Mission

Poudre wilderness volunteers (pwv) is a larimer county, colorado, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996. it assists the canyon lakes ranger district of the u.s. forest service in managing and protecting wilderness areas within its jurisdiction. to achieve this mission, pwv recruits, trains, equips, and fields hundreds of citizen volunteers to serve as wilderness rangers and hosts, educating the public, and providing other appropriate support to these wild areas. pwv is one of the largest, most effective organizations of its kind in the nation, having an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff. pwv members use education and diplomacy to promote compliance with wilderness and backcountry regulations and leave no trace principles. in addition, pwv maintains an ongoing "kids in nature" program, a trails for all program for disabled individuals, and engages in substantive trail restoration caused by cataclysmic flood and wildfire events.