In This Issue
Outstanding Volunteerism Recognized at Annual Volunteer Venture
2008 Volunteer Award Winners
Volunteer Re-Enactors Bring History to Life
New Managed Service Project Program Launches
Volunteer Emails
We want to better manage & support our Volunteer Program and help reduce waste! Help us get the word out: We want all volunteers with email accounts & access to get on our Newsletter list, so we can start printing less copies on paper.
Did You Know?
The non-profit organization The Independent Sector estimates the value of volunteer time at $19.51 per hour!
ASP volunteers donated 171,000 hours last fiscal year, which is the equivalent of 82 full time employees!
We have volunteer support at every park and natural area, in the Phoenix office, in some Regional offices, and in our Resources Management Division.
Outstanding Volunteerism Recognized
at Annual Volunteer Venture
On a glorious day in April, at Slide Rock State Park, over 100 volunteers from around the State gathered to learn new things, be recognized for their outstanding support, and to enjoy the beauty and majesty of the Oak Creek Canyon area. Sessions on the history of the Pendley Family Homestead, generational volunteerism, safety and survival, research at the park, and interpretive hosting issues were offered. Many attended an early morning birding hike. During lunch, the following volunteers were recognized for their outstanding contributions to Arizona State Parks:
Volunteer of the Year
This award recognizes outstanding volunteers who have contributed substantial service to the agency over the past year or over several years, and whose character and capabilities are exceptional.
Bill Benzel has been a volunteer for Arizona
State Parks since August, 2001. He began volunteering in the Universal
Trail Assessment Project, and we have been able to count on him ever
since for annual events such as Verde River Day at Dead Horse Ranch,
Civil War Reenactment at Picacho Peak, and Mariachi Festival at
Patagonia Lake.
During our 15 month State Parks 50th Anniversary Celebration, Bill
played many important roles such as shuttle van driver, parking
attendant, photographer, search and rescue, event set up and tear down,
info. booth, First Aid, driver of volunteers and cake and unofficial
chef. He staked out 10 miles of the Lime Kiln Trail (in blistering heat
and pounding rain), he created a parking lot when we needed extra
off-park parking for the Homolovi event, and packing up the event
trailer, which most of the staff had lost patience with by the end of
the second event! Bill was there to load tables, the podium, and of
course, the wonderful penny machine – and to figure out how to get
those darn ties with ratchets to work!
Bill Benzel typifies what is right about Arizona. He typifies what all
of our volunteers do in our parks. Not just for the resources but for
the people who work there every day.
Volunteers of the Regions
This award recognizes a volunteer who has contributed significant service to a park or several parks in the different regions of our state.
FOR THE NORTHWESTERN REGION:
With over 12 years of volunteer time donated at Lyman Lake State Park, and another 4 years at Buckskin Mountain State Park, Charles Hutton, known as Chuck, truly deserved this award.
Chuck presents interpretive programming at Buckskin every season. He has made a new walkway to the cactus garden, and worked with another volunteer beautifying it. He also walks the trails and educates visitors about the desert. But his passion, and his unwavering dedication, is to the development and maintenance of trails.
He goes out every morning to do trail work which consists of tasks such as stopping erosion by diverting the water from storms, planting new vegetation and carrying water up to make sure the new plants will survive. He has carried up lumber to build new steps for safety and works with the signage we use for interpretation. He has dragged his own tools up to the trail, since there is no way to get a mule or gator on the trail. Chuck has almost single handedly transformed the Buckskin trail from a dirt path to a work of art. Chuck’s dedication and work speaks for itself.
FOR THE CENTRAL REGION:
Jack Bartley has been a dedicated volunteer and member of Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park for more than a decade.
During the 1990’s he spearheaded a one-man campaign against invasive weeds, targeting non-native tree and shrub seedlings before the most aggressive and prolific ones can reproduce and spread beyond the Arboretum boundary.
His unique project caught the attention of local media, which published news releases about this essential project in January and February of 2007. Interest generated by media attention helped the Arboretum recruit a half-dozen new volunteers, some of whom currently work side-by-side with Jack each weekend removing non-native sumac, tamarisk and other species.
Jack acts as a team leader and often directs the work of fellow volunteers. His dedication and drive is to be commended. It is volunteers like Jack Bartley that keep Arizona State Parks running.
FOR THE SOUTHERN REGION:
Jim Hansen came to Kartchner Caverns State Park in 2001 as their number one Tram Driver. Now he is the self-proclaimed “Meanest Tram-Driver Around!”
The number of hours Jim has dedicated is astounding. With 11,992 hours – the equivalent of working 5.75 years full-time – provided year round, Jim is at the ready to drive up and down the hill to deliver guests to their tours and back to the Discovery Center on time.
Ghost Award:
This award recognizes a volunteer who is most concerned with supporting other volunteers and staff. They are reliably "behind the scenes" and consistently dependable. They are the cheerleaders and moral officers, and by their upbeat, positive attitude, provide invaluable support to others.
Bob and Polly Sirr have dedicated significant time to Sonoita Creek State Natural Area for over five years. They are an amazing volunteer couple. Their attitude is always positive, upbeat, and most of all they care about people – other volunteers, staff and visitors. They seem to desire little recognition, and most of their work is behind the scenes.
Volunteer Team of the Year
The Team of the Year award recognizes a group of volunteers who, working as a team, have contributed to the accomplishment of detailed, difficult, and multi-faceted projects.
The Team of the Year for 2008 is comprised of Ray Gentry, Dell Norman, Dick Gozzi and Pat Murphy, from Slide Rock State Park, for their work in restoring the historical buckboard wagon.After considerable research, the painstaking rehabilitation of the Buckboard could begin in earnest. The hum of the saws, sanders, and laughter, brought many inquisitive visitors to view the progress of the Buckboard’s restoration. These charismatic volunteers would happily take whatever amount of time necessary to answer all questions posed to them. Watching the progress of the team was fascinating, the smallest detail was as important as the largest task. From cleaning and painting the old rusted iron, to milling and fabricating the new sideboards, teamwork was always on display. The results were presented at the 2007 Apple Festival, where lines of children and adults alike formed to have their photograph taken with this beautifully restored wagon.
Many employees and volunteers of the Arizona State Park system have seen the superior work completed by this fine team of volunteers, but most have not had the privilege to witness firsthand the spirit of comradeship in which it was performed.
Volunteer Re-Enactors Bring History to Life
When you visit an historical site, whether a courthouse, a military barracks, a battlefield, a mansion or a ruined house, how do you really understand the drama, passions, triumphs and tragedies that occurred there? Signs can give you historical context and information. Interpreters can add details, and can answer individual questions. But nothing brings the place or event alive as much as a historical re-enactor.
These volunteers have not only researched the time period, but also specifics about the role or actual person that they portray. They have spent countless dollars outfitting themselves with authentic garb and authentic “props,” such as cooking utensils, firearms, even the correct petticoats! Some re-enactors are so skilled that they are able to portray specific people from history in the first person.
This form of interpretation is invaluable to Arizona State Parks. Engaging all the senses of our visitors – smelling the gunpowder or delicious aromas from cooking fires, seeing the bright colors of traditional dress, feeling the coarseness of wool uniforms, hearing the booms of cannons, and even tasting hard tack – is the best way to not only teach them about history, but to make them care. Creating a whole experience for our visitors will bring them back, and have them telling their friends and neighbors about how great their visit to an Arizona State Park was.
So we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the re-enactors who support Arizona State Parks, whether individually, or in groups. Our parks and events are richer for your participation.
In 2007/2008 Re-enactors supported the following parks and events:
Dead Horse Ranch State Park: Civil War battle re-enactments
Picacho Peak State Park: Civil War battle re-enactments
McFarland State Historic Park: Veteran’s Day & Florence Home Tour participation
Fort Verde State Historic Park: History of the Soldier & Fort Verde Days
Tubac Presidio State Historic Park: Anza Days
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park: Many presentations & tours
Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park: Gathering of the Gunfighters event
Re-enactor groups who have supported us this year include:
Arizona Civil War Council (ACWC)
Buffalo Soldiers
Legends of the West
1st Texas
1st New Mexico
Sons of Confederate Veterans
5th Texas
Los Tubaquenos
Volunteer Neil Terry has been a great asset to Fort Verde State Historic Park. Neil has been a dedicated volunteer since 2004, helping with maintenance projects, greeting visitors at the front desk and helping out whenever he could. He's also a volunteer for Search and Rescue and has an active faith life. We are very fortunate to have him as a volunteer. Thanks Neil!New Managed Service Project Program Launches
On April 5th at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, we launched a new volunteer program for Arizona State Parks. Up to this point, if large projects needed to be accomplished at a park, such as trail building or area clean-ups, park staff would either chip away at the project with support from park volunteers, or try to recruit an outside group of volunteers to come in and work on just that project. Of course this has worked fine, except that it is slow going, and many times staff does not have the time to recruit for and/or manage these projects.
In an effort to make this process easier, and to invite new volunteers in to help with one- time projects, the Managed Service Project program was tested at Dead Horse Ranch. This program is modeled after such groups as Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and Make-a-Difference.
Essentially, a volunteer takes the role as “crew leader” to help define a service project, track volunteers who register for the project, manage the volunteers during the project, and report hours and accomplishments after the project. Park staff need to identify projects, and designate a “technical assistant” for the project. The technical assistant supports the project by contributing knowledge of what needs to be accomplished, supplying tools and providing resources. The state Volunteer Resources Planner provides support by identifying crew leader volunteers (in other words sweet-talking someone into doing it!) and recruiting volunteers. In the recruitment effort, many, many thanks go to Tye R Farrell, ASP’s Webmaster, who is providing new ways to reach people!
With the pilot project, park staff identified an awesome Dead Horse volunteer, Emerson Truffel, as their technical advisor, and Volunteer of the Year, Bill Benzel, was our crew leader. With the help of several other volunteers, they put steps into the connector trail between the River Day Use Area and Mesquite Cabins camp area.
With the success of the pilot project, we are planning to host at least 3 more managed service projects next fall and winter. If you would be interested in being either a crew leader, or a technical advisor, please contact Nicole Armstrong-Best at 602-542-7152 or narmstrong@azstateparks.gov. If you would like to assist with a project, keep checking the volunteer page on our website for details.