POUDRE WILDERNESS VOLUNTEERS
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Mission Statement
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a volunteer extension of the Fort Collins-based Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service. The primary focus of PWV is to patrol and maintain the trails in Canyon Lakes Ranger District (primarily in the Poudre Canyon) to interact with the public, collect data for the USFS and to maintain the trails in good condition. Note that PWV is an all-volunteer organization with very low overheard - about 93% of donations go directly to on-the-ground programs.
About This Cause
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a Larimer County, Colorado nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996 to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and protecting the wilderness and backcountry areas within its jurisdiction. To achieve this mission, PWV recruits, trains, equips, and fields citizen volunteers to serve as wilderness rangers and hosts for the purpose of educating the public, and provides other appropriate support to these wild areas. PWV has grown substantially and diversified since its founding and is considered to be one of the largest, most effective organizations of its kind in the nation. THE NEED - Federal appropriations for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) are not sufficient to cover the costs of forest management and conservation. Furthermore, the USFS doesn’t have enough staff to adequately patrol and monitor the Wilderness and backcountry trails in our area. - Backcountry use continues to rise, reflecting population growth and demographic changes along the Front Range and elsewhere in the nation. A National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (2000 – 2007) indicates that participation in outdoor recreation activities increased by 25 - 31% and that Americans’ interest in nature and nature-based recreation is changing. While activities such as hiking, backpacking, horse riding, mountain climbing, and snow skiing have recently shown declines in popularity, viewing or photographing birds, wildlife, and flowers and trees have increased by 19 to 26%, and kayaking has increased by 63%. In 2010, the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests were visited by 6 million people, the second highest number of visits to a National Forest in the nation. - Many backcountry users have no idea what a designated Wilderness is or why it must be left “untrammeled" by man. A majority of them know very little about low-impact camping. If there is nobody to guide visitors in Wilderness use, some of our Wilderness areas could become so heavily impacted that additional restrictions on public use will be imposed. THE CONCEPT - Most duties of a USFS ranger can be accomplished by carefully chosen, well-trained citizen volunteers. PWV recruits local citizens who care about and use the region's outdoor resources. Members commit to a minimum of six days of service each year “hiking or riding with a purpose." - PWV members have no law enforcement authority but use education and diplomacy to promote compliance with Wilderness and backcountry regulations and Leave No Trace principles - PWV members wear uniform shirts with identifying patches and name badges that make them a highly visible non-official U.S. Forest Service presence on the trails. They typically carry two-way radios and/or satellite communicators, and are trained to handle various emergency situations that might be encountered in the backcountry. - PWV is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff THE RESULTS PWV has grown from 105 founding members in 1996 to well over active members in 2017. Poudre Wilderness Volunteers patrol about 286 miles along 69 system trails in 650,000 acres of Wilderness and general National Forest and National Grassland lands. Due in part to PWV’s efforts: - When there were insufficient USFS funds or personnel to clear trails in early summer, PWV established a Trail Crew - When the U.S. Forest Service was unable to meet its goals for locating, controlling, and eradicating noxious weeds, PWV established a Weed Crew - When the USFS added a Kids in the Woods emphasis, PWV established a Kids in Nature Program - When wildfires and floods ravaged the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, PWV established a Restoration Program - Lost hikers have been found and potential forest fires have been averted by the prompt actions of our volunteers - PWV members make an effort to talk about leash benefits and regulations with every dog owner they encounter in the Wilderness, addressing a most difficult educational task - PWV provides the most informative statistics on trail and Wilderness use that the Canyon Lakes Ranger District has Since 2005, PWV has donated a total of 228,118 volunteer hours, worth $4,769,439 to the USFS. IN 2022 PWV: - Conducted a total of 1,555 trail patrols (5,595 on-trail hours) and had meaningful contacts with 9,588 Wilderness and backcountry users - Removed or rehabilitated 72 illegal or inappropriate fire rings - Reported 1,093 violations and contacted 261 violators using the Authority of the Resource Technique and explaining Leave No Trace or other reasons for the regulations - PWV members removed 1,354 fallen trees along more than 150 miles of trail - The PWV Weed Crew pulled noxious weeds on 91 acres of National Forest lands - The PWV Restoration Program organized and implemented 20 public trail restoration workdays (2,045 hrs) and 16 PWV trail and other restoration workdays (1,611 hrs) - The PWV Kids in Nature program held 9 hikes for 81 different kids - Additionally, other PWV programs (e.g., Adopt-a-Trail and Adopt-a-Highway) contributed environmental stewardship and public outreach via various activities - PWV contributed a total of 26,975 volunteer hours, worth $622,313 to the USFS Given that PWV expenditures in 2015 totaled $33,839 - every dollar spent by PWV provided $18.39 of value to the USFS.