Northwest Youth Corps - Teens-n-Trails

Jennie Budden, Tamera Collins, Anthony Taylor and Brittany Wilde participated in the Teens-n-Trails program located in Oregon wilderness areas. Teens-n-Trails is a four-week program for 14- and 15-year-old kids.

It's part of Northwest Youth Corps, a non-profit organization that gives youth ages 14-19 an opportunity to work outdoors while learning about the environment.

Photo: Northwest Youth Corps volunteers, including a few from Lebanon, work on a trail in the Fremont National Forest earlier this year.

'This summer there were two sessions of the Teens-n-Trails, each session had four crews, with ten kids and two staff members in each,' said Steven Shewach, Program Director for NYC.

The four teens lived and worked outdoors with their crew, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

During the month, the four were assigned to different work crews. Each crew was assigned a color for tracking purposes.

Their days often began at first light and the crews were usually at work before 7 a.m. For six solid hours the kids were committed to completing recreation and conservation projects.

'When the crew leaders woke us up, we put on our long sleeve shirts and jeans, and then we had breakfast,' said Taylor. 'We made the food, so if someone wasn't good at making eggs than our breakfast wouldn't taste very good.'

Photo: Anthony Taylor.

Taylor, 15, was assigned to the yellow crew along with Budden. The first week of work brought the crew to Mill Trail in the Freemont National Forest near Baker. The week was spent improving trail, building water crossings and cleaning clear-cut areas.

'This was my first year. My brother Brian Center told me a bunch of stories about when he went. I expected to work and then go back to camp and goof-off,' said Taylor. 'But it wasn't like that; if you didn't do your chores it wasn't good.'

The following week, the crew was relocated to Umpqua Lighthouse, an Oregon State Park in Reedsport. There the crew leveled trails and cleaned the area's campsites and beach. The crew worked their third week for the Eugene Water and Electric Board.

Taylor's crew spent their final week working for the Bureau of Land Management in Coos Bay. That week they dealt with an area of critical environmental concern; with sand movement and encroaching vegetation much of the land needed work.

'We were really proud of ourselves and what we were doing,' Taylor said.

Other Teens-n-Trail crews worked at the Columbia River Gorge, Starvation Creek, the Oregon Caves and Roseburg.

The day's work was usually over after the first wave of afternoon heat, then time was spent discussing wildlife habitats and hiking trails.

Staff members spent two hours teaching Something Educational Each Day (SEED). Their lessons included map reading, leave-no-trace camping, and geology, Shewach said. The curriculum included interpersonal discussions as well, with topics such as positive thinking, career planning, and drug-use and abuse.

Arriving back to camp, the crew members worked together to prepare meals, fill water containers and wash the dishes.

'It is real rustic. They want them to learn how to work without the amenities of home and they do learn to work with what they've got,' said Taylor's mother, Elena Center.

NYC was established in 1984 and offers adventures for youth ages 14-19 yearly. Tuition for the programs range from $200 to $595. This year, NYC was able to fund 12 youths through internal funds. However, the largest contribution came from the Linn County Board of Commissioners. The board sponsored 60 youths and provided funding for 15 weeks of work, said Natalie Whitson NYC's Development Director.

'They are living and working in the outdoors together where they are learning incredible communication skills, a work ethic and having an incredible experience,' said Shewach. 'They are learning how to make money and take care of themselves, it is well worth it.'

Elena Center said she noticed a definite change in Taylor when he returned with his crew on August 20.

'I feel he knows there is more to life than sitting on the couch and watching television, he got an early insight to life at a very young age, and they all did a whole lot of growing up in one month,' she said.

She also had words of praise for the staff.

'I was very impressed with the staff. Most parents would be concerned dropping their kids off with strangers, but these people were on top of it;there was not one of them that was not professional and caring,' Center said.

Youth Corps looking for teens

Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 will get the chance to earn money this fall, living and working at Silver Falls Park in the Willamette National Forest. The Northwest Youth Corps will take applications for its fall program starting Sept. 17. Forms are available at 541-349-5058, or online at www.northwestyouthcorps.org.

Young people selected for the program can earn a $1,000 stipend plus bonuses for five weeks of outdoor work, building trails and turnpikes at Silver Falls. They will reroute trails at the recreation site. They also may improve access to the trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders along Waldo Lake and throughout the Table Rock Wilderness. Other opportunities include constructing retaining walls at Mount Rainier volcano in the Cascade range.

During the five-week stint, teams learn to work together, communicate, cooperate, resolve conflicts and solve problems together.

Northwest Youth Corps is a non-profit organization, serving more than 8,000 youth since it was established in 1984. It was modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's.

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