Jim McCormick gripped his shrub cutters with both hands, standing along the East Shore Trail near Grand Lake. He looked for a moment at the pine tree sapling that grew just a bit too close to the trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to kill the little ones,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a quick snip, he tossed the downed sapling off the path and continued up the trail looking for more shrubbery to cut back.<\/p>\n
McCormick was one of at least 400 people who volunteered on National Public Lands Day in Grand County Saturday. He and five others followed a park ranger along the 3.5-mile trail. They brushed debris away, cleared shrubbery and sometimes moved fallen trees too close to the trail.<\/p>\n
East Shore Trail will soon be opening to bikers, so part of the clearing process was meant to make the trail safer for them as well.<\/p>\n
McCormick, who lives in Colorado Springs but owns a place in Granby, has been volunteering at Public Lands Day for over six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to give back to nature,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cI use the trails; I help support them. Everything\u2019s so beautiful. If everybody just does a little bit it makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also in McCormick\u2019s group was Christine and Stephen Lee, a retired couple living in Hot Sulphur Springs. The couple has participated in almost half of the past 25 years of Public Lands Day events in Grand County, as this was their twelfth year helping out.<\/p>\n
For Christine, the reason they volunteer every year is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we live here,\u201d Christine said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the only time of the year she and her husband volunteer on the trails, but it\u2019s one of the \u201cbig ones\u201d because the date is always set.<\/p>\n
Other groups on the trail chopped down hazardous trees and pulled out stumps in the path of the trail. In one area, a small group continued work on a bridge over a wetlands area.<\/p>\n
Volunteers worked other projects on Saturday as well, including the Upper Colorado River Cleanup at Pumphouse Recreation Area, maintenance of Serendipity Trail, turnpike and bridge construction on Sherman Creek Trail and a reroute of Strawberry Fruit Loop Trail.<\/p>\n
For McCormick, Christine Lee and all the others out Saturday, the event was a good way to give back.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody had to do the work to get [the trail] to where it was,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cWhen you walk and think, \u2018Oh, this is a cool trail,\u2019 well, it didn\u2019t start that way\u2026 It makes you feel good, like I\u2019ve done something to benefit the trail system.\u201d<\/p>\n