Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Fort Collins, Colorado, founded in 1996 by Charles "Chuck" Bell. The organization was established to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in managing and protecting approximately 650,000 acres of wilderness and backcountry areas within the Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland.
Volunteers for PWV attend an off-site three-day training session every five years, and are required to perform at least six patrols (hiking, backpacking, or on horseback) during each hiking season, which runs from January to September. In addition to performing patrols, PWV volunteers perform other duties, such as clearing weeds, trailhead hosting, and collecting forest usage data for the USFS.
The mission of Poudre Wilderness Volunteers is to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and protecting wilderness and backcountry areas within its jurisdiction. To achieve this mission, Poudre Wilderness Volunteers recruits, trains, equips, and fields citizen volunteers to serve as wilderness rangers and hosts for the purpose of educating the public, and provides other appropriate support to these wild areas.
The Kids in Nature (KIN) program connects kids with nature and fosters environmental awareness, respect, and land stewardship through educational programs and direct experience.
The project goals are to:
The KIN program provides ranger-guided hikes with organizations and established groups. PWV leads small groups of children with their adult leaders or adult family members, introducing them to the USFS land and teaching basic Leave No Trace skills as well as trail safety. PWV also holds in-town sessions to help educate.
PWV has a âÂÂtoolkitâ of activities that they can use, including map-and-compass lessons and always one of three interactive, in-depth curricula: "Aquatic Macroinvertebrates", "Mammals in Our Mountains", or "We Need Trees".
58 trails, organized by region and interest, providing maps, elevation profiles, and points of interest, are presented on the Trails pages.
Current trail condition reports are available.
Trails by Interest include:
Trails by Area include:
In 1995, a volunteer ranger for the USFS, Charles Bell, who patrolled the trails of what is now the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, became worried about the cuts to the ranger districtâÂÂs budget over the previous three years â from 3 full-time persons and 30 seasonal employees down to just 1 full-time employee and 2 part-timers to look after its extensive backcountry and wilderness areas.
With USFS support, he decided to form a volunteer organization that was named Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) after the major river that flows through the district.
The 2020 Cameron Peak Fire destroyed over 209,000 acres of the Roosevelt National Forest, leading to multiple trails in the area being damaged or destroyed.
In 2021, PWV launched a new initiative to restore trails lost in the fire. Over 200 members of the public and 50 PWV members came to restoration workdays held by PWV, totaling to 2400 hours of labor. PWV members did an additional 26 workdays in the burn area.
Results in 2022 were similar.
Larimer County awarded PWV the 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award on December 6, 2009.
Larimer County awarded PWV the 2020 Environmental Stewardship Award for its Kids in Nature program.
Larimer County awarded PWV the 2022 Environmental Stewardship Award.