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Reminiscing : While I was PWV Chair... Margaret Shaklee
PWV had a Remarkable year while I was the Chair:
- Congress voted to delay a Federal Gov’t shutdown with days to spare.
- A late-spring, 3-ft deep snowstorm made us move Spring Training from Camp to Campus; we had 48 hours to move the entire event to the USFS campus in Fort Collins.
- The CLRD (USFS) required PWV members to be recertified every 5 years; we established a Recertification Committee to address this and held our first Recertification
- Effects of beetle-kill significantly impacted trails; in 2017, we cleared 2,658 downed trees from our trails
- Over 300 members submitted a Volunteer Agreement form in 2017.
- We were challenged to find volunteers to fill key positions, which may result in some changes to the expectations of PWV members.
Read more: PWV's Most Recent Past Chair Looking Back At 2017
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Judy Christensen was a long-time and very active member of PWV. Sadly, Judy suddenly passed away on Aug 24, 2017. The PWV Executive Committee wanted to pay tribute to Judy and her boundless energy, especially as it pertains to her activities with PWV. The following tributes have been received from PWV members about Judy.
A favorite picture of Judy. What a joyful person!
In the 21 years since I founded Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, there have been many individuals who have made exemplary contributions to this award-winning organization. While its success has been the product of many volunteers, a few of them stand out for their unique contributions. Judy was one of these few. Every PWV activity in which she became involved was enhanced by her dedication, energy and ability to get things done. In my mind, the way she put her all into building the fledgling PWV Endowment was perhaps her most effective and lasting contribution. Her imagination in launching a series of Back Yard Auction Parties, her unique abilities to organize and promote them, and her active role in the Endowment committee were largely responsible for pushing the Endowment up to and over its $50,000 threshold so it could begin giving back to PWV. We will all be forever thankful to her for leaving us this legacy. (Chuck Bell)
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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.
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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.
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Backcountry use continues to rise, reflecting population growth and demographic changes along the Front Range and elsewhere in the nation. A recent 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.
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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 inform visitors about appropriate Wilderness use, some of our Wilderness areas could become so heavily impacted that additional restrictions on public use will be imposed.