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Thanks for helping 'carry on the corps' Jan 12, 2012


We were delighted to hear from all of you who responded to our “carry on the corps” campaign. The video messages from alumni on the importance of the Corps in their lives resonated with many of our friends and alumni. We are grateful to you for helping us “carry on the corps” for future generations. Click for a quick thanks (really, only 30 seconds!). 

Where are they now? Jan 12, 2012


Mark Sommer served on a Grand Marais young adult crew in 2000, working primarily on the Superior Hiking Trail. His crew also helped clean up camps on the Gunflint Trail that had been damaged in the BWCA blowdown of 1999. He was impressed by the level of responsibility given to his crew: “The Conservation Corps had proven itself. We were seen as a credible, responsible group of young people.” Sommer’s service in the Corps was a natural extension of his interest in natural resources, having worked for the Forest Service in California and the Army Corps of Engineers. He is now district manager of the Hubbard County Soil and Water Conservation District, which includes 330 lakes, trout streams and an abundance of potato fields. His focus is helping watershed users make good decisions that protect and restore the district’s water resources.

2011 program accomplishments Jan 12, 2012


The numbers are in and they are impressive! In 2011, 515 Conservation Corps members:
- Served 8,600 hours on emergency response and recovery and more than 4,600 hours on fire suppression
- Planted more than 250,000 trees and plants
- Constructed and improved 419 miles of motorized and 813 miles of non-motorized trails
- Participated in more than 18,000 hours of personal development training and more than 34,000 hours of technical skills training

These are just the highlights. Other work included debris removal, environmental education, community outreach, erosion control, GIS/GPS data and mapping, prescribed burning, seed collection, wetland restoration, invasive plant removal, carpentry, home energy improvements, rain garden installation, surveys and many more activities. More than ever, Conservation Corps continues to restore resources and change lives.

Photo: Luke Dovre and Alice Yonke haul lumber used to build a bike trail on Pincushion Mountain on the Gunflint Trail.

Summer Youth Corps leaders rendezvous and volunteer with Will Steger Jan 12, 2012

Current and former Summer Youth Corps leaders convened in late December at Will Steger’s homestead in Ely to volunteer and reconnect. The fourth annual Winter Rendezvous drew 18 people from New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, California and Oregon, as well as Minnesota and Wisconsin, who caravanned up to the homestead for a three-day stay. Steger uses minimal electricity and plumbing on his property, which includes numerous cabins, workshops, a “castle” (conference center under construction), sauna, storage buildings and gardens. Participants spent daylight hours hauling lumber, chopping wood, pulling nails and working on cabins. Evenings included games around the wood stove, saunas and jumps in the frozen lake. Steger led a tour of the property and talked about his formative life experiences and arctic adventures, offering his eyewitness observations about climate change and ideas about what must happen now to protect the planet.

Photos, from left: Ashton Stenberg and Nikki Rinehart pull nails from reclaimed lumber, group gathered on top floor of “the castle”, Keith Doane and Mares Anderson-Duggan on dish duty.

Corps members fight winter fire in northern Minnesota Jan 12, 2012

On December 26, the Boxing Day Fire burned 750 acres of woods near the northwestern Minnesota city of Gully and the Hangaard State Wildlife Management Area, in Polk County. A Conservation Corps crew from Rochester arrived two days later, just as temperatures dropped and it began to snow. Though the rapidly moving fire had been brought under control, it continued to burn as peat fires; the extremely hot fire caught the dry peat and spread underground. Corps members spent five days working with 60 DNR firefighters and three local volunteer fire departments. After locating the fires, indentified by brown patches on the ground where newly falling snow had melted, they dug down to expose and extinguish the fires. The deepest fire was five feet underground. Corps members Karl Erie (crew leader), Dylan Olson, Brittany Schmit and Jon Bunton also had to navigate slippery ice after the rapidly-freezing conditions dropped 8-10 inches of snow.

Minnesota’s dry, brown winter has turned normally low fire-danger conditions into a tinderbox, with exposed grasses and brush ripe for fires. Winter’s cold weather and low wind chill temperatures make fire fighting more difficult. In addition to the slippery ice, hazards include frostbite and frozen water pumps.

Photo: From left, crew members Jon Bunton, Karl Erie and Dylan Olson wrap up a day of firefighting.

Donate now to carry on the corps! Dec 27, 2011

 

Harley HansonSix of our alumni from the CCC to today -- representing the 'eras' of our history –– have shared their stories in a series of videos. Watch our final video of the year, where we gathered them all together to tell you about how important the Corps has been in their lives, and how important it is for all of us to carry it forward.

It's critically important that you help us

 carry on the corps for future generations. Make a tax-deductible donation this week before the new year. Donate online today. We thank you so much for your anticipated support and wish you a happy new year.

Visit carry on the corps to see all the videos.

 

Our very own chainsaw lady cuts tree for governor Nov 21, 2011

Last Thursday, corps member Mary Hammes deftly took down a towering balsam that has become the 26th Governor’s Christmas Tree. She assisted Art Widerstrom, a forester with the Department of Natural Resources for more than 40 years. His colleagues call him “Father Christmas” because selecting and cutting the Governor’s Christmas tree has been his job for decades. This year, Widerstrom passed on the honor of cutting to Hammes, perhaps signaling a change for the future. Said Hammes on WCCO-TV: “I grew up in Saint Paul, so it will be fun to see it in the yard and know that I cut it down.” The tree was delivered to the governor on Monday.

YO members spend day learning about alternative energy Nov 21, 2011

Youth Outdoors (YO) members and leaders spent Saturday, October 15 learning about sustainable energy use, focused on conservation and alternative energy use at home and in transportation. Corps staff led 36 youth from St. Paul and Minneapolis in activities such as cooking with solar energy, a transportation competition and a discussion on different ways energy can be produced. With a bright sun to fight off the day’s chill, corps members were able to dine on hard boiled eggs, cinnamon rolls and shrimp that they cooked in the solar ovens. Conservation Corps individual placement Sean Wickhem – who works with Rural Renewable Energy Alliance on outreach and education – created the transportation competition and held a discussion on making transportation choices for efficient commuting.

Crews build bridge on Wapsi Great Western Trail in Iowa Nov 21, 2011

In October, Conservation Corps young adult crews from Iowa and Minnesota completed a boardwalk bridge in McIntire, Iowa that connects two sections of the Wapsi Great Western Trail. The 800-foot elevated boardwalk traverses a floodplain leading to a steel truss bridge that spans the Wapsipinicon River. Three crews worked with the Mitchell County Conservation Board on the month-long effort, which included a break for construction of the steel truss section. Hear Conservation Board Director Milt Owen describe the county’s connection to the project and the crew’s contribution. The project required a much larger scale design than originally planned, retrofitting reclaimed telephone poles and leveling the expanse across hundreds of feet.

The Wapsi Great Western Trail follows the Wapsipinicon River Corridor and the abandoned railbed of the Chicago Great Western Railroad. From the trailhead in Riceville, Iowa the 18-mile trail extends north along hilltops and rolling landscapes that include native prairie and forested areas. The trail includes a butterfly garden built into a hillside and a 320-acre upland timber called Pinicon Alders. Future plans include connecting the trail with the Shooting Star Trail in Minn.  

Romance, floods, adventure, even a possible hijacking! Nov 15, 2011