manager Contact: Justin DeForest
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Registration opens March 1. Celebrate National Trails Day working on trails in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Description: Where You'll Be:
Spend the weekend in the quiet, stunning beauty of the San Luis Valley. You'll camp in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge - home to hidden wetlands and an enormous elk herd - just three miles from the small town of Crestone at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, one of the longest mountain ranges on Earth, stretching from Poncha Pass in Central Colorado to Glorieta Pass southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The range is home to ten 14,000-foot peaks, more than two dozen 13,000-foot peaks, and some of the bestrock climbing, downhill skiing, fishing, and whitewater rafting.
What You'll Do:
Celebrate National Trails Day with VOC! On this weekend project, you'll work with approximately 40 volunteers to perform a wide variety of trail maintenance tasks. We'll be working on the Willow Lake, North Crestone, Cottonwood, and Rito Alto Trails. Each trail will have a crosscut saw crew working to clear downed trees from the trail, a crew conducting general trail maintenance, and a crew hiking the entire trail to complete a rapid assessment of future work needed to be done.
Campsites will be provided along with meals by our volunteer Crew Chefs.
Why It Matters:
The lasting effects of the Spruce Pine Beetle have severely impacted these trails, leaving many sections impassable from fallen trees. With only one small crew of seasonal employees to manage the entire Rio Grande National Forest trail system, the U.S. Forest Service has limited capacity to restore these trails. Thus, the work that you accomplish this weekend will be critical in getting a head start on these projects and providing important data to the U.S. Forest Service to help them prioritize future work.
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 128,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $26 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: 38.018731, -105.6856232
Additional Information:
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 40
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 81
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 81
Total Unique Volunteers: 43
Total Volunteer Hours: 1030
Staff Hours: 61
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: VOC meeting spot: Baca Campground Site: 37.9790631820285, -105.72318441109502
Work Sites:
N Crestone Trailhead: Coordinates 38.01889, -105.68552
S Crestone Trailhead: Coordinates 37.98920, -105.66157
Willow Lake Trailhead: Coordinates 37.98920, -105.66157
San Isabel Trailhead: Coordinates 38.03251, -105.71734
42 volunteers performed a wide variety of trail maintenance tasks on multiple trails in the Crestone area, listed above. Each had a crosscut saw crews working to clear downed trees from the trail and crews conducting general trail maintenance.
Successes and Challenges: Successes;
Got a a lotof work done on 4 trails in one weekend
The Baca was a great basecamp for the project
Only 3 volunteers no showed and we had a large waitlist for the project
Challenges;
Managing project work on 4 trails was very difficult. Initially it was slated to be mostly xcut work which would have been more manageable but trail work required much more oversight. The project did not have a TA and was supposed to receive more trail work supervisors from the USFS but did not.
Educational component fell through, the US Fish and Wildlife employee got sick
Lessons Learned: Too many trails to manage on one project.
Special Notes: Special use permit required to camp at the Baca Wildlife Refuge, must coordinate in advance.
Stewardship Education: We planned on having a presentation on the history of the Baca Wildlife Refuge but the employee was sick and had to cancel.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: USFS support can be a bit unreliable, will move forward with that in mind.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: One volunteer tweaked their knee coming down from the S. Crestone trail. They opted not to work the next day to rest it and will potentially follow up with the doctor if the pain persists.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 18 and older |
