Making our Shared Outdoors into Common Ground
Healthy landscapes are vital to a healthy community
RFOV promotes the collective use and stewardship of our regional forests, watersheds, and trails. As the dual pressures of increasing recreation and natural resource stress become ever more notable, the possibility of a fractured community only grows.
Recognizing that our public lands can be a place to come together to work toward a common purpose, RFOV’s mission is to foster a culture of stewardship through volunteer trail and restoration projects. The community that we build together is one that reaches across the divides of age, ability, or background.
RFOV will provide community and group stewardship opportunities in the areas of Aspen, Snowmass, Basalt, Carbondale, Redstone, Marble, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt, and Rifle. However, we will increase our focus in the following areas to meet the needs of Sustainable Recreation, Healthy Landscapes, and Fire Adaptation:
Pitkin County RFOV, working with Pitkin County Open Space & Trails, secured funding through the Great Outdoor Colorado’s Resilient Communities program in 2021 to increase the coordination, planning, and implementation of stewardship projects. With one project season under our belt, we hope to continue increasing total work accomplished across Pitkin County in 2022.
Garfield County Support from Great Outdoors Colorado, in the form of RFOV’s largest ever grant, will direct efforts to increase stewardship work by 30% in western Garfield County (Glenwood Springs west to Parachute) across all landscapes. Additionally, post-mudslide rehabilitation and restoration work through the Glenwood Canyon Restoration Alliance will require dedicated staff and volunteer efforts.
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness With support from the 2020 federal Great American Outdoors Act and the Aspen-Sopris District of the White River National Forest (US Forest Service), RFOV will launch a seasonal trail crew to address a backlog of deferred-maintenance trail and restoration needs in the most popular areas of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.
2022 Programs
From the top of Independence Pass to the banks of the Colorado River, the residents and visitors of our community are diverse, and RFOV wants to engage our region in meaningful ways that promote stewardship of our greatest resource – our shared outdoors. This year we’ll continue to increase our focus in the following types of work:
Fire Adaptation Living in the Western Slope presents nearly limitless access to the outdoors, but in that expansive wildland interface is the substantial risk of wildfire. RFOV is working with many partners to develop programming related to fire mitigation, fire ecology, and post-fire restoration. Look for education and volunteer opportunities in the communities of Aspen, Basalt, and Glenwood Springs.
Accessibility As part of our Trails & Ways initiative, RFOV will continue to expand a network of trails across the Roaring Fork Valley that are accessible to persons of various sensory/motor/physical/cognitive abilities. Click here for more information. Additionally, RFOV is working to make volunteer projects more accessible to families with young children.
Education RFOV is planning to offer more public trainings and informational sessions devoted to our program areas. Furthermore, we will expand the frequency with which community members can engage with subject matter experts at community volunteer projects.
