Poudre Wilderness Volunteers Concludes Cameron Peak Fire Trail Restoration Season

The Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV), a wilderness trail stewardship organization, has concluded its Cameron Peak fire trail restoration efforts for the year. The fire burned 122 miles of trails within the Roosevelt National Forest, of which over 42 miles were severely damaged. With a dedicated effort by PWV, community members, and local organizations, 3,348 trees were removed from 60 miles of damaged trails during the course of 2021. On a broader scale, the organization completed 722 trail patrols, interacted with over 9,000 outdoor enthusiasts and logged 19,231 hours of volunteer service, all in the spirit of ensuring that the trails are open for all to enjoy.

“We accomplished a great deal this year, through the incredible workdays turnout by PWV and the local communities,” said Mike Corbin, Trail Restoration committee chair. “We still have several years of work ahead of us and it is very encouraging to see the commitment from hundreds of individuals and numerous organizations to get these trails back into working order,” said Corbin.

Matt Cowan, Wilderness and Trails Manager of the Canyon Lakes Ranger District provided guidance and priorities for the restoration effort. “We’re very impressed with the effort made by all of our volunteers this year,” said Cowan. “We were able to safely open more many more trails than anticipated and this was due to dedication and focus from PWV and the numerous other groups and individuals who participated.” continued Cowan.

PWV offers several opportunities to help continue the momentum towards the ongoing effort to restore the trails. New volunteers can join the 2022 class, beginning in January. Donations can be made through the website or during the December Colorado Gives initiative. Numerous community workdays will occur in 2022.

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 371,233 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 buildingFor more information, visit pwv.org.