Friends of the Forest: Dedicated to Environmental Preservation
Springtime in Sedona brings warm temperatures, a burst of wildflower color—and a notable surge in visitor numbers. This is a perfect time to reflect on how we can help preserve thered rock wonderland that surrounds us.
Explore possibilities by attending the Sedona Friends of the Forest welcome event, Wednesday, March 9 at 2 p.m. in the Red Rock Ranger Station Visitor Center. The station is located a mile south of the Village of Oak Creek on State Route 179.
Our welcome event is part educational and part social. For more than 20 years, Friends volunteers have worked in close partnership with the Forest Service to help conserve and protect the scenicnationaltreasure that exists right at our doorstep. We support the Forest Service with expertise and thousands of volunteer hours per year across a range of activities and projects.One of more of these could be just right for you.
We invite you to discover how volunteering with Friends of the Forest can enrich your life. You’ll have the opportunity to meet members and activity leaders in a relaxed social setting. And you’re sure to enjoy the dramatic video that opens the program.
Founded in 1994, Friends of the Forest has kept true to its original goals:
- Help the Forest Service maintain trails and cultural resources.
- Reduce environmental damage caused by human impact.
- Educate through environmental communication.
- Enhance the forest experience for visitors and residents.
As you might imagine, most of our activities offer you a chance to work outdoors in the exhilarating environment of Red Rock Country.Trails preservation is a primary activity, since nearly 300 miles of trails zigzag through the Sedona landscape of sandstone sculptures and green forest.
Trail Maintenance and Construction crews take onthe tough physical chores essential to keeping trails safe and in good condition. They rebuild trails, remove fallen trees, construct steps in steep terrainand fabricate rock cairns to mark routes.
Trail Patrol members hike throughout the forest to assist hikers and mountain bikers. They count trail users, answer questions, provide safety tips,make trail recommendations and collect litter.
At Palatki, Honanki and V Bar V Heritage Sites, knowledgeable docents of our Cultural Resources group relate how native peoplesthrived here for thousands of years. Our docents play a key role in helping preserve these unique historical sites.
Preservation takes a different tack through the work of our Graffiti Removal group. Painstaking hand labor is required to remove scratched carvings, paintings or other unwanted graffiti. Eradicating graffiti as quickly as it’s discovered limits future spread, so this group is vital for long-term conservation.
Education is the central focus of our Interpretive Projects group. Members share their skills through presentations, demonstrations, hikes or exhibits. Topics may cover geology, history, wildlife, landscape photography, native plants, wildflowers or birds.
Thousands of visitors pour through the Ranger Station Visitor Center each year. Trained “frontliners” from our Visitor Information Services group offer a warm welcome, answer questions, provide maps and discuss the abundant recreational options in the Sedona area. Volunteers work side-by-side with Forest Service staff.
Some Friends activities are seasonal. From May to September, a water sampling team collects a small sample of water from Oak Creek, records air and water temperatures and delivers the water to Slide Rock State Park for evaluation.
River Ranger support (October through April) entails driving Forest Service personnel and supplies to and from the Verde River put-in site at Childs and take-out site at Horseshoe Lake. Forest Service River Rangers then patrol the river, combat invasive weeds and remove trash to keep the river in a pristine state
As-needed jobs include Fire Tower Support at either Apache Maid or Mingus fire lookouts and wildlife observation. Members also put theirlifeskills to workin projects ranging from finances to web services.
We partner with the Forest Service for activities several times a year. March is Archeology Awareness Month and Friends members will participate in two festiveevents this month at V Bar V Heritage Site. At Mountain Man Camp March 12–13, visitors can get a close look athow these frontier explorers lived and the tools they used.
A more immersive visitor experience is the hallmark of V Bar V Archaeology Discovery Days, March 25–26.Here children can make a pinch pot, grind corn or toss an atl-atl (ancient hunting spear). The whole family can enjoy demonstrations that include starting a fire by friction, classic pottery making and much more.
Friends of the Forest membership is open to all who desire to safeguard our stunning Sedona landscape. To RSVP for our March 9 Welcome Event, call Membership Chair Manny Romero at 928-380-3421. Friends members serve on the front lines in a campaign to preserve the picture-perfect beauty of Red Rock Country.
Serving Sedona, written this week by Manny Romero, vice president and membership chair of Friends of the Forest, appears Wednesday in the Sedona Red Rock News.