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History
The beginning of Wildlands Restoration Volunteers can be traced back to March 20, 1999, when the founder, Ed Self, organized about 20 volunteers to plant willows to improve wetland habitat around Heron Pond at Pella Crossing Open Space near Hygiene. From this humble beginning, a core group of committed volunteers steadily grew from a few dozen to several hundred by 2002. Throughout this time, our group didn’t even have a name!
In the fall of 2002, the founding board formally established a non-profit corporation, “Wildlands Restoration Volunteers” (WRV). Soon after, we officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
With a fast growing volunteer community, and only one paid staff, Ed Self, WRV needed volunteer leaders! Volunteer project leaders, technical advisors, cooks, crew leaders, tool managers, and others are our most valuable resource. Many people want to volunteer, but without leaders, it would just be chaos! Our trained leaders plan and execute safe, fun, well-organized projects that produce high quality results.
In 2003, WRV began developing a leadership training program, training our first home grown crop of crew leaders. In 2004, we added trainings for project support cooks, and basic trainings for project leaders and technical advisors, which were expanded in 2005 and 2006. We added restoration and trail skill trainings in 2006, and a tool manager training in 2007.
By the spring of 2007, our community of volunteer leaders has grown to nearly 150.
Our growth in the early years averaged 50 to 80% per year. Naturally, it has begun to level off to a more modest pace of 10 to 20% growth each year.
All this growth required more staff. Kimberly Kosmenko joined us as a part-time program coordinator in the summer of 2004, after completing a masters degree in environmental studies at CU Boulder, and is now our Community Programs Director. She has made major contributions to our leadership training and youth programs, and provides ongoing support and leadership for many of our restoration projects. Beth Andrews, our part-time administrative assistant, joined WRV in summer 2006. She has contributed greatly to the behind-the-scenes office work. John Giordanengo, our new Projects Director, joined WRV in the spring of 2007. He brings an extensive background in restoration ecology and project management.
By the end of 2006, WRV volunteers had completed 113 projects, contributing over 80,000 volunteer hours, valued at over $1,300,000 toward the care and restoration of public lands.
Wildlands Restoration Volunteers is always evolving as an organization, identifying new opportunities to engage the community in ecological restoration. Some new initiatives include site monitoring, and developing leadership mentor trainings. Throughout our growth process, though, we remain committed to the core ideas that were the foundation of our success: offering an excellent, educational experience for every volunteer; completing important, high-quality restoration work; and building a thriving community. Join us!
