For five weeks this summer, six teenagers arrived at the Northwest Youth Corps headquarters on Augusta Street in Eugene’s Laurel Hill neighborhood at 7:30 a.m..

Each morning, they piled into a Sprinter van packed with shovels, Hori Hori knives, and weed-wrenches and headed off to a work site, where they spent eight hours working with their hands and learning about ecological restoration.

Though summer break usually means sleeping in, these teens used their holiday to work as part of an Urban and Community Forestry crew for the Northwest Youth Corps, a Eugene-based organization that offers youth and young adult residential conservation programs in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Some programs have specific concentrations that change seasonally, like wildfire protection, backcountry leadership, and wilderness camping.

Urban and Community Forestry crew members are between the ages of 15-18 and are hired to work in developed parks and spaces around Eugene. At the end of the program, the teens receive a stipend and high school credit.

From June 23 to July 25, the crew cleared nonnative plant species, helped create resilient urban ecosystems, and collaborated as a team on hands-on projects.

“Everything we do feels impactful and makes a difference,” said Samma Ayala, who was on her second summer as a crew member. “A lot of the time it’s very satisfying work, because we can see a clear before and after.”

Last year, her crew mulched trees around the outskirts of the Valley River Center mall. Since then, each time she returns to the area and sees the mulch (and the lack of weeds), she feels proud of the work she did with Northwest Youth Corps.

“It’s hard work, but it’s so worth it,” Ayala said.