9 minute read
Winter play, outside the box by Stephanie Maltarich
Winter play,outside the box
John Holder
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We really needed to get outside during the pandemic. The Met Rec District and its winter recreation partners helped make that happen.
In the dim late-afternoon light of mid winter, in the parking lot near the Van Tuyl trail system in Gunnison, dozens of elementary school children clicked off their Nordic skis and scurried to find their parents. Their excitement was palpable, and their numbers surprising; during the 2020-21 winter, Gunnison Nordic’s youth program grew by 300 percent.
In the Gunnison Valley, as in many places, the pandemic prompted a desire for people to spend more time outside. In autumn 2020, it was clear that demand would continue through the winter. Many recreation organizations expressed worries about the upcoming season and their ability to meet increased needs while operating safely amid the novel coronavirus. The county’s Metropolitan Recreation District (Met Rec) listened.
Hedda Peterson, Met Rec manager, recalled, “We started to hear shared concerns throughout the community about the need for locals to stay active during the Covid winter. At the same time, some partners were concerned about overcrowding in the backcountry as well as the organizational capacity needed to keep the programs going that help get folks outside.”
The concerns aligned with one of the Met Rec District’s new program areas: increasing access to recreation. So the staff convened partners to share resources and grow programs, working to ensure that, even in the time of Covid, Gunnison Valley residents had access to affordable and safe winter recreation.
To accommodate this level of community collaboration, Met Rec provided a more flexible funding approach; it pledged up to $30,000 in matching funds to catalyze the work of the partners and to encourage support from other entities.
As a special recreation district, Met Rec is funded by property tax, and its work focuses on park and recreation needs for county residents. Since 2001, Met Rec has awarded over a million dollars to support local recreation. For the winter campaign, along with Met Rec’s pledge, the Town of Crested Butte committed $11,300, and
Gunnison County offered $4,000, for a total of around $45,000.
With funding in place, Met Rec convened key players in the valley’s winter recreation: Gunnison Nordic, the City of Gunnison, Crested Butte Nordic and Crested Butte Avalanche Center. The partners asked: How do we get more residents, from youth to seniors, outside safely this winter? Strategies ranged from accessible or free gear rentals to increased staff. The Crested Butte Avalanche Center sought to ensure that residents and visitors got good snow safety information before venturing into the backcountry.
After a handful of meetings in fall 2020, the partners settled on goals, while knowing that in an unpredictable pandemic winter, flexibility would be key. Their goals included connecting more residents to winter recreation, reducing local barriers to those pursuits, promoting safe and responsible outdoor recreation, and providing capacity-building support to help partner organizations operate safely and efficiently.
REVITALIZING YOUTH NORDIC IN GUNNISON
Gunnison Nordic aimed to get more kids skiing by eliminating barriers: equipment costs, expensive programming and limited access to coaches. Joellen Fonken, chair of Gunnison Nordic, said that with Met Rec’s support, the organization was able to recruit more coaches and pay a higher rate, provide full-season rentals from Gene Taylor’s, and facilitate weekly programming.
The programming made life easy for parents: lessons were held for 45 minutes after school and included equipment. Regular lessons and additional coaches allowed more kids to participate. Advanced skiers could take part in Crested Butte Nordic’s new Gunnison-based programming. Fonken noted that Met Rec’s contribution was key to the program’s success and the kids’ fun. “They learned new skills, made new friends, and we had a big party at the end of the season; the kids even learned how to do a snow dance.”
NOT JUST FOR KIDS
Like the youngsters, older adults involved with the Gunnison Senior Center jumped at the opportunity to spend more time on skis. The City of Gunnison worked with the Gunnison Senior Center to offer more consistent winter programming. In the past, the center offered a few snowshoe outings,
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but without funds to pay staff to help lead them, safety was often a concern. Previous outings drew only about half a dozen seniors.
Elizabeth Gillis, the Senior Center coordinator, noted that, as with children’s programs, access to gear had been a huge challenge in the past. “It’s hundreds of dollars to rent equipment and buy clothing to maybe like it or maybe be physically able to do it.”
Met Rec’s funding allowed the Gunnison Senior Center to access skis from Crested Butte Nordic, which used Met Rec moneys to purchase a portable gear trailer. The trailer was driven to the senior outings, providing free gear.
Gillis was astounded when the senior Nordic lessons filled up on the first day, and around 40 participants signed up for the six-week sessions, which remained full all season. Additional funding allowed for more instructors and volunteers for safety. “It was just such a high for everyone,” Gillis remembered. “People really loved it.”
Jan Nixon is a senior who grew up in Gunnison, but she never skied as a kid because of the cost. Last winter she found out about the lessons and outings offered at the Gunnison Senior Center and immediately signed up. “It was always something I wanted to try; it looked like so much fun,” she said. Nordic skiing proved to be just as enjoyable as she had imagined. She only missed one lesson the entire season, and she loved that each day brought a new experience.
SAFETY FIRST
Than Acuff, the executive director of the Crested Butte Avalanche Center (CBAC), noticed an extreme uptick in backcountry users during the pandemic spring. He decided if the spring was foreshadowing the upcoming winter, he needed to do something. So he created a community outreach program, and he reached out to Met Rec with some ideas.
Met Rec’s funding allowed CBAC to increase its presence at popular trailheads, where center staff checked in with skiers as they ventured out into the backcountry. Second, they delivered regular fireside chats over Zoom, with experts discussing avalanche safety and snowpack. A new sign at the entrance to town indicated the current avalanche danger. Lastly, the staff increased youth education programs.
The feedback was tremendous. Some outreach videos reached up to 40,000 views. People tuned in for the fireside chats from Canada to Tennessee.
In addition to elevated backcountry education, several organizations expressed Covid safety concerns from an operational standpoint. Crested Butte Nordic wanted to figure out how to continue providing rentals without putting staff at risk with face-to-face interactions. The purchase of iPads for rental agreements coupled with the mobile trailer to transport gear to lessons allowed CB Nordic to stay afloat.
For this winter, many of the organizations look forward to carrying over the lessons, resources and energy from last year. Peterson believes the benefits of the Met Rec partnership will extend beyond the Covid era. “Bringing together multiple partners to address community needs has helped Met Rec encourage collaboration and broaden its impact,” said Peterson. “We’re excited to continue this momentum and play a more involved role in addressing key community recreation needs.” b
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