Denver, Colorado – 107 volunteers led by the statewide nonprofit, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC), gathered at Hentzel Park Natural Area on Saturday, September 24 to restore and protect trails on one of the last known parks with undeveloped sand prairie in Denver.

The effort was hosted by VOC, and volunteers were from throughout Denver and from AC Golden Brewing Company’s Brew Crew, a group of beer drinkers and fans of Colorado Native Lagers.

Due to the popularity of Hentzel Park Natural Area, many social trails – unofficial, user-created trails – have developed along a section of the park. Overtime, these social trails have led to increased damage to the surrounding ecosystems and erosion into Cherry Creek.

Volunteers worked very hard and in just a few hours were able to close approximately 1,800 feet of social trail, construct 150 feet of fence, remove old wire caging around trees and paint them to discourage beaver damage, and build a small section of timber steps. These accomplishments will allow local residents to continue to access this public space without causing undue impact to the native species that inhabit this area.

“Less erosion, less impact, healthier park,” said VOC project manager, Joe O’Brien.

Among the volunteers on the project was president of AC Golden, Glenn Knippenberg. “Colorado Native has a long history of partnering with VOC on stewardship efforts, especially those focused on protecting and restoring Colorado’s watersheds,” said Knippenberg. “We are proud to have once again supported VOC in their efforts. Given that our brewing process uses only Colorado sourced materials, we feel strongly about giving back to our state and its natural resources.”

Following the project, volunteers enjoyed a happy hour hosted by Colorado Native.

Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is a statewide nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to motivating and enabling people to be active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources. Since 1984, VOC’s award-winning volunteer, youth, and leadership training programs have engaged nearly 105,000 people of all ages in caring for Colorado’s outdoors – a total donated labor value of $21 million. Such volunteer efforts have made a lasting impact on Colorado through hands-on work in fire and flood restoration, trail building and maintenance, tree planting and re-forestation, and more.

AC Golden Brewing Company brews beers made with 100% Colorado ingredients – water from the Rocky Mountains, barley from the San Luis Valley, Colorado grown hops, and the oldest strain of brewing yeast in the state.

Contact: 

Jessica Frazier, jessica@voc.org, 303-715-1010, ext. 130