Ways to Support Friends of the Dillon Ranger District

Donations

Your contribution ensures that our local, National Forest is here for future generations to enjoy, and your dollars will support everything that we do.

• Trail work supplies and tools.
• New trail construction materials.
• General maintenance of over 430 miles of trails in Summit county.
• Education materials and programming to implement FREE educational programs in the community.
• Outdoor tours with educators and naturalists focused on cultural and natural history and wildlife.
• Public speaker series addressing recreational and environmental issues and topics.
• Youth programs, creating the next generation of outdoor stewards!

Volunteering

Join FDRD on any of their projects or events to help spread the good word about how to protect and maintain, steward, and recreate responsibly on our public lands!

• Trail Projects – Join FDRD staff and other volunteers to maintain and improve local trails. There are a wide variety of tasks including: building bridges and turnpikes to improve drainage, helping move materials to the worksite, rock work and building sustainable trail, and improving trail tread.
• Forest Health Projects – Help USFS employees and FDRD staff monitor local wildlife, thin trees to improve forest health, remove noxious and invasive weeds, collect native seeds, restore local watersheds, rehabilitate campsites, and naturalize negatively impacted public lands.
• Fundraising Events – Volunteer with FDRD at their fundraising events to help with event execution and logistics.
• Community Outreach – Act as a liaison between the US Forest Service, FDRD, and the public.
• Education Leadership – Lead educational tours on behalf of FDRD, using your expertise to educate locals and visitors alike in any topic relating to the outdoors. Think: wildflower identification, wildlife habits and knowledge (scat, tracks, behavior), geology, outdoor recreation, snow science, etc.
• Youth Forest Stewards – Join our annual summer program designed for middle and high school students to engage in a wide variety of outdoor education topics and volunteer projects.

Attend an FDRD Event!

Your support could be as easy as just joining in on the fun we have in the outdoors! If you’re interested in learning more about your natural surroundings and the National Forest in Summit County, we have opportunities galore to get outside and hang with like-minded folks. Check out the ways to engage with us below:

• Join us on a trail project or forest health project.
• Attend an educational event, led by a local expert or FDRD staff member. These happen all year round, with Ski with a Ranger, our Speaker Series, and more throughout the winter.
• Come to any of our fundraising events throughout the year.
• Stop by the USFS Ranger Station in Silverthorne to chat about our public lands. If you have questions about how to recreate in our National Forest, let us know, we’re the experts!
• Keep an eye on our monthly newsletter. It will have all the upcoming events and information about what we’ll be up to in the outdoors of Summit County!

Fundraising and Membership

There is never a bad time to renew your membership to FDRD. While anyone is welcome on our educational events and volunteer programs, members will receive exclusive access to members-only events and other perks. We also have fundraising drives and events throughout the year, where every dollar raised will go directly back into the National Forest. Unlike grants, funds raised in this way are unrestricted and help us with general costs to keep our programming FREE and open to the public.

• Renew your membership HERE
• Colorado Gives Day – Every year around Thanksgiving, FDRD joins other non-profits from around Colorado to ask for generous support from the community at-large. If you have annual giving as part of your yearly budget, either as an individual or as a business, consider donating to us and supporting our mission to steward the local, National Forest and the public lands of Summit County, CO.
• Casino Night – Our biggest fundraising event of the year, the annual Chuck Kauffman Casino Night is a great way to get out and have some fun while raising money for FDRD. Join FDRD and other community members at the Silverthorne Pavilion for a night of gaming, generosity, and good times. Featuring classic casino games like craps, roulette, poker, and blackjack, as well as a robust silent auction, Casino Night has become our premier fundraiser over the last decade or so. We are always looking for generous local businesses and individuals to sponsor the event, so if you’re interested, contact FDRD’s Marketing and Event Manager, Rob Bennett at “mailto:robert@fdrd.org”>robert@fdrd.org.
• Bacon and Bourbon Festival – FDRD annually supplies volunteers to help this early summer event run smoothly. In return, the event organizers donate a portion of their proceeds back to us and in turn the National Forest. If you’re interested in volunteering, check out our volunteer calendar.
• Frisco Fall Fest – Taking place in the late summer every year, you’ll find FDRD out in Frisco, celebrating the change of the seasons with cold brews and good times! Consider attending the event for some world class german-style beer along with great food and better company. All proceeds from the alcohol sales are donated right back to us and greatly affect the local public lands of Summit County. We also recruit volunteers to help us manage the beer sales. Check out the volunteer opportunity calendar if you want to help us pour some libations!

Sponsorships

Help us cover some costs by sponsoring one of our many events! We reach a huge local audience with over 1,000 volunteers annually. Get the word out about your business while supporting our public lands in Summit County! Take a look at the different ways to sponsor us below:

• Sponsor a Trail Project – Sponsor one of our many trail projects throughout the summer season. Sponsorships will support us by helping purchase trail tools, cover costs for staff time, provide food and drinks for volunteers, and supply materials for our projects.
• Sponsor a Forest Health Project – Sponsors will help us provide expert leaders for the projects, cover staff time, help pay for trail tools, general costs of the project.
• Sponsor Casino Night – Help us raise money at our signature social event of the year! All proceeds will go directly back into our budget and in-turn, the local, National Forest.
• Sponsor and Education Event or Series – FDRD provides FREE education events year-round and by sponsoring, you’re helping keep them that way. Sponsoring will help us cover the costs of paying our experts, providing food and drinks for attendees, helping fund educational supplies, and paying for staff time to plan and execute these events.
• If you have an idea about how you can sponsor us, we’re all ears! Get in touch with our Marketing and Events Manager, Rob at robert@fdrd.org to brainstorm on how to get the word out about your business while supporting your local, National Forest and public lands.