They call it “hiking with a purpose.”
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV), which received an environmental stewardship award December 6th, 2009 from the Larimer County Commissioners and the Environmental Advisory Board, has been assisting the U.S Forest Service since 1995, patrolling, repairing, and caring for the wilderness on foot and on horseback. This year, its members put in 22,080 hours of work, the equivalent of $450,000 worth of time and effort, according to Forest Service records. One member totaled over 2,000 hours.
PWV came into existence fourteen years ago when Chuck Bell of Livermore, who had retired from the U.S. Foreign Service, was working for the Red Feather Lakes Ranger District. Budgets had been cut substantially, reducing the number of seasonal employees from 30 to two. Bell was one of the two.
Patrolling the Rawah Wilderness as best he could, worried about the increased number of visitors and their impact on the ecosystem, he thought of a solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. There needed to be a large corps of trained volunteers.
With the help of friends who shared his love of the wilderness, Bell held the first board meeting of PWV that December, and by the next summer about 80 volunteers were patrolling the Red Feather Lakes and Estes-Poudre trails. Today, that number has grown to about 240.
New volunteers are trained each May during a weekend campout at Jacks Gulch campground on the Pingree Park Road. Here they learn how to best educate the public about the reasons for Forest Service regulations, appealing to hikers’ own love of the wilderness, rather than acting as government enforcers.
On a training trail, volunteers confront situations they are likely to encounter while on patrol: bikers riding in Wilderness areas; dogs off leash; campsites too close to water. These scenarios are all realistically and enthusiastically enacted by seasoned PWV members.
One year, as trainees flipped open the flap of a tent that was illegally pitched next to a stream, they were greeted by a full-grown cougar resting amiably in the entryway. Shrieks echoed down the canyon before they realized the cougar was stuffed.
For their first two patrols, newcomers are paired with experienced PWVs who act as mentors. After that, they are expected to do four more patrols that summer, always with a companion, which they can find, if needed, from a list of volunteers on the group’s website.
Besides patrolling trails and filing reports with the Forest Service, members can join the Trail Crew to clear downed trees from across trails and repair bridges. The Weed Crew, concentrates on pulling up - by hand when necessary- invasive weeds that threaten to crowd out native plants and change local ecosystems. Even highways get their share of attention through PWV’s Adopt-A-Highway effort.
Finally, a newly developed Kids in Nature program teaches children who do not normally get to the mountains the principles of Leave No Trace. On the trail, they get acquainted with a tree while blindfolded; learn how to listen to nature and dance a leave-no-trace routine.
PWV is recognized nationally as the preeminent organization of its kind in the nation. Its latest goal is to contribute to the development of a national service network that will foster and support similar grassroots efforts to befriend Wildernesses across the country.