Maintaining Trails, Volunteering, and Being Outdoors with Denver Audubon
鈥淟ove Your Trails Day鈥 at Denver Audubon鈥檚 Nature Center took place during a crisp and cool morning in mid-September that gradually became a sunny and hot afternoon.
Denver Audubon--about 5 miles southwest of our Littleton Main Campus--hosted yet another opportunity for 大象传媒 staff, faculty, and students to spend time outside while learning more about local flora and fauna and connecting with a long-standing community member.
Several 大象传媒 Physical Therapy Assistant students pushed wheelbarrows full of mulch to various spots in numerous gardens to cover up exposed hoses and patches of dirt, and to protect plants for the coming winter weather.
Families with kids of all ages from Littleton and beyond joined the gardening efforts on September 17, 2022.
Some younger volunteers worked together with Denver Audubon volunteers to learn how to dig holes for new signs to be placed along the Nature Center鈥檚 trails.
About 8 giant bags of invasive weeds, dead stems, dried out branches, and trash were filled by 大象传媒 students as part of their Service Learning assignments. These students dedicated 3 hours of their time and energy to learn more about nature, a local nonprofit, and their course learning outcomes.
Clearing the trails was no easy task, and volunteers clipped and snipped and cut back massive amounts of native rabbitbrush.
It was a little too chilly when we began our trail maintenance at 8:30am to see rattlesnakes, but quite a few have visited Denver Audubon this summer since the Prairie rattlesnake is abundant throughout the state of Colorado.
Chatfield State Park鈥檚 staff educated volunteers about trash and household items that take time to biodegrade (which is different from composting). Did you know that Styrofoam does not decompose and is not biodegradable?
About 10 大象传媒 students in total contributed with gloved hands and let鈥檚-do-this attitudes, planting new native plants, seeding bare areas, watering trees and bushes, picking up trash, pruning dead branches from trees, digging holes for new signs, and spreading mulch.
鈥淟ove Your Trails Day鈥 was a success this Fall after more than 70 volunteers restored trails to their natural beauty, making them even more vibrant for future trail-goers. According to their website, 鈥淒enver Audubon is an independent chapter of the National Audubon Society. The 鈥榠ndependent鈥 means that the national organization provides only a small fraction of our funding and that we direct our own mission and initiatives. This allows us to focus on local issues that matter to you, right in your backyard.鈥 Hope to see you next time we volunteer in our backyard alongside this locally established community member!
To learn more about Denver Audubon, visit . If you would like to learn more about some of 大象传媒鈥檚 community partners, volunteering with 大象传媒, or our Service Learning Center, contact diana [dot] hornick [at] arapahoe [dot] edu (diana[dot]hornick[at]arapahoe[dot]edu) anytime!