Mission
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a Larimer County, Colorado, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996. The mission of PWV is to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and protecting wilderness and backcountry, forests, and other public lands within its jurisdiction. To achieve this mission, PWV recruits, trains, equips and fields citizen volunteers to serve as wilderness rangers and hosts for the purpose of educating the public, and provides 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 and engages in substantive trail restoration caused by cataclysmic flood and wildfire events.