Opportunities From: Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado

Where You’ll Be: 

Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks form a buffer around the city, helping to establish its own identity from neighboring communities. This project will take place in the Boulder Valley Ranch area, which offers access to many popular trails, including Sage, Eagle, Cobalt, and Left Hand.

What You'll Do:

Volunteers will help restore old routes of the Hidden Valley trail system to allow newly constructed trails to officially open for more recreationalists to enjoy. Work will include de-compacting the soil of old trail routes to encourage revegetation to the landscape and ensuring safe wayfinding for visitors.

Volunteers may recontour the trail from impact of water run-off or add finishing touches to the new trail routes.

Please bring your own lunch for the day.

Why It Matters:

This trail reroute is part of a larger trail improvement plan for the western Boulder Valley Ranch area north of the city. These projects aim to improve outdoor experiences, increase trail sustainability, and increase bicycling trail access while protecting wildlife and plant habitats in the area.

Eligibility Requirements:

Ages 14+ 

Youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult aged 21 or older.

Physical Difficulty:

This project includes tasks at varying levels of difficulty, from easy to moderate to difficult. Please check our difficulty rating criteria here for more details.

General physical considerations for participating on this project (Some or all may apply): moderate lifting and tool use; digging, shoveling, moving soil and rocks; repetitive bending, lifting, and walking; may require hiking to access work site while carrying tools; you can expect to bend, pick objects up, move rocks, carry tools, swing heavy tools, dig, and stretch.

Access Factors:

Vehicle Access: 2WD accessible

Other Notes: There will be about a half-mile hike from the parking lot to the work site. The worksite is sun-exposed.

Where You'll Be:

Parkfield Lake Park is a mixed-use park in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver. It is home to the Montbello Recreation Center, athletic fields, trails, a lake, and open space, and is surrounded by dense housing. The park is highly valued by the Montbello Community, and the trails are heavily used around the lake and in the open space areas.

What You'll Do:

Volunteers will be constructing timber steps on a trail at Parkfield Lake Park. This project will be critical to restore a degraded and eroded trail, making it safer for park users, increasing access, improving aesthetics, and reducing maintenance strain on Parks staff.

Please bring your own lunch for the day.

Why it Matters:

The timber steps will improve safety, mitigate erosion, and reduce the expansion of social trails into the natural landscape.

Eligibility Requirements:

Ages 18+

Physical Difficulty:

This project is considered moderate to difficult; please check our difficulty rating criteria here for more details.

Physical Considerations: The project tasks can include digging into the hillside, lifting and placing lumber, and lifting and placing gravel on a steep slope. If you would like to participate in this event but the primary tasks do not suit you, we can accommodate volunteers removing weeds.

Access Factors:

Vehicle Access: 2WD accessible

Other Notes: Restrooms will be available on site. It is a 5-minute walk on a paved trail from the parking lot to the project site.

Where You’ll Be:  

You’ll be working at 1st Ave Pond, a quiet, behind the scenes natural area in the southernmost part of the City of Greeley. This site borders a small stretch of the South Platte River corridor and is currently closed to public access, allowing it to function as an important refuge for wildlife. With no formal trails or recreational use, the area provides undisturbed habitat for birds, small mammals, and other species that rely on intact riparian and wetland ecosystems.

What You’ll Do: 

Volunteers will help remove 10 to 15 foot Russian olive trees, an invasive species that threatens native vegetation and wildlife habitat along the South Platte River corridor. This project includes roles for both chainsaw certified volunteers and general volunteers. Chainsaw certified volunteers will cut Russian olive trees into manageable sections. Other volunteers will assist by moving cut material to a chipper staging area operated by the Forestry Division.

Only certified sawyers are permitted to operate chainsaws.

This project requires five B certified Chainsaw Sawyers. A certified Sawyers may participate under the supervision of B Sawyers.

If you are certified, please note this in the comments section during registration and email your certificate to the project manager.

All sawyers must hold a current First Aid and CPR certification in order to operate a chainsaw.

Interested in getting certified? Visit our Training Calendar to view upcoming training opportunities.

Why It Matters: 

Russian olive is designated as a List B species under the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, requiring active management to prevent its spread. These invasive trees displace native plants and wildlife and can consume up to 75 gallons of water per day, water that is critical for sustaining wetlands and the species that depend on them. Removing Russian olive at 1st Ave Pond helps restore native habitat, protect limited water resources, and strengthen the health of the South Platte River corridor. 

Eligibility Requirements: 

Ages 18+  

Project Difficulty: 

This project is considered difficult. Please check our difficulty rating criteria here for more details.  

Physical Considerations:

Expect physically demanding work, including moving heavy plant materials and working on uneven terrain. For volunteers not operating chainsaws, there may be lifting cut plant debris overhead at times, carrying logs, piling plant debris in one place, and using loppers. 

Access Factors:   

Vehicle Access: No vehicle restrictions – 2WD accessible

If you enjoy chainsaw projects, either as a certified sawyer or a support volunteer, you can view similar projects here.

Where You’ll Be:  

You’ll be working at 1st Ave Pond, a quiet, behind the scenes natural area in the southernmost part of the City of Greeley. This site borders a small stretch of the South Platte River corridor and is currently closed to public access, allowing it to function as an important refuge for wildlife. With no formal trails or recreational use, the area provides undisturbed habitat for birds, small mammals, and other species that rely on intact riparian and wetland ecosystems.

What You’ll Do: 

Volunteers will help remove 10 to 15 foot Russian olive trees, an invasive species that threatens native vegetation and wildlife habitat along the South Platte River corridor. This project includes roles for both chainsaw certified volunteers and general volunteers. Chainsaw certified volunteers will cut Russian olive trees into manageable sections. Other volunteers will assist by moving cut material to a chipper staging area operated by the Forestry Division.

Only certified sawyers are permitted to operate chainsaws.

This project requires five B certified Chainsaw Sawyers. A certified Sawyers may participate under the supervision of B Sawyers.

If you are certified, please note this in the comments section during registration and email your certificate to the project manager.

All sawyers must hold a current First Aid and CPR certification in order to operate a chainsaw.

Interested in getting certified? Visit our Training Calendar to view upcoming training opportunities.

Why It Matters: 

Russian olive is designated as a List B species under the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, requiring active management to prevent its spread. These invasive trees displace native plants and wildlife and can consume up to 75 gallons of water per day, water that is critical for sustaining wetlands and the species that depend on them. Removing Russian olive at 1st Ave Pond helps restore native habitat, protect limited water resources, and strengthen the health of the South Platte River corridor. 

Eligibility Requirements: 

Ages 18+  

Project Difficulty: 

This project is considered difficult. Please check our difficulty rating criteria here for more details.  

Physical Considerations:

Expect physically demanding work, including moving heavy plant materials and working on uneven terrain. For volunteers not operating chainsaws, there may be lifting cut plant debris overhead at times, carrying logs, piling plant debris in one place, and using loppers. 

Access Factors:   

Vehicle Access: No vehicle restrictions – 2WD accessible

If you enjoy chainsaw projects, either as a certified sawyer or a support volunteer, you can view similar projects here.