DOI Youth Initiative Develops Valuable Conservation Skills for Young People Working on LCR MSCP Projects
By Steve Leon, Reclamation Public Affairs

In the spring of 2010, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Reclamation would fund a $1.1 million youth initiative to provide opportunities to America’s young people to participate in various conservation projects throughout the western United States.

In the Lower Colorado Region, Biologist Nathan Lenon has been working on various initiative-related activities.  Among them are three that concluded this past year. 

“One of the goals of the initiative is to bring in youth conservation corps to learn valuable skills while assisting with various conservation projects,” said Lenon.  “The purpose is to foster an appreciation of nature through these service projects.”  

“Reclamation awarded a grant to a group called the Corps Network (TCN) in Washington, D.C.  TCN coordinates with numerous conservation corps nationwide to administer this funding and supply crews.”

The grant to TCN was awarded in fall 2010 and Lenon’s involvement as technical representative for the grant began with the award securing crews for three short-term conservation corps projects to assist with various Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation (LCR MSCP) Projects.

“Long term, it is part of a larger strategy to foster a sense of community service and environmental stewardship among youth ages 16-25, as well as to prepare a skilled work force for the future,” said Lenon.  Dianne Bangle, Ashlee Rudolph, and Ty Wolters are the three project leads for the three LCR MSCP projects under this agreement (vegetation and wildlife surveys, Beal Lake Riparian Restoration, and Bubbling Ponds Fish Hatchery, respectively).

“The general expectations for the crew are that they have knowledge of working with hand tools, and they provide at least one trained chainsaw operator.  The crews aren’t expected to be experts at all of the specific types of work we do, but are expected to come prepared to work hard and be willing to learn new things."

“I’m excited to see on-the-ground work taking place with this,” Lenon said.  “It is similar to work we have done in the past, but now we have a tool to consolidate multiple short-term projects into a single grant.

Updated October 14, 2011