It's no secret that Coloradans love their trails. This summer, you can give the trails some love back with volunteer cleanup days.
Here are some organizations that could use your helping hand.
Colorado Trail Foundation volunteering
Each summer, volunteer crews with the Colorado Trail Foundation are welcome to help with trail maintenance and improvement projects. Volunteers camp near the trail, eat together, meet like-minded outdoor enthusiasts, and work side by side to improve the trail.
The Colorado Trail Foundation holds cleanups that are meant for week-long crews, weekend crews and the occasional one-day crew.
To learn more about volunteering with the foundation, click here or contact the Colorado Trail Foundation office at 303-384-3729 or ctf@coloradotrail.org.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife trail crew
Trail crew membership with CPW is open to volunteers of all skill levels who enjoy improving the state's outside spaces, though the work often involves difficult physical labor.
Project times vary from a day to several days and typically last four to eight hours. This usually occurs between May and October.
To learn more about volunteering with CPW, click here.
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado
VOC's volunteer season runs from April to October and offers opportunities for individuals and groups. No experience or long-term commitment is needed.
VOC, established in 1984, is Colorado's oldest outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization. In this time, the group has completed more than 1,300 outdoor projects and worked with 125,000 volunteers across the state.
To learn more about VOC, click here.
Colorado Fourteeners Initiative
If you enjoy hanging out at a high altitude, CFI will welcome your help.
Projects with CFI include:
- Building new, sustainably located summit trails
- Closing and revegetating unplanned trails
- Performing annual maintenance on heavily used trails
Volunteers can also partake in hiker education and outreach to ensure visitors know about Leave No Trace practices and how to keep the alpine environment safe.
To learn more, click here.
Jefferson County Open Space
Want to volunteer to clean some of your favorite trails along the Front Range? You can check out Jefferson County Open Space's volunteer calendar here, which includes various opportunities to help with trail maintenance.
Trail runners can also join JCOS's TRV (trail runner volunteers) group as well. You don't need to be a trail runner to join, JCOS said. To learn more about TRV, visit them on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to add your organization to this list? Email stephanie.butzer@thedenverchannel.com.
