Volunteers team up to make a happier trail
November 29, 2020
Tony Rapp for the Santa Fe New Mexican
Please follow this link to read about NMVFO’s work on the Norski Trail in Santa Fe.
A needed detour: NM volunteers reroute portion of Continental Divide Trail
November 6, 2020
Theresa Davis for the Albuquerque Journal
Please follow this link to read about NMVFO’s work on the CDT.
Hundreds of volunteers helping maintain Albuquerque’s open space
August 28, 2019
Jackie Kent for KRQE News
Please follow this link to read about NMVFO’s work with Albuquerque Open Space.
Volunteers essential to maintaining New Mexico’s trails
Please follow this link to read about the work NMVFO is doing in the Pecos Wilderness.
Hit the Trail
March 1, 2019
Article by Karl Moffatt for the Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors will conduct its annual trail maintenance and construction workshop this month and encourages the public to attend.
“The workshop is a great introduction to trail work,” says Ed DiBello, chairman of the nonprofit organization.
NMVFO volunteers perform trail maintenance and construction projects on public lands all around the state and enjoy camping out and socializing too.
“For New Mexicans and those new to New Mexico, it’s a great way to become familiar with the landscape and also to meet some great people,” DiBello says.
Training includes a classroom presentation from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at REI, 1550 Mercantile NE, Albuquerque. Hands-on training follows from 8 a.m. till around midafternoon Saturday, March 17, in Albuquerque’s Sandia Foothills Open Space.
Last year, 141 NMVFO volunteers, including 80 first-timers, participated in 19 projects on local, state and federal public lands, providing 2,249 hours of labor at a savings of $44,463 to public agencies.
NMVFO projects improve the safety and use of public lands for all users through construction of new trails, maintenance of old ones, sign installation and other work. Volunteers have planted native trees at the Valle de Oro and Sevilleta national wildlife refuges and removed of old fences and other debris at the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
“NMVFO works all over the state,” DiBello says.”This year, we have projects ranging from Sugarite State Park in the north to Trout Creek down south in the Gila.”
Volunteers will hear from veteran NMVFO project leaders during the classroom training about the negative impacts from hikers taking shortcuts across trail switchbacks and the positive effects from using designated trails. Participants also will watch U.S. Forest Service instructional videos about trail construction and maintenance. Instructors will answer questions and go over this year’s list of NMVFO projects around the state.
Participants can put their newfound skills to work the following weekend rerouting an existing trail within the Sandia Foothills Open Space. Volunteers are scheduled to meet at 8:00 a.m. at the Menaul Trailhead, at the eastern end of Menaul NE. Coffee, juice, fruit and snacks will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
NMVFO trail workers and Albuquerque Open Space employees will oversee the new volunteers during the event. Participants should dress for outdoor work and wear sturdy boots and work gloves, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts and bring additional suitable clothing, snacks, water and personal items that may be needed.
The training is free. Participants also can join the organization for a nominal fee and participate in more projects.
NMVFO, started in 1982, is dedicated to improving outdoor recreational facilities in New Mexico and is an all-volunteer, action-oriented, non-political, nonprofit organization that promotes public involvement and education of the public in the maintenance, improvement and the upkeep of New Mexico’s public lands for recreational use.
For more information visit NMVFO’s website at nmvfo.org.
Karl Moffatt is a veteran New Mexico journalist, photographer and outdoors enthusiast. Contact him through his blog at www.outdoorsnm.com.
Please follow this link to see the news article.
Love is a Verb: Unsung heroes break, bushwhack, and preserve New Mexico’s trails. Their payment? Sore muscles, kinship, and satisfaction
Article by Les Daly
Please follow the link below to read an article about trail work in New Mexico, including a segment about New Mexico Volunteers for The Outdoors!
ElPalacioMagazine_winter2018_loveverb
New Mexico Volunteers For The Outdoors Receives The Bob Marshall Award for Group Champion of Wilderness Stewardship Award
From the United States Forest Service Memo:
Bob Marshall Award for Group Champion of Wilderness Stewardship
New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Established in May 1982, New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors (NMVFO) is an all-volunteer, 501(c)3 non-profit organization created primarily to work alongside Federal land managing agencies on a wide variety of outdoor recreation service projects. Highly-dedicated, they are involved in over 20 service projects annually across New Mexico. Not all of their projects took place in congressionally designated Wilderness, but in 2015, seven of their projects took place in six different wilderness areas across four National Forests. Just one example, the inaugural volunteer trail maintenance project took place in the newly designated Columbine-Hondo Wilderness, Carson National Forest, where NMVFO volunteers and horse packers contributed to the “maintenance standard” of 3.1 miles of the Columbine Trail #71: removal of deadfall, brushing, and treadwork. They contributed 264 volunteer hours with an estimated dollar value of $6090.48 to the Carson National Forest and community. Year after year, they demonstrate their deep commitment to wilderness stewardship by pursuing projects that result in enormous benefits to the management and safe enjoyment of these areas. No other New Mexico volunteer service organization participates in more projects annually in wilderness than NMVFO.
Piedra Lisa Rerouting Complete
It’s not often that we get mentioned in the news. We had two projects on Piedra Lisa, and a third which got cancelled due bad weather.
Piedra Lisa rerouting complete
By Nancy Tipton / Journal Staff Writer
Thursday, March 31st, 2016 at 12:02am
One of the more popular trails on the west side of the Sandia Mountains has gotten a bit of an upgrade.
Piedra Lisa (Spanish for “smooth rock”) is accessed off Forest Road 333 (near La Luz trailhead parking lot) and affords some of the best views of the Sandias’ massive granite formations, including the Shield, and is a favorite winter hike with the locals.
But a segment of the hike followed a graded gravel road for a bit under a mile and was what Kerry Wood, wilderness and trails program manager for the Cibola National Forest & Grasslands, calls a “less-than-great” experience.
With the help of groups of workers from the New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors, Friends of the Sandia Mountains and others, the trail was recently rerouted away from the road.
The change seems to be making both hikers and those who live in the area happier. “I talked with several residents who were really glad to see the change,” he said, adding that mixing vehicles and hikers is not ideal from a safety standpoint.
The trail segment climbs gradually from the trailhead parking lot, winding through the piñon and juniper woods before it starts its climb through a boulder field.
The project is under the umbrella of the Placitas Area Trail Project, which includes the north trailhead for Piedra Lisa and the Strip Mile trail. Planning began in 2012.
The area is three miles east of Interstate 25 and south of N.M. 165. The overall plan calls for:
•Constructing and reconstruct segments of trails using sustainable trail design and construction techniques.
•Rehabilitating trails.
•Obliterating trails and roads not part of the system.
•Constructing designated parking areas.
•Installing trail markers and signs.
Budget restrictions have limited work so far on this project to re-routing and rehabilitation trails to check erosion and move some segments out of the wilderness so far.
Members of the Placitas Area Trail Association have been working throughout the winter, Wood said, and will complete about two miles of trail before they finish in May.