PLEASE NOTE: Volunteers on these projects will be based with ACE Arizona in Flagstaff
Bryce Canyon National Park Trails:
The surreal forest of rock towers for which Bryce is famous were created by a combination of highly erosive rock and extreme weather conditions. Located at nearly 3,000 meters in elevation, Bryce receives heavy winter snowfall and dramatic summer monsoon rains, both of which result in a rapidly eroding hiking trail system. With limited staffing, Bryce Canyon National Park calls upon ACE crews to rebuild and stabilize trails throughout their entire backcountry system. ACE has been asked to design a trails maintenance plan for the Park, which our crews will implement through the summer and fall months of 2007. Projecys almost always involve long, strenuous hikes into steep canyons.
Bryce Canyon Revegetation:
Just as the unique soils of Bryce erode to create spectacular rock spires, so also does the ecosystem of Bryce support a large number of endemic plants, or plants that exist only in the immediate area surrounding the National Park. ACE crews play a large role in protecting those plants by pulling the competing weeds and replanting native species.
Arches National Park Trails:
As its name suggests, Arches is known for souring red rock arches as well as the sweeping red sandstone high desert landscape. Over the past year, ACE crews have enhanced visitor safety by using natural rock to create stabile staircases that will endure both sudden summer rainstorms and the pounding of thousands of tourist feet. ACE crews are projected to continue stabilizing the trails at Arches National Park in a series of projects requiring a high level of skill in dry stone masonry. Projecst take place throughout the spring, summer and fall months and almost always involves much exertion in temperatures ranging from cold and windy to hot and sunny. ACE corps members pause between the difficult tasks to take in the soaring scenery of one of America's hidden treasures.
Canyonlands National Park
Before the Colorado River descends into the depths of the Grand Canyon, it enters Utah in a dramatic maze of canyons encompassed in Canyonlands National Park. Much larger than nearby Arches N.P. Canyonlands consists of dozens of miles of backcountry trails crossing hundreds of small, steep drainages. For the past two years, ACE crews have been called upon to construct complex rock structures to provide safe hiking passage across the network of red rock canyons. Trail projects at Canyonlands almost always involves hiking long distances across very rough terrain carrying up to 40 pounds of food, water, tools and camping gear. It also involves camping in some of the most unique and inspiring landscapes in the United States. (back to top)
Santa Clara River Reserve Trails and Fencing:
Located near St. George, Utah, the gateway to Zion National Park, the Santa Clara River Reserve offers spectacular views of an arid, untouched landscape and contains a lush riparian zone along the Santa Clara River where visitors enjoy shade and cooler temperatures, even in summer. Other valleys and washes in the reserve support wondrous desert microclimates. In the summer of 2006 and projected through the winter and spring of 2007 ACE crews constructed the first mountain biking trails within the reserve. Designed to provide local inhabitants with access to the natural beauty surrounding their rapidly growing city, the river reserve represents a little known but truly beautiful opportunity to explore classic Utah desert. (back to top)
