Hello Friends of FDRD,

As we head into the second half of the summer, I hope you’ve been able to hit the trails - hiking, biking, riding, and the many other ways to enjoy your local National Forest lands.  Our service projects and Forest Stewards efforts have been really fun this summer – it’s been great to spend time with friends and to meet new friends on these days.  I hope you can join us for our next project on August 12. 

Also, check out www.fdrd.org for the Summit County Summer 2006 Volunteer Calendar for a complete list of natural resource management volunteer opportunities remaining this summer!

If you have any feedback, suggestions, and ways to improve this newsletter, please share them with us.  ENJOY!! 

FDRD - FRIENDS OF THE DILLON RANGER DISTRICT

                                           August 2006 Newsletter --- #16

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Saturday, August 12 – Post Fire Rehabilitation Day – 8:30 AM- 1:00PM – Join us for another great day of Stewardship.  We will rehabilitate burned forest land in the 2005 Ophir Fire area in Summit County, through erosion control and re-vegetation efforts.  This is an excellent opportunity for community members to participate in local efforts relating to fire, fuels, and forest health.

Meet ¼ mile up the Iron Springs Road, located just north of the Summit County High School on the west side of Highway 9, at 8:30 for bagels and coffee and an education segment on fuels and fire by the Summit County Fire Mitigation Program.  Snacks and beverages will be provided at the end of the workday tailgate party.

Volunteers should dress for a day outdoors, and be ready to get DIRTY!  Bring water, work gloves, layered clothing including long pants, long sleeved shirt, sturdy boots, sunglasses, sun hat, sunscreen, rain gear, and insect repellent.

To RSVP for this project, please contact Scott Fussell at scottafussell@yahoo.com or 970-846-1530. 

Saturday/Sunday/Monday - September 2, 3, and 4 - Mohawk Lakes Trail Restoration Project – Join in on a weekend of fun as Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD) teams up with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) for a weekend of trail work in this beautiful valley.

Volunteers are needed for the rewarding and challenging work of restoring and rerouting 1 ½ miles of one of Breckenridge's most popular trails.  Camping in this valley, under the stars, is the perfect way to end each trail day and VOC’s “base camp” support team will be sure to meet your every need.

And if you’re not into trail maintenance, there are other ways to “give back to your local National Forest lands” that weekend – join the project support team!  These are the folks behind every successful project and every happy volunteer – volunteer greeters, kitchen staff, traffic road closure directors, and shuttle drivers (4x4 experience necessary for drivers).

With over half of the 150 volunteer slots already filled by Front Range Volunteers, FDRD is appealing to the wonderful volunteers of Summit County to fill the rest of these slots.  This is an excellent opportunity for Summit County to showcase the beautiful trails and amazing volunteerism that make up our community to the rest of the Colorado Volunteer Community! 

Every year thousands of people marvel at the pristine alpine splendor that defines Mohawk Lake near Breckenridge. However, thousands of boots and millions of steps have resulted in a badly braided and degraded social trail system. Resulting erosion from such trails is imperiling several rare plant species, among them the Grays Peak Whitlow-Grass (Draba grayana) known to be growing in only 13 places in Colorado.  Dust off your boots and gloves and give back to the trails you love and use so much! 

For trail maintenance volunteers, sign up at www.voc.org, by calling 303-715-1010 (800-925-2220 outside of metro Denver) or by emailing voc@voc.org.  For project support team, contact Maya Stuart at colorado_mtn_hiker@yahoo.com.

FDRD August Wish List

·        Service Project Team Members – We need 5 volunteers to help coordinate our Post Fire Rehabilitation Day on August 12.  Duties include: flyer creation and distribution, food solicitation and pick up, and volunteer and media relations.  Be a part of the team that makes this day happen!  Contact Scott Fussell at 970-846-1530 or scottafussell@yahoo.com for more information on this project team.

·        Service Project Supplies – Getting rid of, or don’t mind lending the following for the summer season?  We could sure use a few coffee thermal/air pots, a folding table (card or long one), and a large water container for those awesome “trailgates” after the projects. 

WHAT’S HAPPENED

FDRD Weed Warriors take a break after “weeding out” those nasty Canada Thistle and False Chamomile!

Saturday, July 15 – Weed Pull Day - A huge thanks goes out to Friends of the Dillon Ranger District’s “Weed Warriors” who joined in on the fun for our Weed Pull Project.  These 25 volunteers, 1 Forest Service representative, and 1 Summit County Weed Program representative generated 100 hours of volunteer stewardship for our National Forest lands.  They pulled two truckloads of Scentless Chamomile, Musk Thistle, and other invasive weed species.  By pulling these weeds they helped control the spread of the non-native plant species in Summit County and the White River National Forest, thus improving the habitat for both wildlife and native plant species.  A special thanks goes out to our sponsors – Safeway, City Market, and Blue Moon Bakery – for providing us with the highly enjoyed treats at the beginning and end of the day!  Remember to support our sponsors on your next food and beverage run!

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Forest Stewards Update – July marked the end of the training and mentoring sessions – and the beginning of the on-the-ground efforts - look for these 25 Stewards out on the trails in their trail maintenance, ranger patrol, or trailhead host efforts!  Let them know what a stellar job they’re doing!

·        July 7, 8, 9 - Crew Leaders participated in a weekend training session, hosted by Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, in cooperation with FDRD.

·        July 29 and 30 – Crew Leaders participated in the VOC-Summit County Open Space-Breckenridge Open Space Golden Horseshoe Trail Project

These events provided excellent on-the-ground training opportunities for our Crew Leaders and excellent models of project coordination for FDRD’s future programming efforts.  A huge thanks goes out to VOC, Summit County Open Space and Breckenridge Open Space for their hard work and efforts in these successful projects!

A Day in the Life of a Forest Steward

By Linda Tatem

(Part one of a series that chronicles the experiences of the volunteers in FDRD’s Forest Stewards Program.  This column appeared in the Summit Daily News on 7/26/06.)

Linda Tatem, FDRD Forest Stewards Outreach Educator, chats with 2 Sapphire Point trail users, Vicki Raport, of Summit County, and her dad, Howard Raport, visiting from California.  The Raports were 2 of 250 people that Tatem saw during her 4-hour volunteer trailhead host effort over the July 4th weekend.

I am a member of the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD), and I participate in the Forest Stewards Program.  I volunteer as an Outreach Educator, which includes work at the Dillon Ranger District office’s information desk and at our busiest trails as trailhead host.  I got involved in this program after hiking many of the county’s trails and found that lots people on the trails were visiting or were new to the area.  They were full of questions about our local National Forest lands and where to go, what else they could do while they were here, and how they could find more information.

Volunteering as an Outreach Educator gives me a great opportunity to talk with many Summit County guests and residents and assist them with information about the extensive opportunities to enjoy in the White River National Forest in Summit County.  In the summer, I guide naturalist hikes at Copper Mountain (which offers free guided hikes daily), and the Outreach Educator experience allows me to continue to interact with guests to our area and enhance their recreational experience.

The Dillon Ranger District office, in Silverthorne, is one of the first stops for many of our county’s guests. Here they get information on the various activities available on our local National Forest lands, including a wide variety of maps, pamphlets and general information on camping, hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, boating and many other activities, as well as the general rules and regulations to make this a safe and happy experience for everyone.  Many of our guests are first time visitors.  As volunteers at the information desk, we find out their recreational interests, then guide them to areas to enjoy these interests, whether it is a short hike, a challenging bike ride, a climb up a mountain, or a drive to a good vista point.  Others return year after year.  These guests are interested in finding old favorite places again or in expanding their pleasure and knowledge of the area.  Many bring back friends and family to share these experiences in this wonderful county.  In each case, we provide information to aid in making their visit fun and safe.

Outreach Educators also volunteer as trailhead hosts.  We spend the day on a busy trail, visited by many guests and residents alike.  People are pleased to see us and use this opportunity to ask many questions they would otherwise visit the information center to ask.  I had the opportunity to do this at Sapphire Point, a popular destination, over the busy Fourth of July weekend.  A quick glance at the license plates in the parking lot revealed these guests came from many places: Arkansas, Ohio, California, Kansas, Texas, Nevada, and Oklahoma, to name a few.  During the four hours I was there I saw over 250 people trekking the trail and I talked with more than 25 of them.  The most frequently asked question was about other places they could hike. At one point, 3 users approached me in their “Sunday-Best” attire, not your usual hiking garb.  I learned they were a part of a wedding held at the overlook that afternoon – reserve this beautiful location at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/rangerdistricts/dillon/saphirept.shtml.  I took one of my pets-Siera (a female Samoyed dog)- with me. She really likes saying “hi” to people and is a great conversation starter.

Participating in the Forest Steward program provides an excellent opportunity for me to share our great county with our visitors and guests and also to educate them on the wise use of our resources so many others may enjoy them in the years to come.

If you are interested in future participation in this program, please contact Guff at 970-389-6058.

DRD HAPPENINGS

Travel Management Plan Update

The White River National Forest (WRNF) Supervisor’s Office released a draft of the Travel Management Plan (TMP) of the WRNF on July 28.  Copies of the draft plan are available at the Dillon Ranger District (DRD) and interested parties will have 90 days to comment on the plan.  This will become the comprehensive travel management plan for the WRNF for the next 10 – 15+ years, so it is very important that all users make their voices heard in the next 3 months!

An open house is scheduled on August 8, from 3 – 7 PM at DRD (across from Target in Silverthorne).  This open house is a “come and go at your leisure” format.  Meet with forest service staff to get answers to any questions you may have about the Travel Management Plan.  Discuss with them plans for upcoming potential meetings throughout the county, to encourage input and participation from all users and user groups.  If you want to submit a written comment and aren’t sure how to do so, your forest service staff will be able to help you with this. 

The Forest Service requests that all users and user groups participate, to ensure that all interests are represented in this plan.  Both system and non-system trails are included in this draft plan and all users are asked to comment on them, to help the Forest Service determine the most appropriate transportation network for the forest.

The draft plan is the culmination of an earlier effort to provide a TMP along with the White River Forest Plan. Due to public input and the complexity of the subject matter, the decision was made to separate the two plans and develop the TMP after the completion of the Forest Plan. This TMP and the incorporated EIS intend to meet that commitment.

This document seeks to update the travel management uses and to identify an efficient road and trail system for the WRNF. The purpose is to have a clear and concise plan for a transportation network that addresses the needs for forest management, public access and for multiple-use recreation. 

This comment process provides an excellent opportunity for those interested parties and affected people to participate in the analysis and to contribute to the final decision for this proposed action.

To comment on the Travel Management Plan, the following methods are available:

1) Web-based comment form – visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/projects/travel_management/web_comment/tmp_comment.shtml to email brief comments.  When you submit your comment it will send an email directly to the Content Analysis Team, who will process your comment into the comment database for the TMP. The space limitation for the comment section is about 75 columns by 25 lines.

2) Electronic letter or document - send it directly to wrnftmp@contentanalysisgroup.com.

3) Mail or FAX - 

Mail:  WRNF Travel Management Plan and DEIS

c/o Content Analysis Group

P.O. Box 2000

Bountiful, UT 84011-2000

FAX:  1-801-397-2601 

All submissions must include your name and address.  Please only submit your comment once - they are all treated equally, and will only be dealt with once.

For more information on Travel Management in the WRNF, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/projects/travel_management/index.shtml.  

DATES TO REMEMBER

(mark your calendars!!!)

• August 6 – FDRD Crew Leader Trail Day – KSS International Camp
• August 12 – FDRD Post-Fire Rehabilitation Service Project
• August 25 – FDRD Crew Leader Trail Day – Copper Mountain Resort
• Sept 2, 3, 4 – VOC/FDRD Mohawk Lakes Trail Days
• September 15 – FDRD Crew Leader Trail Day – Copper Mountain Resort
• Sept 16 – FDRD Volunteer Celebration Day
• Oct 14 – Make A Difference Day Project Site(s)

Please contact Scott Fussell at scottafussell@yahoo.com or 970-846-1530 for more information on these events.

NEXT BOARD MEETING

(FDRD Board Members will meet on the first Monday of each month at DRD at 6PM)

Monday, August 7, at 6:00 PM at the Dillon Ranger District.  Open to our members and other interested parties.  To RSVP or to include potential agenda items for FDRD Board consideration for future meetings, contact Guff at guffvanvooren@msn.com by Sunday, August 6. 

Thanks again to all our wonderful volunteers for a successful Weed Pull Day on July 15.  I hope I’ll be able to spend the day with you at our Post Fire Rehabilitation Day on August 12. 

As well, I encourage you to take time in the next few months to familiarize yourself with the Travel Management Plan and invite you to attend the Open House on August 8 to learn more about how you can participate in the process. 

Until then, enjoy your time traveling in our wonderful local National Forest lands!

See you on the trails!

With sincere thanks,

Guff Van Vooren

Executive Director

Friends of the Dillon Ranger District