Laserfiche WebLink
Ansrve~°ing the cull: <br />As the Hayman was burning, the USFS formed the Hayman Recovery Assistance Center <br />(HayRAC) to be a "one-stop-shopping" point for victims, bureaucrats, volunteers, donors, <br />academics, and the media, to seek information and find needed resources. As the fire was <br />brought under control, USFS staff began looking for a local group to take over operations of <br />HayRAC. CUSP agreed, taking over responsibility for HayRac on July 15, 2002. Since then, <br />CUSP has answered thousands of calls (we are currently still taking about 400 calls per months), <br />coordinated volunteers, and facilitated information sharing between governmental agencies and <br />entities, the media, and the public. <br />We assist our Forest Service partners and the public at our HayRAC office in other ways <br />as well. We have been selling fiiel wood, transplant, and Christmas tree permits so the public in <br />this part of the watershed does not have to travel 40 miles or more to acquire a permit. We have <br />distributed feed to ranchers whose land and stored forage was burned, donations to private <br />landowners who lost their homes. We donated $12,000 worth of trees and shrubs to private <br />landowners whose land was burned at high intensity, and we distributed over $250,000 worth of <br />donated straw and seed to private landowners whose land was burned at medium of high <br />intensity. <br />Volunteers at work: <br />Prior to the Hayman, CUSP coordinated several volunteer events each year, primarily <br />with youth. As we took over HayRAC, <br />volunteer efforts on fire rehabilitation became a <br />major area of emphasis for us. This year we <br />have coordinated: <br />• 3,059 volunteers <br />• 21,255 volunteer hours <br />•3 300+ acres treated by raking, seeding, <br />and mulching <br />•3 145 straw-bale check dams and <br />70 sandbag walls constructed <br />•3 15,000 seedlings planted by volunteers <br />on public & private lands <br />C'olorarlo Watershed Protection Funrls: <br />CWPF funds ($14,400.00) were used to match a $200,000.00 grant from the National <br />Forest Foundation for Hayman Fire Recovery efforts. The CWPF funds were expended on <br />purchasing straw bales and sandbags. <br />