The Marmot Messenger STAUNTON STATE PARK

VOLUNTEER NEWSLETTER MARCH – APRIL 2019 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2

Volunteers of the year for 2018 Festag and Coburn honored at annual volunteer breakfast

Keith Festag was named male volunteer of the year and Nancy Coburn was named female volunteers of the year at the annual volunteer breakfast. Park manager Zach Taylor, in honoring all volunteers for their service, said, “I want to celebrate the volunteers.” He added “It is nice to be recognized, but I did not expect it,” Staunton State Park would not be the phenomenal Keith said upon receiving the honor. “I am doing success it is without volunteers. something I am enjoying.” Keith Festag In addition, Festag gives photo workshops at the park and he enjoys trail hosting and working parking Volunteers and visitors alike know Keith as the guy detail. with the camera. Festag has done photography work for the park since before Staunton opened in 2013 and many of his photos have been featured in the annual What’s Inside calendar which sells through the Friends of Staunton Work on the VC 5 State Park organization. Historical Display 6 Seasonal Prognostication 7 Keith is a member of the first team of volunteers Fake News 8 who joined the park in 2012 before it opened. His wife Raptor Award 9 Susan, who is also a volunteer and female volunteer of First Day Hikes 10 the year for 2016, got him involved with the park. Friends 12 “Susan brought me out to the park to weed and Andrea 13 work on fencing,” Festag said. After that he became Team Coordinators and Staff 15 involved with taking photos and other projects. MARMOT MESSENGER 2

He also helps groups with special needs who come to produce “a lot of information and fun for the the park to enjoy activities such as fishing. volunteers.” “I try to make it fun for them and help aid them (so In addition, Nancy serves on the Raptor and they can enjoy this activity),” he said. Marmot monitoring teams and works parking and trail hosts. She also helps on the Trails team which builds Festag has also had paintings made from his photos and maintains trails in the park. and vividly describes his experiences shooting wildlife scenes at Staunton that eventually turn into pure An avid hiker, Coburn heads up a team of hikers pleasure for others who enjoy his work. who report on trail conditions in the winter months. She writes and submits weekly reports which are posted Keith also did some work in the new visitor center by her partner Mark Fisher on a variety of websites for and looks forward to spending more time at Staunton. visitors to check. One activity she said she particularly After all, he only lives a few minutes from the park enjoys is slash days. and he says “service here is so fulfilling. “I really love helping to clean up the park including Nancy Coburn slash days.” she said and added she would do anything A Staunton State Park volunteer since 2012, Nancy else she can do because “I have such a love for is a member of the first class. She said, “I am honored Staunton State Park and I enjoy working for the that I was considered for this recognition. I was not visitors.” expecting it.” Coburn, whose husband Bob is also a volunteer, said Coburn has served as editor of the Marmot she feels blessed to be a member of the team. “The Messenger since its beginning in 2012 and also serves best part of my experience has been meeting all the as reporter for the newsletter, writing many of the staff and volunteers, which has resulted in wonderful articles. She says one of her greatest pleasures is friendships and relationships with some of the most working with Elaine Rideout and Bonnie Scudder to interesting people I have ever known.”

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Visitor center to officially open May 18 Volunteers and staff get their first look The annual volunteer breakfast was held at the brand new visitor center in February. Although the center will not officially open to the public until May 18, the park's sixth anniversary, staff and volunteers got a sneak peak of the VC, including the displays, layout and inner workings. Reactions were positive: Annie Thran: Annie worked tirelessly to design and implement much of the displays and coordinated with other volunteers and outsiders to put together the Staunton story. “It turned out just the way I imagined it.” She added, “The animals in the displays came from this area.” Dale Specht: “I think it (the center) will make the park run more efficiently...having everything centrally located.” Randie Boldra: “A great educational opportunity— especially for kids. I like the kids’ corner.” Ron Lalone: “I think it is better than I imagined it to be. Excellent usage of square footage in the center. It is beautiful.” Connie Fox: (non volunteer's perspective): “The displays are informative. The kids can tune in. It's interactive. The windows and the views of the surroundings with good lighting are excellent.” Bonnie Scudder: (history display designer on the center displays) “An understanding and appreciation of the vibrant history of this beautiful park enhances the experiences of each visit.” Lew (Robert Lewis): “I think it turned out better than the plans. Now it has the “feel.” “If we (staff) have issues it is all right here...efficiency.” Zach the manager: “Most of the materials (for displays and furniture) in the visitor center came right from the park.”

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Historical Displays define history of park by Bonnie E. Scudder The various historical displays at the visitor center have been created and designed by Bonnie and Dick Scudder and Deborah Darnell so that many visitors can learn about and appreciate the rich history of Staunton State Park and the Elk Creek Valley. We know that many visitors are interested in learning more about their favorite state park. Our historical poster display features 20 large posters that tell these interesting stories. The posters feature many photographs, along with captions or short narratives. Longer narratives on each poster have been developed to enable visitors to learn more of each of these stories. (These will be very helpful to volunteers who may serve as guides.) The Evolution of Staunton State Park display, developed by Deborah and Jack Darnell, explains to visitors why it took 27 years after the original donation to open the park to the public. Other historical displays include the Legacy of the Staunton Family, the Staunton State Park Human Timeline and the various historical signs. A poster featuring the Reynolds Gang to accompany the “Outlaw” sign in the lobby will continue to intrigue visitors to the park as this gang is infamous and has been featured in many books. Our yearly Treasure Hunt during Living History Days relates to this sign. Deborah and I have spent well over 1,000 hours researching, developing, and creating these displays. We began researching photos in the Staunton Collection at History Colorado early in 2016. In addition, Dick Scudder has spent hundreds of hours creating the posters in a graphics-design format, and Steve Sparer has put the finishing touches and arranged for the printing on several of these displays. An understanding and appreciation of the vibrant history of this beautiful park enhances the experience of each visit. Those visitors who are unable to join in on family hikes around the park will be able to enjoy experiencing the park through the historical and other displays.

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Spring may be just around the corner, or not There's PunxsutawneyPhil, , Atlanta’s , Ontario's , Nova Scotia's , Alberta's and Vancouver Island’s Violet. A couple of these appear a bit sketchy. There were conflicting predictions from the US and Canada's rival weather marmots. Phil, Chuck, Wiarton, Merv and Billy didn’t see their shadows and forecast an early spring. While Sam and Beauregard Lee did see their shadows and predicted six more weeks of winter weather. Violet had no prediction because she was doing what she was supposed to be doing this time of year, namely hibernating. A Canadian climatologist David Phillips cited a survey Phil of 40 years of weather data from 13 Canadian cities, which concluded there was an equal number of cloudy and sunny days on Feb. 2 — and during that time, the Canadian groundhogs' predictions were right only 37 per cent of the time. According to the Punxsutawney Club's records, the various incarnations of have predicted 103 forecasts of more winter and 19 early springs. There are nine years without any records and and no one seems to know what happened to Phil during those years (sounds nefarious). Phil's prognostications have been correct about 39 percent of the time. Raymond, on the other hand, has been 100 percent correct. This year he saw his shadow and predicted more winter to come. Raymond

Shubenacadie Sam Balzac Billy Merv Violet

Wiarton Willie –albino, but looks like a white rat Chuck Beauregard Lee MARMOT MESSENGER 8

A lesson about fake news By Daniel Blumstein, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA

Our ‘fake news’ epidemic reminds us that we all must be The Boy Who Cried Wolf explains marmot behavior, then mindful of the sources of our information. Obtaining Nervous Nellies—who are unreliable— would be ignored. information is essential for the innumerable decisions we Humans partially solve the problem of information make daily including decisions about what to wear, when to acquisition by relying on trusted sources. If I am going to cross the street, and whether to put milk in our coffee or purchase a car, I poll trusted friends and colleagues about tea. We also make more consequential decisions about their experiences. By doing so, I’ve saved a lot of time whom to date and marry, where to go to school, or what car reading each and every review about cars and making or house to purchase. Information has never been so hundreds of visits to car dealers. The problem today is that abundant, but it is not all equally reliable. Yet, reliable we trust our partisan news aggregators or sites and this information is essential to make rational choices. Can we makes highly susceptible to fake news that taps into trust that our milk is fresh and unadulterated? Can we preexisting confirmation biases. believe the graduation statistics from a college or university? Turns out that marmots also trust reliable but not Can we trust the safety statistics about a car? This problem is unreliable marmots. We conducted an experiment and not uniquely human and I suggest that we can learn found that marmots hearing alarm calls from reliable callers effective strategies from other species, including the responded immediately but then resumed their prior groundhogs we celebrate each year on Groundhog Day. behavior more quickly than those hearing unreliable callers, Groundhogs are one of 15 species of marmots and I study who kept looking for a non-existent predator. In some antipredator behavior in these cat-sized alpine ground sense, this is exactly opposite what one would expect from squirrels. Like many other species, marmots must trade-off the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, but it’s very similar to risks versus rewards when they leave the safety of their what we see when we trust, but verify, our news sources. burrows to go out to forage to avoid terrestrial predators— So what to do? Marmots have it easy—a handful of foxes, coyotes, and mountain lions, as well as aerial predators to detect, and only a few individuals to potentially predators—hawks and golden eagles. Upon detecting a assess the reliability of. This palls in comparison to a 24- predator they emit alarm calls—loud chirps that warn other hour news and spam cycle churning out vast amounts of marmots. Marmots hearing those alarm calls cease all potentially contradictory along with some genuinely activity, look around to detect the predator, and often run erroneous information. back to the safety of their burrows. But, while at their burrows they are not able to eat, and this is a costly We all have an inner marmot; we have evolved situation for marmots must double their weight each mechanisms to believe trusted sources. But now we face an summer during a 4-5 month active season to be able to evolutionary mismatch and our evolved evaluation survive a 7-8 month long hibernation. mechanisms have broken down because there’s simply too much potential information to process. Fortunately, individuals differ in their propensity to emit alarm calls and there are essentially Nervous Nellies and Mindful of this, I suggest that we scrutinize our news Cool Hand Lucys! Nervous Nellies call in response to not sources. If it sounds too ‘good’, perhaps it is. News sources only predators, but other things as well that are not that follow strict journalistic practices and fact check their alarming. We all recall the story of the Boy Who Cried sources are, without question, going to be more reliable on Wolf. By crying wolf when there was no wolf the villagers average than those that simply aggregate information. The learned to ignore the lying shepherd boy, which had rise of fake-news means that we must re-learn to trust but disastrous consequences when a real wolf appeared. verify. And we must dig deep into our pockets and support reliable journalism that properly fact-checks sources because From the perspective of a marmot trying to decide there simply isn’t enough time for each of us to fact check whether to keep foraging or run back to their burrows, everything we hear. The truth is out there and we need good Nervous Nellies are sending unreliable signals. This is not information to make informed decisions. much different than the problem we all face in determining whether the news we encounter is supported by facts or This article was originally published on Huffington Post. made up by someone on their kitchen table as click bait. If MARMOT MESSENGER 9

Raptor monitoring is CPW team of year Staunton State Park's raptor monitoring team was named Colorado Parks and Wildlife volunteer team of the year. Park manager Zach Taylor made the announcement at the annual volunteer breakfast in February. Team leader Dick Prickett and team member Elaine Rideout were especially honored for their work in finding and protecting a Goshawk nest, which hatched and fledged three young, on Mason Creek trail. This section of trail was closed for a period last year to protect the babies until they were able to be out on their own.

Elk Creek Elementary School A lesson on animals in the winter

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First Day Hikes

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First Day Hikes

Total Number of Miles Hiked

246

80 cups hot 2 pots of coffee

chocolate 110 hot dogs

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News from Friends of SSP Things get a little quieter at SSP during wintertime, but you’d never guess by all the activity taking place inside the new Visitor Center. Vision, talent and lots of elbow grease have transformed a bare building into a welcoming place for our visitors to congregate and learn. Friends of SSP have been working behind-the- scenes from the start, collaborating with Annie and funding many projects along the way. One of the most dramatic is the female mountain lion that graces the huge rock pile in the multi-purpose room. Yes, look up and be awestruck. Coming next, in time for the Visitor Center grand opening in May, a bull elk head funded by the Friends group will be mounted above the mantle so visitors can get a sense of how big these members of the deer family really are. Seeing a variety of forest critters throughout the Visitor Center helps people appreciate, and hopefully help protect, our furry forest inhabitants. In the Visitor Center lobby, Friends of SSP has a section featuring track chair brochures, awards, various contributions to park education and information about how visitors can participate – including a box for contributions while they are at the park. People want to be part of something special, and supporting Friends of SSP gives them an opportunity to do that.

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New ranger Andrea Dumais loves Staunton environment Wisconsin native hopes to “make my mark” at the park New ranger Andrea Dumais, who recently began work as a PM (park manager) at Staunton, is eager to learn and contribute. She said she has been observing how various volunteer programs at the park are run and wants to learn more about them.

“Everyone has been so helpful,” she said, adding that she has been able to learn so much just working at the “day to day” things.

Dumais was born in Wisconsin, but moved to Broomfield, Colorado, as she was beginning kindergarten. Her family moved to Michigan when her dad got a job back east and her mother and older brother and his family still live there. Andrea's father has passed away.

Dumais remembered her younger years in Colorado “I did not like that part because I could not interact and chose to return here to college when the University with the visitors as much,” she said, adding that this detail of Colorado-Boulder offered her a scholarship. was boring.

“I pursued a double major: environmental studies and In January 2018, Andrea entered the state ranger geography,” she said, adding that she wanted to enter the academy and graduated the following May as a PM One. natural resources field in some capacity. She did some on-site training at various state parks including Steamboat Lake from July and August last After graduation in 2016, Dumais worked at a variety summer. But Dumais knew she wanted to work at a park of places that eventually led up to entering the ranger with a mountain environment because “I love mountain academy. She worked at a summer camp for kids near parks and the wilderness feel,” she said. Boulder as a field staffer and also did some instruction. While working at various parks in urban areas, Dumais Later that summer she interned at Rocky Mountain noted that rangers were spending much of their time in National Park where she served in the visitor center and law enforcement duties. presented programs at campground amphitheaters, among other duties. After the internship ended in “I did not get into this line of work to do law November, she went to work at Copper Mountain ski enforcement,” she said and added she wants to work out area as a lift operator until the 2017 ski season ended. in the environment and with the visitors.

“That summer I was hired as a Title 33 ranger at El When Dumais came to graduation, she had to list Dorado State Park,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.” which parks with openings she would prefer to work at. Staunton was at the top of her list. But some of Dumais' duties were not always pleasant, like having to remove rattlesnakes from trails and parking Andrea said she had previously hiked at Staunton and cars on busy weekends. loved the park. She was thrilled when she found out she MARMOT MESSENGER 14 was chosen to come to Staunton. “I learn best out in the field,” she said. “We should do more education out in the field.” “I got the park I really wanted,” she said. Since Dumais lived in the area she did not want to move and was She will have that opportunity as she begins work with relieved and excited to be coming to Staunton. the educational program. But for now, Andrea is eager to learn while at the park and especially from staff and She believes experience in her resume helped her get the volunteers. She has a message for you: job. “Please come introduce yourselves and I want to learn “I did some trail work while interning at RMNP and what you do in the park. Please pass your knowledge on while I was in college I had some experience working with to me,” she said. people with disabilities,” she said.

This experience will come in handy as one of Dumais' duties will be to oversee the popular track chair program. In addition, she is in charge of revenue at the entrance station, overseeing the volunteer programs and will help Annie Thran with the educational programs.

Dumais also has goals of her own to enhance the park. “I want to get a “Leave no Trace” program started in the park,” she said. The non-profit organization, which is based in Boulder, encourages environmental responsibility by wilderness users. Dumais hopes to get volunteers involved in a certification process in the future. She would also like to see the track chair program expand to more days in the week and hopes to work with Natalie Burnside-Bostow, the current coordinator, to make that happen.

Dumais, who owns a home in Littleton with her boyfriend, is a passionate reader. She also loves to ski, a skill she learned when she was a little girl living here. Andrea also loves to hike, backpack and camp. She has climbed Longs Peak...twice.

While in college, Andrea spent a semester in Australia studying in an environmental program through CU. The studies abroad provided wide-ranging experiences she will remember for a lifetime

“We camped with an Aboriginal tribe. We were fed traditional foods and learned about the culture.” she said. The tour also included a side trip to Tasmania.

As a result, Andrea understands the value of field trips. MARMOT MESSENGER 15

Volunteer Team Coordinators

Education: Claudia Gunn – [email protected] Annie Thran – [email protected] Fencing: Susan Festag – [email protected]

Wayne Parkinson – [email protected]

Chainsaw: Scott Aaronson – [email protected] Ted Hammon - [email protected] Newsletter: Nancy Coburn – [email protected] Elaine Rideout – [email protected] Small Construction: Ed Samberg – [email protected]

Jack Gunn - [email protected] Trails: Gary Sims – [email protected] Plants: Jack Darnell – [email protected] Deborah Darnell – [email protected] Raptor Monitoring: Richard Prickett – [email protected] Wildlife: Ron LaLone - [email protected] Elaine Rideout – [email protected] Park History: Bonnie Scudder - [email protected] Deborah Darnell – [email protected] Rock Climbing: Kirk Miller – [email protected] Alex Andrews – [email protected] Entrance/Office: Susan Festag – [email protected] Trail Host: Jane Nault – [email protected] Sally Parkinson - [email protected] Wayne Parkinson – [email protected] Weed Warriors: Mark Fisher - [email protected] Patty Warnick - [email protected] Scouts/Eagle Scouts: Randie Boldra - [email protected] Mark Fisher - [email protected] Ron LaLone - [email protected] Gary Finley - [email protected] Geocache: Jack Darnell – [email protected] Newsletter Team: Nancy Coburn

Staunton State Park Staff Bonnie Scudder Elaine Rideout Zach Taylor Park Manager Marmot Mascot Designer: Dave Stigall Park Resource Technician Meagan Webber Dale Specht Park Ranger Andrea Dumais Park Ranger Special Thanks to Zach Taylor

www.parks.state.co.us