Party, Party, Party Time!!!

Flyer for party!

 At work we are planning for our annual volunteer appreciation party, the Winter Wingding.  I have never done any type of real party planning before.  There is sooooo much work that goes into it--especially when you are a none profit, don't have a budget and are trying to get most everything donated.  Our party is tomorrow, Wednesday December 5th at Cargo @ CommRow.  It seems to be going smoothly so far, but I guess we just have to wait and see.

Alli and I have been placed in charge of decorations and linens. We've got the linens and we've got the decorations--last night a group of awesome volunteers came in and helped us put together swag bags, center pieces and our blue helmet awards.  Man, a lot of work gets done when you have a room full of hard working, dedicated volunteers! Thanks to them we got it all done in a couple of hours.

Now, we just need to get the decorations and linens to the venue and get them up. We have these huge pictures that were a display at the airport for a while.  We are going to try and hang those at the venue--this is what I imagine is going to be the most challenging part of our decorating scheme.  The pictures are big and heavy and hopefully we'll find spots to hang them!  Keep your fingers crossed.

We are going to have music and free food.  Alcohol will be available to purchase and we have a multitude of silent auction and raffle prizes; a bike from Black Rock Bicycles, a tent from REI, gift baskets from Whole Foods and Big Horn Olive Oil (for whom I have a blog post coming soon--this place is amazing!!!), gift certificates for The Grill, massage, dog goodies and much, much more. 

The following is why we are celebrating:

The 2012 field season has been a banner year for our stewardship team here at Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and, being part of our team, we could not have accomplished it without you!  We are so excited that, as of fall 2012, our volunteers have generated more than $1 million of in-kind service to benefit wildlife, wild places and the communities that depend on them!!!  Even with fire restrictions and foul weather canceling a handful of trips, we were still able to get a lot of meaningful work done.  Here is a sampling of what you accomplished in 2012: 

Northern Nevada 2012 Highlights:* 
29 Restoration project trips including: 

• Sign installation in Mount Rose Wilderness 
• Cabin rehabilitation at Soldier Meadows Cabin 
• Catchment dam installation at Mustang Springs, East Fork High Rock Canyon Wilderness
• Planting bitterbrush and sagebrush in the Santa Rosa Range, both in the Tom Basin and Hanson Creek burn areas
• Route rehabilitation along Soldier Meadow Road
• Wilderness boundary sign installation along the Calico and High Rock Lake Wilderness Areas 
• Noxious plant removal in Mount Rose Wilderness 
• Lye Creek Campground rehabilitation in the Santa Rosa Range 
• Trail rehabilitation in the Arc Dome Wilderness 
• Fence removal in both the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and in the Santa Rosa Range, Mullinix Creek 
• Development removal in the East Fork High Rock Canyon Wilderness
• Clean up and fence installation at Trego hot springs 

28 Monitoring trips including: 

• Spring monitoring in the Black Rock NCA
• Noxious weed monitoring in the Mount Rose Wilderness
• Potential project scouts in the Santa Rosa Range and Mount Rose Wilderness
• Range development monitoring in the Santa Rosa Range and in the Black Rock NCA

Southern Nevada 2012 Highlights:*

41 Restoration trips including:

• Improved water bars and rehabbed switchback cuts on the Cold Creek side of the Bonanza Trail.
• Planted hundreds of native plants at Corn Creek, Desert National Wildlife Refuge 
• Restored vehicle disturbances and cleaned up trash and debris in Lovell Canyon.
• Pulled invasive Sweet Clover at Desert National Wildlife Refuge
• Brushed and cleared in preparation of new trail tread on the Cliff Rose Trail in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
• performed trail maintenance and cleared fallen trees on the Bonanza Trail, Mt. Charleston Wilderness.
• Made seed balls to use in reseeding at Gold Butte
• Deconstructed a decommissioned concrete drinker and removed over 2,000 lbs of concrete pieces in Bridge Canyon Wilderness
• Performed route restoration and incursion rehab in the Muddy Mountains Wilderness.
• Removed barbed wire fencing at Desert National Wildlife Refuge.

*This is an abbreviated list of our full 2012 accomplishments