Minnesota Conservation Corps

1997 Grand Forks Flood
"If we come through this and we can say we have lost no citizens, no people, we can say we won the battle."
-Grand Forks Mayor Pat Ownes '97

Conservation Corps joins the flood fight
Thirty members of MCC joined the ranks of volunteers fighting rising waters in northwestern Minnesota from the Grand Forks Flood.

Crews receive the Quarterly SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD for Region V
Lake City, Lewiston, and Rochester Crews are recognized for their dedication and hard work during the spring 1997 flooding of the Mississippi River.

MCC receives "Partnership Minnesota Special Achievement Award"
Governor Carlson presented MCC with this award in recognition of MCC's outstanding leadership and effective cooperation with numerous stakeholder organizations in support of 1997 flood efforts.

MCC fights fires in Florida
The DNR sent 11 MCC corpsmembers to Florida in July to fight fires. The firefighters were part of the crew in the Daytona Beach area for three weeks. The wildfires in Florida were closing in on Flager Countyfrom three directions causing 30,000 people to be ordered out of their homes. Earlier that week, some 40,000 others have been ordered out of their homes in two other East Coast counties, Brevard and Volusia. (Some of the MCC firefighters were Travis Nelson, Gail Dashner, Eric Rosenquist, and Emily Hurd.)

Friendly Fire for Forest
Foresters conduct largest prescribed burn in Itasca State Park history. About 90 state foresters, firefighters, and MCC corpsmembers worked on a controlled burn at Itasca. (April 98)

Guthrie Crew Work Projects
-working on the Heartland Trail
-prescribed burn at Horace May School (with Bemidji crew)

1997-98 Sounding Board
Dawn Miller
Lori Lieser
Emily Hurd
Aaron Mongeau
Jason Johnson

MCC Sounding Board presents fire workshop at AmeriCorps Training
The board presented the "Forest Fire Commandos" workshop which included a video on the life of a firefighter, discussion of training involved, demonstration and display of personal protective equipment, chain sawing demonstration, importance of communication and chain of command, basic wildland firefighting techniques, and of course, the Smokey Bear story.

Power pole saw trimmer proven useful
The Nicollet MCC crew has been working with a Stihl HT 75 Pole Saw Pruner, which has been a welcome addition to their inventory!

Aitken Crew Work Projects
-cleared trails in Savanna State Park

Metro Roving Work Projects
-working with Greening the Great River Park, organizing volunteer tree and prarie plantings
-service learning: giving presentations to ten classrooms about MCC, Greening the Great River Park, and praries

"Environmental education's impact on our natural resources is just as great as grabbing a shovel and doing the work."

Virginia Work Projects
-slash pile burning
-pruning a 30+ acre white pine plantation
-controlling beavers and protecting roads
-planting trees for St Louis Co. Land Dept.
-planting red pine and white spruce
-installing new posts and replacing signs for Trails and Waterways
-timber stand improvement

Willmar Work Projects
-spent 5 weeks camping in southwestern Minnesota state parks, prescribed burning

St. Peter Tornado Recovery
2,000 volunteers and 10 MCC crews assisted with the clean-up.

Faribault Work Projects
-helping the dwarf trout lily
-oak savanna restoration

Nicollet Work Projects
-re-establishing oak savanna environments at Fort Ridgely and Mankato

Hennepin Work Projects
-Forestry work
-restoring the historic Noerenberg Barn

MCC Honors (Dec 1997)
-Chris Newgren, of the Moose Lake Roving Crew, was named corpsmember of the year
-Mark Mattson, crew leader for the Hinckley Roving Crew, was named crew leader of the year
-The Brainerd Roving Crew received the Crew of the Year Award

Fergus Falls Work Projects
-prescribed burning
-Leafy spurge spraying
-Maplewood State Park
-exotic species removal

MCC participates in the "5th Grade Conservation Tour"
This was the 31st consecutive year that the tour was held for all the fifth grade students in Becker County. A total of 29 speakers/leaders from 13 different government agencies and conservation personnell worked to put on the tour.