Park Volunteers at Work
During fiscal year 2007, 139 volunteers from 10 states provided 5,021 hours of work in a variety of ways. One-hundred volunteers assisted with special events including the "Holiday Celebration", "Educator’s Encampment", "Kid’s Quarters", "Santa Fe Trail Caravan", "Fourth of July", and "The Night the Stars Fell.". Living historians portrayed Plains Indians, explorers, fur trade era traders, teamsters, craftsmen, laborers, domestic cooks, trappers, and the Army. Volunteers worked in fee collection and retail sales in Western National Park’s bookstore and with natural resource projects such as survey of the bird population, weed control, and data logging.  

This was the sixth year of Trails and Rails trips aboard Amtrak’s Southwest Chief managed out of Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. Thirty-0ne volunteers presented 68 programs on the La Junta, Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico route. Programs began in May and lasted through part of September. Natural and cultural features including the Santa Fe Trail was interpreted along the route. The program was extremely well received by 16,013  travelers. It was a very successful season, carrying the NPS message to many who would otherwise be missed. Contact Greg Holt at (719)383-5023 for more information about volunteer opportunities.