Mission

The Rocky Mountain Field Institute is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado dedicated to the exemplary restoration of key natural areas through the integration of volunteer stewardship, environmental education, and restoration research. RMFI has received national, state, and local recognition for trail construction and restoration that is widely regarded as some of the finest work of its kind accomplished in the region. Click here to see awards.

History

Founded in 1982 as the American Mountain Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Field Institute was originally established to provide funding for international climbing expeditions. During the mid-1980s, AMF Executive Director, and climber and mountaineer, Mark Hesse began to notice the environmentally degrading impacts of climbers and other recreationists. He observed that these beautiful and treasured landscapes were quickly at risk of losing the very characteristics that drew people to them. In 1989, Mark catalyzed a group of friends and fellow climbers and began building trails and restoring impacted areas in Indian Creek Canyon, an internationally renowned climbing mecca in the dramatic desert landscape of Utah. A decade later, Mark and his grassroots organization that became the Rocky Mountain Field Institute in 1997, had protected acres of sensitive terrain by closing roads leading into side canyons, established a sustainable trail and camping infrastructure, and raised the awareness of climbers and land owners in the area. In the 1990s, Mark focused his efforts on climbing areas in Colorado, such as Eldorado Canyon, Shelf Road, and “Fourteener” summit trails. Today, RMFI still works at climbing areas in Colorado and Utah, but has grown to encompass a larger and more diverse skills set, tackling projects in the alpine and montane, watershed ecosystems, riparian zones, and sensitive foothill environs. We also work much more extensively in our home base, the Pikes Peak region. We do what we can to maintain our beautiful natural spaces for tomorrow.

RMFI has provided leadership for several major restoration initiatives focusing on sensitive ecosystem protection and watershed rehabilitation. RMFI spearheaded the effort to address recreation impacts on Colorado’s high peaks in the mid-1990s and helped found the Colorado Fourteener’s Initiative. More recently, RMFI initiated the effort to mitigate visitor impacts in Garden of the Gods Park, one of the most popular urban parklands in Colorado. The result is the creation of a community-based stewardship program that mobilizes 800 local volunteers every year in the hands-on restoration of this beloved park. Volunteerism lies at the heart of RMFI’s mission. It is through the physical act of giving back and personally caring for a site that people become deeply invested.  Based on this belief, RMFI completes all of its environmental stewardship with community-based volunteers.

Programs

RMFI develops its programs around key trail and restoration projects developed in partnership with federal, state, and local land management agencies. While we work throughout Southern Colorado, we focus the majority of our efforts in the Pikes Peak region. We have three primary programmatic areas: stewardship, education, research.

Stewardship: RMFI believes the future protection and restoration of our public lands lies in cultivating an ethic of public stewardship.  In 2012, RMFI will run an estimated 150 volunteer workdays. This will provide the opportunity for over 1,000 individuals to complete significant, high quality environmental service to preserve some of Colorado’s most beautiful wild and natural areas.  2011 work areas included: Garden of the Gods Park, Pikes Peak, Como Lake Basin and Blanca Peak, Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs, Shelf Road Recreation Area, Beaver Creek Wilderness Study Area, the South Platte Hayman Burn Area, Bear Creek on the eastern side of Pikes Peak and Indian Creek Canyon. Our Garden of the Gods Stewardship and Restoration Program is the largest stewardship program that RMFI runs.

Education: Environmental education lies at the heart of RMFI’s mission, providing the “why” behind the on-the-ground work.  RMFI runs a college-accredited education program, Earth Corps, for undergraduates in which students spend 30 days completing an environmental project while studying the environmental science and land management policy issues of the project site. Other annual programs include: an alternative spring break program for Colorado College in Indian Creek Canyon in the Canyonlands region of Utah; a 4 day senior seminar experience for graduating Fountain Valley School students; and a longstanding service-learning program in Garden of the Gods for the 8th grade and Upper School students of the Colorado Springs School. All education programs are built around an environmental service project.  In addition to the project, RMFI integrates educational components into every volunteer program, be it a geology lesson in Garden of the Gods or an erosion lesson on Pikes Peak.

Research: RMFI conducts monitoring and effectiveness research of restoration and erosion control techniques implemented at various project sites. RMFI has also completed research examining the effects of recreation within the alpine tundra associated with the climbing of the state’s 14,000-ft mountains. All of the research is geared toward gaining a better understanding of how restorative techniques positively impact the environment. As part of our commitment to further education within the restoration field, RMFI partners with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado College to provide student research internships. Current restoration research sites include include Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods Park, and South Platte-Hayman Burn Area.

RMFI programs share these common objectives:

• Assist public land managers in completing critical preservation and restoration work.
• Provide high quality and challenging environmental stewardship opportunities.
• Promote a public lands stewardship ethic based upon preservation values.
• Enhance understanding of restoration and preservation needs and challenges.