Volunteering

Needless to say, its been a challenging 2020. Four months after our community was asked to stay at home and flatten the curve, Nevada remains in the middle of a nationwide health crisis. In Clark County, folks want to get back to business, encourage the tourists to return, and just plain get back to normal. Our scrappy little Friends group, we cannot wait for that to happen! It’s going to take work, though, along with patience and perhaps a litter humor. Our attitude with recovery is the same as our attitude toward public lands stewardship…

We believe good things happen when we work together as a community.

No matter what activities FSC engages in, from trail work to guided hikes to talking about the outdoors at public events, the safety of our volunteers and the public is our top priority. To that end, as we get back to work at Sloan Canyon NCA this summer we want to fill you in on some safety measures we’re following:

Throughout the recovery process, and now as required by the State of Nevada, anyone participating in an activity coordinated by Friends of Sloan Canyon will be required to wear a face mask when within a car’s length of other volunteers or the public and to keep a mask ready to wear all other times during the activity.

If you encounter us on the trail or at our mobile contact station we encourage you to don a face mask, as well. After all, we’re all in this together.

We keep alcohol-based hand sanitizer and gloves on-hand for volunteers and the public to use when exchanging maps, paperwork, and other materials. Everyone is encouraged to sanitize their hands per the guidelines we all know and love by now after time spent on the trail or as a participant in one of our activities.

During community outreach or on-site group activities we’ll be working to ensure participants maintain a 2 meter/6 foot distance from each other. Sometimes physical distancing is not practical, in which case we’ll mask up and keep sanitation products at hand.

This might seem a bit extreme to some of our community. After all, people are heading outdoors to spend time away from people, and the chance of transmission may be much lower while hiking, biking, or running. We understand. As mentioned a few times already, we’re all in this together, and its going to take us all working together to recover from these strange circumstances we find ourselves in during the course of this pandemic. Your safety is important to us, and we hope our safety is important to you.

To support public health and safety efforts during the COVID-19 threat, we’re pausing guided hikes, on-site stewardship activities, and any effort at gathering community members together for at least the next few weeks.

We recognize that although Nevadans are being asked to isolate themselves, lessening the spread of coronavirus and the chance of contracting COVID-19, some people are going to turn to the outdoors for that isolation. If you do, please be considerate of both your community and your local public lands so they’re both there for you now and for years to come:

• Continue following the guidelines of medical authorities such as CDC, Nevada Health Response, and state & federal authorities on preparedness, distancing, and lessening the chance of infection. For outdoor spaces, don’t go where other people are.
• Continue practicing Leave No Trace principals, protect yourself from the elements with proper long-sleeved clothing & hats, and don’t skimp on water.
• Similar to recent federal government shutdowns, organizations such as ours cannot perform normal stewardship duties to scale during these times. It’s up to individuals – its up to YOU – to be good citizens while enjoying the outdoors. Please don’t litter, obey current federal land management signs and rules, keep your dogs on leashes and pick up after them. For extra gold stars, bring a grocery or trash bag with you on your excursion and pickup litter along the way!

If you’re favorite outdoors spaces are crowded, do yourself a favor and head somewhere else. That includes HOME. What a great opportunity to organize all those photos and videos on your phone, clean & organize your camp gear, pick up that instrument sitting in your closet. There are thing we can do indoors now that will help us outdoors later.

Friends of Sloan Canyon is looking forward to getting back to work (and play) as soon as practical. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy. See you on the trail…after!