Ready for some trail-trekking, hands-on learning, and making a difference in our local environment? That is exactly what the Youth Forest Stewards program is designed for! Youth ages 14-18 volunteer on trail work projects, educational opportunities, and gain experience and knowledge in careers in the outdoor field. Our 2024 Youth Forest Stewards kicked off the season with a team of 19 participants! This was triple the amount of attendees from previous years! There were seven projects specific to YFS that the students could participate in throughout the summer. Let’s see what they were up to! 

Trailblazing and Turnpikes

We started off the season strong, jumping right into trail work! Working on one the biggest projects of the season: building a turnpike on the Windy Point Trail. Turnpikes elevate the trail tread over water. The YFS’ers had to warm up their trail muscles and carry large logs and rocks to the project site to prepare for the future of this turnpike. Their hard work and great attitudes set the stage for a great summer ahead!

Restoration Adventures: Saving Rivers and Planting Seeds

Three of the projects the YFS’ers set out on were restoration projects. We partnered with Blue River Watershed Group to harvest willow stakes and plant them along the Swan River, an area previously damaged from mining. We also partnered with Copper Mountain to collect seeds from all sorts of wildflowers for future restoration projects on the ski resort. Students were able to see the process the seeds go through after collection. We even got to eat some wild strawberries along the way- because why not make restoration delicious? We ended our seed collection, racing go karts to celebrate our season and have some team bonding. YFS also participated in the Summit County Weed Pull, with over 100 other participants. The goal: to remove noxious weeds from the county to allow native vegetation to thrive. #weedwarriors!

Education and Data Collection

Education is just as important as restoration! Two of the YFS projects fell into the realm of education and data collection, to get our science on! We set out to fish shock and collect macroinvertebrates with our USFS fisheries crew. The data was collected on the North Fork of the Swan River and used to monitor fish populations and water quality. The Youth Forest Stewards partnered with another department of the USFS, the timber crew for forest regeneration surveys. The goal was to monitor regrowth from a clear- cut area of the forest and collect data. They gathered data on tree species, sizes, and overall health of the forest. This gave the students an opportunity to see how forests recover and thrive after disturbances.

National Public Lands Day: 

We ended the season strong with the nation’s largest single- day volunteer event, National Public Lands Day. The Youth Forest Stewards recruited family and friends and took to the trail. Alongside 30 other participants, the YFS’ers improved trail tread, which meant getting dirty, digging dirt and creating an improved trail for hikers and bikers. Of course, no good trail day is complete without food, so we ended the day with a good ol’ parking lot lunch!

A Big Thank You!

The Youth Forest Stewards accomplished great work throughout the 2024 summer season and FDRD and the USFS could not have done it without them. Thank you YFS for a great season, we hope to see you next year! If you are reading this and it sounds like a good fit for you, we want you on our team! If you are between the ages of 14 and 18, come join us next year for another season of fun, hard work, and making a positive impact on our public lands.

Let’s make next summer even bigger and better!