Volunteer Task Force Home

over 79,000 volunteer hours since May, 2000

VTF NEWS Many thanks to Moms in Motion for raising $3,800 for the Volunteer Task Force at Pajarito Trail Festival on October 13, 2007. Thanks also to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board for matching that amount. All donations will benefit the VTF Youth Corps programs for the summer of 2008 Watch for more fundraising opportunities to benefit the youth of Los Alamos. TRAIL WORK PARTIES Coming in the spring 2008: White Rock Trails between Pajarito Acres and Bandelier National Monument Hidden Canyon Trail and Duran Road Annual Guaje Ridge clean up day (cleaning up trees fallen across the trail)

TRAIL UPDATES USFS crews and community volunteers keep Guaje Ridge, Mitchell, and Caballo Mountain Trails open About 1,000 fallen trees have been removed from the trails and much of the damaged tread has been rebuilt....
Water Canyon Trail cleared

	Download a copy of the Los Alamos County Trail Network Map (PDF, 400KB)

VTF Honored by National Education Group VTF and Bandelier National Monument win educators award from the National Association of Interpreters for Investigating Fire Ecology in Ponderosa Pine Forests: A Curriculum for Sixth Grade Download a PDF copy now

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Trail work parties on Los Alamos County Trails

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Why Volunteer? Look at Our 2003 -2006 Accomplishments

The Volunteer Task Force is a community-based group that provides opportunities for students and adult volunteers to participate in ecological restoration and citizen science projects that benefit fire and drought affected communities in the Southwest. VTF implements on-the-ground projects to renew burned ponderosa pine forest, to rejuvenate pinon-juniper woodlands, and to provide data to land managers on post-fire recovery. Working with representatives from local organizations, Los Alamos County, the United States Geological Survey, the USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service, Los Alamos National Laboratory and other federal agencies, VTF provides students with hands-on service learning project that make a difference in their communities. Projects include:

Environmental Education
Ecological Restoration
Trail Restoration and Building
Post-Fire, Post-Mitigation Environmental Monitoring

Education Projects in Regional Schools

Student Generated Data on Post-Fire Monitoring Projects

Student Data: Seedling Survival Studies for ponderosa pines

Student Data: Vegetation Cover Study for Seed Ball Project

Student Data: Falling snag study: How Many Standing Burned Trees Have Fallen?

Student Data: Stream channel cross sections for Pueblo and Rendija Canyons

Accomplishments, 2000 to 2007 The Community of Los Alamos Continues to Participate in Post-Fire Rehabilitation Projects
more than 1,500 students in environmental education programs 28,700 tree seedlings planted 220,000 seed balls made and distributed 27 miles of trail rehabilitation monitoring stream channels, seedling survival, pinon mortality, ground cover recovery