Restoration Projects & Field Trips

The following activities were part of the NWF 2008 Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado.  Many thanks to all of our volunteers who helped make the Colorado outdoors a better place for wildlife and visitors!

  White River National Forest - Heaton Bay Campground Tree Planting

Project Photo Album

On the banks of Dillon Reservoir, the Heaton Bay Campground got a helping hand from volunteers attending National Wildlife Federation’s Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado. NWF partnered with Friends of the Dillon Ranger District and the USDA Forest Service to begin restoration of the Heaton Bay Campground’s lodgepole pine coverage. The campground area had been recently cleared of trees that might attract and encourage mountain pine beetle populations. The mountain pine beetle is a serious threat to the health of forests in western North America; their current, widespread outbreak is largely due to warmer weather patterns and milder winters that have allowed populations to flourish.

Restoration volunteers extracted lodgepole pine seedlings from adjacent campgrounds and replanted the seedlings in the Heaton Bay Campground area. These new trees will be part of an enhanced experience for future campers, while renewing wildlife habitat.

 

  Trudy Robinson Open Space Restoration

Project Photo Album

The 35 acre plot was purchased by Summit County Open Space & Trails in 2006, and it was renamed Trudy Robinson Open Space in memory of a life-long resident of Summit County, a founding memeber of the Open Space Advisory Council and long-time community volunteer who passed away in January 2005.  This area serves as an important winter habitat for big game animals like elk and deer in addition to being an essential wildlife corridor; the plot is surrounded to the north and east by National Forest System land, creating a key connection for a large strip of unfragmented habitat for wildlife.  

Volunteers removed perimeters of barbed wire and mesh fencing that hinder the movement of wildlife species, and sometimes prove fatal if the animals become entangled while attempting to pass through.  The project's participants walked away with the rewarding knowledge that their efforts had opened safe passage for the area's wildlife.

 

  Western Issues Bus Tour

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Tour guides included NWF and Colorado Wildlife Federation staff on this five-stop trip around the Dillon and Vail areas.  Guides and speakers explained the realities and threats facing Colorado and states throughout the West.  Habitat destruction and fragmentation, the effects of energy development, global warming and the escalation of water shortage in western states were described by tour speakers while participants saw e xamples first hand along the route. 

• Summary of the trip and topics covered (pdf)
• Map of the trip's route (pdf)