Thank You, Grand Canyon Trust Volunteers!

October 04 2017

Blake McCord

by Emily Thompson, Volunteer Director

It’s been another incredible year of volunteer service on the Colorado Plateau. In 2017, 375 volunteers gave over 11,000 hours of service to 27 conservation projects across the plateau.

2017 by the numbers

10,000 invasive plants

Volunteers removed over 10,000 invasive plants from Utah national forests.

1,000 feet

Volunteers built and repaired nearly 1,000 feet of fencing to protect a spring and three lakes on the Kaibab Plateau from trampling by cattle and bison.

40 miles

Volunteers surveyed over 40 miles of streams near the Mogollon Rim to support the Four Forest Restoration Initiative.

67 springs

Spring Stewards surveyed the condition of 27 springs on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and 40 springs near the Mogollon Rim to help the U.S. Forest Service prioritize restoration needs.

1.6 miles

Volunteers modified 1.6 miles of cattle fencing to make it easier for pronghorn to move across House Rock Valley.

Advocacy in action

150 young activists

One hundred and fifty young activists gathered among the red rock mesas of Moab, Utah for the third annual Uplift Climate Conference in September.

14 interns

Fourteen interns spent over 4,000 hours in the field and behind the scenes gaining professional conservation experience and supporting the Trust’s mission.

10 artists

Ten Flagstaff artists will retreat to Kane Ranch in October to learn about conservation challenges and make art that draws attention to environmental threats in our region.

6 workshops

By the end of the year, student volunteers will have hosted six advocacy skills-building workshops and three film screenings that bring attention to key conservation issues.

Flagstaff High School Students working on a SEGA project

Grand Canyon Trust volunteers also pitched in on work that’s a little harder to translate into numbers, but whose impact is felt across cultures and landscapes. On the Navajo Nation, volunteers supported traditional Navajo farmers by digging irrigation ditches, removing weeds, and pruning trees. They assisted with critical climate research through the Southwest Experimental Garden Array and hiked above 12,000 feet to document the heavy footprints of non-native goats in southern Utah and their impacts on native species. They also helped keep up and repair Kane Ranch headquarters, the century-old building that serves as home base for many scientists and researchers working on the Grand Canyon’s north rim, making sure that next year's crop of volunteers, researchers, partners, and donors has a clean, safe, and warm place to stay on the North Rim Ranches.

The Grand Canyon Trust couldn’t do our work without the sharp minds, strong backs, and contagious energy of our volunteers. Thank you to all who gave their time to conservation on the Colorado Plateau this year and hope to meet you in the field in 2018.