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Engaging the Next Generation with the Help of our Partners in Conservation

Posted by Robert Bonnie and Rhea Suh in Conservation
Nov 07, 2013
Texas Conservation Corps members building new trail in Texas in partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife. Texas Conservation Corps is an AmeriCorps service program of American YouthWorks, a nationally recognized nonprofit and charter high school headquartered in Austin, Texas. Each year the program engages over 100 diverse youth and college-aged young adults in critical, hands-on conservation and disaster service projects, giving participants the skills and opportunities to solve real life community and environmental problems.
Texas Conservation Corps members building new trail in Texas in partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife. Texas Conservation Corps is an AmeriCorps service program of American YouthWorks, a nationally recognized nonprofit and charter high school headquartered in Austin, Texas. Each year the program engages over 100 diverse youth and college-aged young adults in critical, hands-on conservation and disaster service projects, giving participants the skills and opportunities to solve real life community and environmental problems.

When President Obama launched the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative in 2010, one of the top priorities included connecting our youth and veterans to our nation’s cultural and natural resources. President Obama wanted to foster a new generation of stewards to carry on our nation’s proud conservation legacy.

In that spirit, a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) was announced as a collaborative effort to put America’s youth and veterans to work protecting, restoring and enhancing America’s great outdoors. Through the 21CSC, young people and veterans will accomplish meaningful work, and gain important personal and professional skills while building a lifelong connection to the outdoors.

Today, we are announcing another step forward in our work to turn that vision into a reality.

An initial group of 91 organizations have been approved as member organizations to help the Obama Administration implement the 21CSC.  From the Anchorage Park Foundation in Alaska, to the City of Chattanooga in Tennessee, to the Youth Conservation Corps of Vermont, the initial 91 organizations will serve as models of the values that 21CSC represents.

These organizations will be important partners in standing up the 21CSC and in providing young people and veterans opportunities through supervised crews or small teams to make a difference for our nation’s natural, cultural or historic resources.

In the coming months, the 21CSC National Council, made up of eight federal departments and agencies including the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, will focus on recruiting additional member organizations.  We will be targeting new programs in urban areas and investing in training and career pathways for a diverse group of participants in order to uphold the core principle of 21CSC of expanding opportunities for all youth and veterans.

California Conservation Corps’ Backcountry crew on the way to project work in Kings Canyon National Park. The Backcountry Trails Program was established in 1979, as a special program within the California Conservation Corps, and plays a vital role helping to build, maintain and repair trails in some of California's most magnificent wilderness areas. Each spring, the Backcountry Trails Program assembles six crews of men and women, from widely diverse backgrounds, who leave behind the conveniences and luxuries of modern life and venture into the mountains to spend five exhausting months doing some of the most challenging and ultimately rewarding work of their lives. The 13-17 members who comprise each of these crews learn through experience the skills of trail maintenance, construction, and the process of building healthy productive communities.
California Conservation Corps’ Backcountry crew on the way to project work in Kings Canyon National Park. The Backcountry Trails Program was established in 1979, as a special program within the California Conservation Corps, and plays a vital role helping to build, maintain and repair trails in some of California's most magnificent wilderness areas. Each spring, the Backcountry Trails Program assembles six crews of men and women, from widely diverse backgrounds, who leave behind the conveniences and luxuries of modern life and venture into the mountains to spend five exhausting months doing some of the most challenging and ultimately rewarding work of their lives. The 13-17 members who comprise each of these crews learn through experience the skills of trail maintenance, construction, and the process of building healthy productive communities.

Building upon the historic achievements of programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, we know that partners will be essential to the success of 21CSC.  We look forward to working with the organizations announced today, as well as with other federal, state and non-profit programs as we work to facilitate meaningful conservation service work on our nation’s public lands. We encourage all organizations interested in participating in the 21CSC to submit a letter of interest: visit http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-07-01/html/2013-15644.htm to learn more.

See below for a full list of the 91 member organizations, and visit the partner-hosted 21CSC website for updates.

Robert Bonnie is Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the US Department of Agriculture; Rhea Suh is Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior

The initial group of 91 21CSC member organizations includes:

  • Anchorage Park Foundation
  • American Conservation Experience
  • Appalachian Mountain Club
  • California Conservation Corps
  • Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council
  • Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council Region 11
  • Chesapeake Conservation Corps
  • Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia
  • City of Chattanooga
  • Civic Assets
  • Civicorps Corpsmember Academy
  • CivicWorks
  • Coconino Rural Environment Corps
  • Conservation Corps of Long Beach
  • Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa
  • Conservation Corps North Bay
  • Coos Watershed Association
  • EarthCorps
  • Environmental Learning for Kids
  • Environmental Stewards
  • Forest Guild
  • Geological Society of America
  • Great Basin Institute
  • Greening Youth Foundation
  • Groundwork Cincinnati/Mill Creek
  • Groundwork Denver
  • Groundwork Lawrence
  • Groundwork Milwaukee
  • Groundwork Somerville
  • Groundwork USA
  • Heart of Oregon Corps
  • HistoriCorps
  • Kupu/Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps
  • Kwiaht
  • Lane-Metro Youth Corps (LMYC)
  • Larimer County Conservation Corps
  • Limitless Vistas, Inc.
  • Lomakatsi Restoration Project
  • Los Angeles Conservation Corps
  • Louisiana Green Corps
  • Maine Conservation Corps
  • McKenzie River Ranger District
  • Mile High Youth Corps
  • Missouri State Parks Youth Corps
  • Mobile Works, Inc.
  • MobilizeGreen
  • Montana Conservation Corps
  • Montana State Parks AmeriCorps
  • Mt. Adams Institute
  • National Association of State Park Directors
  • National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (GLISTEN)
  • National Wildlife Federation (Southeast Office) Atlanta Earth Tomorrow
  • North Fork John Day Watershed Council
  • Northwest Youth Corps
  • Operation Fresh Start, Inc.
  • Orange County Conservation Corps
  • Oxnard City Corps
  • Pathways
  • Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (Colorado)
  • Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (New Mexico)
  • Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps
  • San Francisco Conservation Corps
  • San Gabriel Valley Conservation & Service Corps
  • Santa Fe YouthWorks
  • SEEDS Youth Conservation Corps
  • Sequoia Community Corps
  • SER-Jobs for Progress of the Texas Gulf Coast Inc.
  • Sonoma County Youth Ecology Corps
  • Southeast Alaska Guidance Association
  • Southeast Youth Corps
  • Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards
  • Southwest Conservation Corps
  • Student Conservation Association
  • Sumter County Youthbuild Program
  • Texas Conservation Corps
  • The Greening of Detroit
  • The WorkPlace
  • Tillamook School District No.9
  • Tree Trust
  • Urban Conservation Corps of the Inland Empire
  • Urban Corps of San Diego County
  • Utah Conservation Corps
  • Vermilion Community College
  • Vermont Youth Conservation Corps
  • Virginia's Office on Volunteer and Community Services, and the Virginia Commission
  • Washington Conservation Corps
  • Weld County Youth Conservation Corps
  • Western Colorado Conservation Corps
  • Wilderness International Youth Conservation Corps
  • WisCorps
  • WSOS Community Action Commission, Inc.
Southwest Conservation Corps’ Ancestral Lands Preservation Crew corps members work on an historic structure at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The Preservation crew program engages advanced crews of Native American young people to work in small crews completing technical preservation projects at historic and pre-historic sites, primarily in partnership with the National Park Service. Project locations have included Arches NP, El Morro NM, El Malpais NM and Petrified Forest NP, and Glen Canyon. The Corps Network awarded the Tribal Preservation Program its 2010 Project of the Year Award for partnership with a federal agency.
Southwest Conservation Corps’ Ancestral Lands Preservation Crew corps members work on an historic structure at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The Preservation crew program engages advanced crews of Native American young people to work in small crews completing technical preservation projects at historic and pre-historic sites, primarily in partnership with the National Park Service. Project locations have included Arches NP, El Morro NM, El Malpais NM and Petrified Forest NP, and Glen Canyon. The Corps Network awarded the Tribal Preservation Program its 2010 Project of the Year Award for partnership with a federal agency.
Category/Topic: Conservation
Tags: 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Alaska America's Great Outdoors Civilian Conservation Corps Conservation Department of Agriculture Department of Interior Department of Labor EPA NOAA NRE President Obama Tennessee U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vermont veterans Youth