Crews 48 & 61 Volunteer at Pikes Peak State Park
On April 30, fourteen members and leaders from Venturing Crews 48 (St. Paul's Lutheran Church - Dubuque) and Crew 61 (Dyersville Sportsman's Club) ventured up to Pikes Peak State Park near McGregor, IA for a day of service. As part of a grant received by the park from the State of Iowa to purchase materials, several key projects were completed with 100% volunteer help, with most of the man-hours provided by these Crews.
The crews stayed busy throughout the day by planting 12 (of eventually 24) new native hardwood trees near the overlook, adjacent to the main parking areas as well as the large youth campground sites. These trees will provide shade for future generations as they grow and replace the large mature trees, especially those in the main picnic/overlook area. Other projects included adding mulch around all the new trees and flower beds, picking up litter and fallen branches, and building over 160' of retaining walls in the modern campground to level and improve drainage in four under-used camp sites (#13-#16).
Ranger Matt commented that this group of Venturers was one of the hardest working groups he has ever had at the park as he was "very pleased" with the amount of work they completed in such a short amount of time. In addition to providing free camping to the crews, Matt and the Friends of Pikes Peak provided a courtesy lunch for all of the volunteer workers. If your Crew or Troop or other youth group is interested in doing service projects at Pikes Peak, please contact Matt by calling 563-873-2341 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he will try to work out a date, some project ideas and possibly some courtesy camping arrangements for your group. For more information about Pikes Peak State Park, go to http://www.iowadnr.gov/parks/state_park_list/pikes_peak.html
