ESWA's outdoor season is over; now what do we do?

What exactly are ESWA volunteers doing now that our outdoor season draws to a close? A lot! Our off season remains an active time as we plan for the coming year. This is a time of ordering equipment and uniforms, planning training and certification programs, scheduling First Aid workshops,  organizing and hosting the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and recruiting new volunteers. And of course, our advocacy work on behalf of Wilderness continues, as does our planning work with the USFS.

This year, we face an unusual challenge. You may have read a recent Summit Daily article about a USFS hiring freeze that is the result of the U.S. House of Representatives passing a spending bill that gave the USFS $500 million less than it requested. As a result, the USFS announced that, with the exception of seasonal firefighting positions, they won’t be hiring any seasonal workers for the coming year.

So, what does this mean for ESWA? Good question! We’ll be meeting with our local and regional USFS officials this fall and winter to talk about USFS priorities in light of this employee shortage, and what our partnership will look like in the coming year. What we DO know now is that we’ll need more volunteers than ever to help meet the challenge of helping protect over 300,00 acres of Wilderness in Colorado. We’ll need YOU! We invite you to contribute your time and talent in the coming year as we work on behalf of Wilderness. Join us!