Since 1995, Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers has been tirelessly dedicated to helping locals access and uphold our serene nature scene. 

RFOV, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, is celebrating their 30th anniversary of offering unmatched stewardship opportunities throughout the Western Slope in 2025, and will be celebrating the milestone all year. 

This season, RFOV is offering over 100 days and projects in partnership with local, state, and federal governments, giving the community the chance to simultaneously get out into nature and give back to their community.

“We want people to feel proud of taking care of these amazing public resources that are available to everybody,” RFOV Executive Director Rebecca Schild said. “We’re doing good work for the environment, and we’re building a stronger community by doing it together.”

To go along with invaluable outdoor conservation and maintenance, RFOV is committed to educating the youth and training volunteers throughout the community. They run workshops on trail building, rock work, invasive species identification, and pollinator garden installation training yearly to go along with their undying commitment to stewardship. 

“Our core mission is fostering a culture of stewardship,” Schild said. “Even if somebody only volunteers once with us once, we want them to walk away and be able to influence the people around them about the importance of stewardship and carry that ethic and value system within them. The volunteers that come year after year are the epitome of what that culture of stewardship is.”

Longtime Roaring Fork resident Helen Carlsen can remember when RFOV staff was just a director and a part-time assistant. Seeing it now at 13 full-time employees and so many more ways to volunteer brings a massive smile to her face. 

“The early projects were only trail work, both building new ones and fixing existing ones,” she said. “Now there is a lot more variety — restoration, plantings, weeding, barb-wire fence removal, which is my personal obsession, and fire mitigation. This helps different aspects of the environment and also attracts volunteers with varied interests.”

Although Carlsen is an outdoor junkie, and keeping her inside is a task on its own, she said she keeps coming back to RFOV because of the camaraderie that they foster. 

“I usually do 8-10 per year, but the number varies,” she said. “My favorite aspect is the satisfaction of seeing immediate improvements after a work day, getting the instant gratification when we finish. Also, working with other volunteers and RFOV staff to accomplish what no one could do by themselves is a great feeling.”

Schild said that they are running a number of commemorative preservation projects this year to honor longtime volunteers that continue to return year after year. She can’t wait to see familiar faces during projects on Red Hill, the Maroon Creek Wetlands, Maroon Bells Scenic Area and Rifle Falls State Park, but is also itching at the chance to get back on the Hanging Lake Trail. 

“We haven’t been on Hanging Lake since before the 2020 fire,” she explained. “Before COVID, we historically did a project there every year, but we have had to take a 5-year break because of the damage from the fire and floods. That project is already getting pretty full, and I expect there to be a waitlist.”

In what started as a tight-knit, community and committee driven volunteer group has evolved into one of the unsung heroes of the conservation world. Their total volunteer hours have reached consecutive highs since 2021. 

“Each year since 2021 has been somewhat of a record-breaking year for us,” Schild said. In 2024, RFOV saw more than 2,000 unique volunteers spend over 8,000 hours in acts of stewardship. 

She continued to explain that there has been a youth renaissance in terms of outdoor interest, helping contribute to their record numbers year after year. 

“(I think) because we’ve deliberately been trying to increase our projects, and then at the same time, we are reaching more student volunteers,” Schild said. “We’ve doubled the number of youth who participate with us over the last couple of years.”

RFOV has been offering their “Adventure Stewards” programs for nearly 15 years, and in addition will be offering the “Little Explorers” free program for kids from 4-8 to participate in structured nature activities during select events this year. 

For a full list of this season’s events and registration, visit RFOV.com/calender. 

Longtime RFOV board member Randy Gold has been a Roaring Fork Valley resident for nearly a half-century, and had his first introduction to the RFOV 20 years ago. He said that through their 30 year lifespan, the community’s embracing of the nonprofit is a point of pride. 

“The vast majority of the population has a huge interest in the outdoors, it is one of the key reasons that they live here,” Gold said. “Promoting the environment’s health and the necessity of stewardship is our obligation, especially in the times we live in right now.”

He continued to admit that although RFOV isn’t bringing in multi-million dollar grants, their community impact isn’t one to take for granted. 

“I think that we are one of the unsung heroes of our community,” he said. “We aren’t ACES (Aspen Center for Environmental Science) or AVLT (Aspen Valley Land Trust) or some of the more recognized environment and stewardship focused entities, and we don’t do what they do. We do something totally different, but we are such a necessary part of the outdoor experience here. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve continued to grow.”

RFOV’s season has already kicked off and they will continue to supply the community with weekly nature driven stewardship opportunities. For more information, visit RFOV.org.