Volunteers protect region's backcountry

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

One of the biggest, most successful volunteer ranger associations in the country started in Larimer County 10 years ago.

"I just love being able to brag about them," said Ellen Hodges, who heads up the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. "They're just such a showcase group. They really set the bar for a volunteer group in terms of professional standards."

This year 180 volunteers are registered as Poudre Wilderness Volunteers. People who like to hike, bike and ride horses on national forest lands will likely bump into one wearing a kaki uniform shirt, name badge and maybe a green cap.

The volunteers regularly patrol 43 trails, with about three-quarters of them in designated wilderness areas. Their goal is to help forest users understand what a wilderness is and how it must be left untrammeled. They carry maps and are more than eager to help people with questions. They pick up trash. They take notes on trail or campground damage and count the number of forest visitors to help the federal government better manage its lands. A smaller group of PWVs has also organized to clear trails of deadfall.

The group sparked from an idea retired U.S. diplomat Chuck Bell had while hiking and camping in the Rawah Wilderness. A seasonal ranger for the Forest Service, in three years he had seen the wilderness and recreation staff drop from three full time and 33 seasonals to one full time and two seasonals, of which he was one. He knew his part-time job would also be eliminated the next year.

"I was just overwhelmed with the increasing use of the areas coupled with a dramatic decline in the Forest Service budgets for recreation," Bell said.

Fortunately, Bell knew he was living in the right community to launch a volunteer organization, and he had good friends to help him. He called Art Bunn, a retired senior sales executive. Bunn's job was to organize a board of directors for the future group. Within a few months, they were ready to recruit volunteers.

The response was overwhelming. According to Bunn, PWV started with twice the volunteers they expected, and the retention rate runs close to 80 percent.

PWV chair Linda Knowlton said this is the most satisfying volunteer work she has ever done. Retired from a 20-year career with the Forest Service, she already was an enthusiastic hiker and she wanted to give back to the land she uses. "This gives me a great sense that I'm making a difference," said Knowlton, a PWV for five years. In that time, she has covered 27 of the designated trails, some of them several times.

Knowlton is the sixth person to lead the organization. "When putting together the corporate bylaws, we made a conscious decision to limit terms," Bunn said. "It was probably the smartest thing we ever did."

New ideas, new perspective and new energy are key to the PWVs' success, Bunn said. A chair can serve only two years. Other board members can serve four consecutive years.

PWV recruits new volunteers each spring. They are required to take a weekend training class and are encouraged to get training in first aid. PWV asks each volunteer to commit to going out a minimum of six days a season, between May and September. The only ongoing membership requirement is to return the Agreement for Individual Voluntary Service to the Forest Service each year. There are no dues.

"We're always looking for more volunteers," Knowlton said. Information is available at 295-6730 or www.frii.com/~clrdvol/PWV.

About a quarter of members form PWVs' mounted patrol. They own their own horses and help teach techniques that can minimize the impact of horses on forest lands. Otherwise, standard hiking gear and a friendly attitude are all that's needed. Volunteers pick the days they want to hit a trail and sign up on the PWV web site to avoid redundant coverage. A volunteer never hikes alone but goes out with a fellow volunteer or a friend. Their goal is to protect the region's pristine wilderness and backcountry areas through public education. They have no law-enforcement authority.

"We have to turn around and thank the public for responding to our message," Bunn said, adding that PWVs' nonconfrontational approach has resulted in less trash, fewer unsightly fire rings and less damage along stream banks.

The PWVs have a couple mottos: "hike and ride with a purpose" and "conserve and educate."

They can also say, "mission accomplished."