17% increase in volunteer hours over 1999
32% increase in group hours over 1999

Sixty groups with 2,5111 volunteers
392 individual volunteers

The year 2000 saw a 17% increase in volunteer hours from 21,688 to 25,983. The steady increase in volunteer hours can probably be attributed in large measure to our strengthened and expanded relationships with our independent partners. These groups work independently under our supervision, scheduling their own workdays and recruiting their own volunteers. Our partners include Friends of the Park groups with whom we have or are considering a formal agreement, non-profit and recreational user groups, neighborhood associations, businesses and service clubs.

Friends of the Park groups include the Friends of Schumacher Farm, Friends of Donald Park, Friends of Old Halfway Prairie School, Friends of Pheasant Branch, Friends of Lakeview Woods and the newly forming Friends of McCarthy Youth & Conservation Park. We currently have a signed agreement with the Friends of Schumacher Farm and have submitted a draft agreement to the Friends of Donald Park. Together all these Friends groups account for more than 7,000 of the year 2000's volunteer hours. In addition, interest in volunteering and in forming a Friends group has begun to grow in the Cam-Rock area.

The Adult Conservation Team Manager serves as a resource for these groups, keeping them apprised of grant and training opportunities. They also have access to our materials on the organization and management of non-profit groups and to the local network of volunteer services and environmental volunteer organizations.

The creation and relatively smooth functioning of these self-managing, independent volunteer groups was an objective of the 1997 Adult Conservation Team Strategic Plan which we are now effectively meeting. The majority of these groups has a good understanding of their role and how to achieve their goals while helping Dane County Parks achieve its goals.

A separate line in the Office, Printing and Stationery budget for the Adult Conservation Team made it possible for the first time to get a more reliable picture of the operational costs of this program. It turns out that the operating cost of the program is actually twice the amount budgeted. We plan to make a more appropriate budget request for 2002, and to present detailed evidence to support the request.

"ACTION" is published quarterly and is distributed to over 1,300 individuals and groups, including volunteers, non-profits, recreational user groups, businesses, local units of government and elected officials. It is also archived at the Wisconsin State Historical Society. Through the pages of "ACTION" volunteers' efforts are recognized and readers are made aware of volunteer opportunities. The Parks Department communicates to the public about our projects, goals, acquisitions and accomplishments. Several of our Friends groups have regular features in "ACTION" which also give them an opportunity to recruit new volunteers and members. These features serve to educate our readers about the important role that partnerships play in achieving our mission.

Our program was enthusiastically received when Parks Director Ken LePine presented it at the fall Wisconsin Parks & Recreation Association conference. Conference participants took 50 copies of the ACT Operations Manual. The Adult Conservation Team serves as a model program and the ACT Manager is contacted by professionals elsewhere in the state for consultation and resource materials several times a year.

After serving on the Board of the Dane County Administrators of Volunteer Services, as chair of the Membership Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee, the ACT Manager now serves on the United Way Volunteer Center Advisory Board.

As in past years, in 2000 the Adult Conservation Team participated in two volunteer fairs at the UW-Madison, and provided projects for large community volunteer events such as the United Way Day of Caring, National Trails Day and Youth Service Day.

Highlights of 2000:

• Grants from the Upper Sugar River Initiative, Madison West Kiwanis Club and the Madison Area Master Gardeners ($1,350), and 50 cases of product from the Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The donation envelope in the October issue of "ACTION" brought in $800.
• The Sugar River capacity building grant from the DNR provided $10,000 to the Friends of Donald Park, the Deer Creek Sportsmen's Association and the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association to incorporate as non-profits and to build their membership.
• $1 million donation from Jack Lussier for the Lussier Family Heritage Center and Lussier Park.
• Ground broken on construction of the Lussier Family Heritage Center.
• The beginning of the development of McCarthy Youth & Conservation Park, starting with Youth Service Day and other projects during the summer, and continuing with the formation of a Friends group. Members of the new Friends group have donated non-tax deductible funds and legal services to incorporate.
• Friends of Donald Park incorporated and received tax-exempt status, held its first annual meeting and began work on equestrian trails and the picnic area.
• Informal formation of the Advocates for Dogs at Prairie Moraine and their participation in eight workdays at the park.
• Youth groups and classes were frequently referred to partners such as the Friends of Donald Park, Friends of Pheasant Branch, Madison West and Middleton Kiwanis and the Indian Springs Neighborhood Association. Sometimes they joined an already scheduled workday.
• On May Flower Day 136 volunteers planted 2,000 wildflowers at Lake Farm Park in less than two hours.
• Opening of the Capital City Trail on National Trails Day. REI and the Dane County Chapter of the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation also sponsored a major workday on National Trails Day in the Ice Age Trail Junction Area. Other than future prairie plantings, we are pretty much done with large volunteer workdays in that area.
• Friends of Pheasant Branch began the construction of a viewing deck at the springs that is designed to protect the springs.
• Friends of Schumacher Farm acquired and relocated a corncrib and hog house and expanded their public programming.
• Service learning projects through the UW-Madison, such as designing a bridge for Viking Park and a cost analysis of the work Dane County Parks does for other County departments. These projects provide valuable and usable information for Parks and practical experience for the students. These projects are in addition to master planning work done by Landscape Architect students for their senior theses.
  

Total Volunteer Hours in 2000:  25,983
Total Number of Volunteers in 2000:  2,903

Group Volunteers:         2,511 volunteers (from 60 groups) worked 11,755.5 hours
Individual Volunteers:   392 volunteers worked 14,228.5

The number of group hours as compared to individual hours has grown substantially over the last year (by 32%), to the point that they are almost equal. I suspect this is due to the increased activity of our group partners, and the increase in the number of volunteers working within the context of a group, rather than individually.

Major Volunteer Project Areas

Other projects with a great number of volunteer hours include the Disc Golf Course (305), Office Work (540), building the deck around the springs at Pheasant Branch (213), and Class Projects, including master plans (502).

These numbers can be deceptive. Using hours alone to evaluate a program is insufficient, as it does not necessarily reflect the real value of the work being done. The Seeds program looks small compared to Natural Areas, but it is a major component of our habitat restoration work. It is valuable because it educates many people, especially young children, about restoration work and the environment, and because to purchase the seeds retail would be prohibitive. Similarly, the Bluebird program has relatively few hours (160), yet only a couple of volunteers are responsible for fledging hundreds of bluebirds annually. The huge number of campground host hours is provided by only 20 volunteers, who essentially "work" a 40-hour week.

* In 2000 there were no projects specifically labeled "trail work," such as building a mountain bike trail, but many field work and natural areas projects had as their goal the creation of a trail corridor and/or the improvement of a trail's surroundings.

Summary

The 1997 Adult Conservation Team Strategic Plan called for the development of independent partners and for their increased role in the volunteer program. The evidence is that this process is well under-way and expanding. This is to the good, as the ACT Manager's attention will necessarily be focused in the near future on the move to the Lussier Family Heritage Center and the development of volunteer opportunities there. Our program has grown remarkably over the years and is necessarily changing from being cozy and intimate to being more sophisticated, with more layers. This change does not preclude being warm and caring with our volunteers, and should not interfere with our ability and desire to work with volunteers to help them realize their dreams. The expansion of the program, however, will require us to take a look at its organizational structure to determine what will be needed to keep pace with the changes that growth brings.