Volunteer stewardship is the cornerstone of CFI’s peak preservation work. For the last several years volunteers have put in more than 1,000 days over CFI’s four-month field season helping protect the Fourteeners. Volunteers perform needed trail stewardship and education work to meet CFI’s preservation goals. The in-kind value of volunteer labor counts toward meeting CFI’s matching requirements for many grants. Here are ways you can help.

Trail Construction and Restoration
Trail and restoration projects provide hands-on opportunities for individuals to help CFI, including building new, sustainably located summit trails, closing and revegetating unplanned trails, and performing annual maintenance on heavily used trails. Projects protect native alpine plant communities, while keeping summit trails in good shape for Fourteener hikers.

Hiker Education and Outreach
Volunteer “Peak Stewards”represent CFI at community outreach events and play a key role educating and monitoring the estimated 500,000 hikers who climb the Fourteeners every year. Ensuring that Fourteener hikers know about—and follow—Leave No Trace practices is vital to protecting the rare and fragile alpine tundra ecosystems found on these peaks.

Group Projects and Corporate Partnerships
Through CFI’s Adopt-a-Peak program, organized groups—businesses, hiking clubs, schools, youth camps, etc.—commit to help maintain a Fourteener by providing at least 20 person-days of volunteer labor annually. Projects include regular maintenance on the peak’s standard route, repairing trail structures that have deteriorated, and revegetating denuded areas.