The Poudre Wilderness Volunteers are Looking for Riders

Jeff Randa | Poudre Wilderness Volunteers

The Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV), a wilderness trail stewardship organization, is looking to expand our Ride With A Purpose program, as part of our trail restoration volunteer efforts. Join us as we serve as wilderness rangers and host riding trails in support of the Canyon  Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service. Our riders assist the Forest Service in educating the public about managing and protecting the wilderness and backcountry areas. The riders also provide support in accessing hard-to-reach areas when rebuilding trails, reconstructing bridges, removing dangerous trees all of which were impacted by the Cameron Peak fire. 

“We are ambassadors on a horse,” said Fred Allen, co-chair, of the Stock Committee. “What better way to engage with the public, as people like to pet a horse, which leads to great conversations about enjoying our public trails,” said Allen. 

Matt Cowan, Wilderness and Trails Manager of the Canyon Lakes Ranger District provides guidance and priorities for the PWV patrol and restoration efforts. “The PWV stock program is an excellent complement to those who patrol on foot. It’s great to have a blend of patrol methods as we continue to educate a wide variety of different trail users,” said Cowan. “The stock program is also important to our efforts in maintaining and repairing the trails, as we can utilize these volunteers to pack in supplies and tools to our trail crews in the more remote parts of our Wilderness Areas,” continued Cowan. 

For those interested in joining as stock or hiking patrollers, details on volunteering and registration can be found on pwv.org. To help answer any stock questions, Fred Allen can be reached at [email protected].

About Poudre Wilderness Volunteers 

Poudre Wilderness Volunteers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. PWV has over twenty-five years of experience working with the U.S. Forest Service, specifically the Canyon Lakes Ranger  District in Fort Collins, CO. The organization is comprised of over 300 individuals who live primarily in northern Colorado and who range in age from 18 to 80 years old. The group consists of retirees as well as people still actively working in such fields as medicine, education, public and private administration, and business. Since 2005, PWV has donated a total of over 371,000 volunteer hours, worth $10,594,989 to the USFS. 

Tasks include: 

• Serve as volunteer Rangers for the USFS 
• Launch patrols to survey trail conditions 
• Remove dangerous and fallen trees 
• Repair bridges 
• Recruit members of the local communities to safely assist our crews in trail building

For more information, visit www.pwv.org.