Evergreen Rotary Club members got a plea for more volunteers recently "to keep the wild in wilderness for future generations."

Lee Lambert, executive director of Friends of Mount Evans & Lost Creek Wildernesses, speaking at the club's weekly meeting, told members that the group started out with five volunteers two years ago and now has 100, about a third, she said, of what she would call "ideal" numbers for the imposing acreage in the two wilderness areas.

In those two areas, she said,"We get less than 30 cents an acre to manage 200,000 acres that get 400,000 visitors per year."

With one ranger for that much acreage, Lambert said, the value of volunteers, giving a minimum of three days each during the summer to perform needed annual maintenance of trails, sample air and water quality at various camp sites and get rid of noxious weeds that threaten to crowd out natural growth is easily imagined.

And all that work, she noted, must be done with non-motorized vehicles and equipment, in accordance with federal land management rules for wilderness areas.

The U.S. Forest Service, under the direction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is responsible for the management of 35 million acres, or about 33 percent, of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

A 10-year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge to bring each of the more than 400 wilderness area under its care to a minimum stewardship level by 2014 is underway, Lambert said, adding, however, that only about 20 percent of all the wilderness areas managed by the Forest Service "meet even our minimum stewardship level."

But of the 10 elements making up that challenge, the last of which is a baseline workforce in place, Lambert said, the Mount Evans and Lost Creek wilderness areas got passing grades in only one of the elements in 2005 and just four in 2006.

"Without field presence," she said, "none of the rest of the stuff can get done. So what we have done in our programs is try to fill these gaps." With more volunteers, "We could do a lot more trail work and a lot more restoration."

One area in which the Friends program is probably at its weakest, Lambert noted, is its lack of trained educators and interpreters, people "who are not afraid of dealing with conflict" and educating wilderness visitors about proper behavior in the wilderness.

One way in which the Friends program recruits volunteers is by setting up partnerships with communityservice groups such as the Evergreen Rotary Club, where nearly two dozen members and spouses have volunteered their services.

"But we're always looking for more," Lambert said.

As a Forest Service brochure puts it: "The 10-year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge is more than the Forest Service can accomplish alone. Join us for an opportunity to make a difference in the legacy we will give to future generations."

Reach Lambert at 303-670-1642 or at lee@fomelc.org.