For Immediate Release: September 24, 2007
Contact:Melodie Lloyd  BLM 970-244-3097
Denise Adamic BLM 303-239-3671 

BLM's National Public Lands Day Event a Success

Grand Junction — Over the low hum of I-70, the tink-tink-tink of shovels and pulaskis could be heard Saturday and Sunday on the Trail through Time where over 80 volunteers chipped in to celebrate National Public Lands Day (NPLD).  NPLD is a nationwide effort to raise attention and environmental awareness about the country’s various public lands.

The Bureau of Land Management, the Museum of Western Colorado, Williams Energy, Friends of McInnis Canyons, and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) sponsored the two-day event. Volunteers from across the state arrived Friday evening and spent the weekend camping out, getting to know their fellow volunteers and enjoying the early fall weather. 
“We had a great weekend,” said Matt McGrath, Recreation Planner, McInnis Canyons NCA. “With everyone’s hard work we completed almost a half mile of new trail, where we rerouted the original trail, and rehabbed the rest of the one-and-a-half-mile loop.”

VOC provided food, tools and trail construction and rehab guidance. Paleontologists from the Museum of Western Colorado visited with trail crews about the area’s 140 million year old history. The Trail through Time, in Rabbit Valley, is the southeastern tip of the Dinosaur Diamond, which extends southwest to Moab, Utah; north to Vernal, Utah; and west to Price, Utah. The Rabbit Valley area is filled with fossilized dinosaur and plant material.

Last year, VOC and BLM worked together on another NPLD event on Rabbit’s Ear Mesa.  The project turned a three-mile trail into a seven-mile loop.  BLM looks forward to continuing the NPLD tradition with VOC next year and has already applied to host a 2008 VOC project on Mack Ridge.
“It’s not too late to help on your public lands,” said McGrath.  “The BLM has several more volunteer projects going on this fall and we can always use an extra hand.”

For more information about this and other volunteer opportunities in the Grand Junction area contact Matt McGrath at the Grand Junction BLM Office at 970-244-3029 or Matthew_McGrath@blm.gov To learn more about VOC visit www.voc.org
Editor’s Note: Photos may be obtained from Melodie Lloyd (970-244-3097) or Matt McGrath (970-244-3029).

-BLM-