After four days of camping, outdoor leadership activities, and stewardship service projects, young participants in Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado’s Youth Stewardship Summit returned home inspired. Nearly 60 high school youth representing 22 cities in Colorado participated in the 4-day summit, held at Pickle Gulch Campground in Black Hawk in early August.

Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is a statewide nonprofit volunteer organization that works to motivate and enable people to be active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources. The Youth Stewardship Summit is among several youth programs offered by the organization, designed to encourage the next generation of stewards of Colorado’s outdoors and help youth develop a lifelong commitment to caring for the state’s natural resources. 2013 marked the first year for the event.

During the Summit, young participants had the opportunity to learn first-hand about land management challenges and critical stewardship needs in the state. They tackled numerous service projects in both the James Peak Wilderness and Golden Gate Canyon State Park, including building a new trail, restoring campground habitat, building tent platforms, and pulling acres of invasive weeds. 

"The four days that I spent at the summit were very eye opening,” said Jonah Howe, an incoming junior at Grand Junction High School. “Not only did I get to help on stewardship projects like building stairs at a campsite and pulling invasive weeds, but I got to meet kids my age that were passionate about the outdoors and volunteering as well," he added.

Participants also had the unique chance to compete for grant dollars to fund the best project idea for getting Colorado kids engaged in outdoor stewardship. The winning team included students from the San Luis Valley, Pueblo, and Salida. Their winning project, “Like a Hike,” combines hiking with educational stops along the way to teach kids about skills in stewardship, camping, outdoor survival, and more. The team will work directly with the San Luis Valley Fish and Wildlife service to implement their project using a $1,000 grant award. 

“It’s very exciting to see all the energy and ideas these kids have after participating in the Youth Stewardship Summit,” said Emily Fenwick, summit organizer and Youth Program Manager for Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. “Many of the kids want to take what they’ve learned and start stewardship programs and projects in their own communities. They also appreciated the friends they made from all over the state and the many new experiences that helped them gain a greater appreciation for the outdoors,” she added.

Numerous supporters helped make this event possible, including The Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Outdoor Nation, Xcel Energy, The Starbucks Foundation, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Foundation, New Belgium Brewery’s Youth Environmental Education Grant, and Clif Bar & Company. In-kind donations were provided by Colorado Mountain Express, CamelBak, and Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill.