Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Fort Collins (Colorado) founded in 1996 by Charles "Chuck" Bell. The organization was established to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in managing and protecting approximately 650,000 acres of wilderness and backcountry areas within the Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland.[2][3]
Volunteers for PWV attend an offsite three-day training session every five years, and are asked to perform at least six patrols (hiking, backpacking, or on horseback) during each hiking season, which runs from January through September. In addition to performing patrols, PWV volunteers perform other duties such as clearing weeds, trailhead hosting, and collecting forest usage data for the USFS.
Mission
The mission of Poudre Wilderness Volunteers is to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and protecting wilderness and backcountry areas within its jurisdiction. To achieve this mission, Poudre Wilderness Volunteers 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. [4]
Kids In Nature
The Kids in Nature (KIN) program connects kids with nature and fosters environmental awareness, respect, and land stewardship through fun educational programs and direct experience.
The project goals are to:
Connect kids with nature via fun, hands-on experiences
Educate kids about natural processes and wild animals and plants
Encourage kids to respect natural areas and practice land stewardship
Introduce kids to selected outdoor skills
Instill a sense of wonder and appreciation for nature
The KIN program provides ranger-guided hikes with organizations and established groups. PWV leads small groups of children with their adult leaders or adult family members, enlightening them to the availability of the USFS land teaching basic Leave No Trace skills as well as trail safety. PWV also will hold in-town sessions to help educate.[5]
PWV has a ‘tool kit’ of activities that they can use, including map-and-compass lessons and always one of three interactive, in-depth curricula: "Aquatic Macroinvertebrates", "Mammals in Our Mountains", or "We Need Trees".
Most of the kids taken on a trail have never been in the mountains or on a trail before, and they are all excited to be in our beautiful wild lands! They hike at the kid’s pace, stopping to smell, touch, and explore the wonders of nature that interest the kids.
Trails and Trail Information
58 trails, organized by region and interest, providing maps, elevation profiles, and points of interest, are presented on the Trails pages [6]
Current trail condition reports are available. [7]
In 1995, a volunteer ranger for the USFS, Charles Bell, who patrolled the trails of what is now the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, became extremely worried about the cuts to the ranger district’s budget over the previous three years – from 3 full-time persons and 30 seasonal employees down to just 1 full-time employee and 2 part-timers to look after its extensive backcountry and wilderness areas.
With USFS support, he decided to form a volunteer organization that was named Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) after the major river that flows through the district.
No organization magically springs, full-blown, into the world. Much planning, experimenting, trial and error, and gathering of information is involved. But before any of that happens, one person has to have an idea, an inspiration, which is so compelling that it must be pursued. In the case of the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, that person is Chuck Bell. While volunteering for the Forest Service, he saw a vital need for ordinary citizens to assist the Forest Service in maintaining the wilderness.[8]
Restoration Work
The Cameron Peak Fire in 2020 was the largest wildfire in Colorado history.[9] It destroyed and burned over 209,000 acres of the Roosevelt National Forest. Accordingly came the destruction of the trails in that forest.
In 2021 PWF launched a new initiative to restore trails lost in the fire.
In 2021 over 200 members of the public and 50 PWV members came to the restoration workdays which resulted in 2400 hours of labor. PWV members did an additional 26 workdays in the burn area.
Denver7 Gives donates $15,000 to Poudre Wilderness Volunteers for wildfire restoration efforts
CBS4’s Documentary ‘Scarred: Lessons from the Cameron Peak Fire’, discusses the role Poudre Wilderness Volunteers plays in restoration of the fire/burn area
CBS receives Emmy Award for article with references to Poudre Wilderness Volunteers
CBS4: Volunteers Working To Rebuild Trails & Bridges Burned Down In Cameron Peak Fire
FOX31 Denver - Local Volunteers repairing and restoring trails
Coloradoan - Restoring Young Gulch Trail
Coloradoan - Lion Gulch restoration
Larimer County awarded PWV the 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award on December 6, 2009.[11]
Larimer County awarded PWV the 2020 Environmental Stewardship Award for its Kids in Nature program [12]
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