Young Adult Programs

Field News Recap- August

Oregon: Our Blue crew spent the first four weeks of their five month term they were at Crater Lake National Park, where they cleared 13.25 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail of downed trees using crosscuts. For their final week Blue was in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest working on the Hanging Rock trail, where they improved 1.31 miles of trail. Red crew worked all over the state. Their first week was spent at Loon Lake, improving campgrounds and doing light trail maintenance. They then worked in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest, removing 12.76 acres of invasives and collecting seeds. Their final two weeks were at Saddle Mountain State Park, where they completed gabions baskets at the end of a challenging hike in. This wonderful work was fueled in part by 126 Kinder eggs. Our Yellow crew spent their first week removing invasive plants at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area near Reedsport, then removing more invasive plants in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest. Their final two weeks were spent working on the Pacific Crest Trail in the Umpqua National Forest, where they did 3.5 miles of trail maintenance and cleared 50 drainage structures. Orange crew began …

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Project Spotlight – Olympic National Forest

In partnership with the Olympic National Forest, our summer Youth Camping Washington Orange Crew completed a number projects from August 14-18th, 2023.  Some of the projects included:  2 Bathroom Interiors painted. 2 Bathroom doors painted. 2 picnic tables assembled. 2 old picnic tables disassembled. 4 Old fire rings removed (with concrete anchoring them) 4 New fire rings installed. Half a load of gravel approximately 7 tons of gravel spread throughout campground (Klahowya) and Trail (Bogachiel) Brushed approximately .25-acre Amphitheater (deferred maintenance) in Klahowya Campground as well as brushed around the exterior of both vault toilets. All tasks were completed by a crew consisting of 4 members and 2 crew leads of the Northwest Youth Corps. Before After Quotes from the crew members:  “Being at the heart of the ecology in Washington is amazing. This is such a unique system. Plus seeing the old trees has been pretty cool.”  -Lucas, Crew Lead   “Finishing a project. There is a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude for the work done. In 5 years you could go back and say that you helped get this place to a better state and it feels good to know I did something to help conserve the natural …

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Field News Recap- Youth Camping Crews Session One

Oregon: Our Youth Camping Crew 7, Red Crew 1 spent their first three weeks in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest before heading out to central Oregon and finishing in Coos Bay. Throughout the session they pulled invasives, fixed trails and even maintained campgrounds. The work included installing 12 fire rings, clearing over 5 acres of invasive plants and maintained over 6.5 miles of trail. YCC 8, Blue Crew started in the Fremont-Winema National Forest in the south, moved to the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon and finally finished up north in the Mt Hood National Forests, fixing trails the whole way. They maintained over 12 miles of trail over 5 weeks and cleared 35 logs with crosscut saws. YCC 9, our red 2 crew started the season working with a couple other youth crews in the Fremont-Winema National Forest clearing trails before finishing near the coast with some invasive removal. They were able to maintain over 2.5 miles of trail in two weeks before clearing well over an acre of invasive species. YCC 10 Orange  crew also worked in the Fremont-Winema National Forest for 3 weeks before tackling a couple weeks of invasive removal, ending the season in Northern …

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Field News Recap – May

Oregon Update: In May, Oregon graduated one crew, the blue crew!  Two of our other Oregon crews partnered with the Hood River and Barlow Ranger Districts. They worked alongside recreation staff. Crews tackled maintenance projects around the districts including removing graffiti from Little John warming shelter, repainting forest boundary signs, and removing trash left after the winter snowmelt. Crews also assisted the trails program in restocking the Fivemile Butte Lookout with firewood.  Our Expedition Crew ending the month working out at Diamond Lake with the Umpqua National Forest helping to get the campgrounds ready for the summer season.  Previous image Next image Washington Update: Washington’s first Young Adult Spring program successfully graduated 12 members and leaders at then end of May. Crews rounded out the season working with the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Cascadia Conservation District, and the Siuslaw National Forest completing projects ranging from campground and recreation area maintenance and preparation for the summer season, and trail maintenance.   “During my term I realized I am stronger than I thought. I definitely didn’t realize how mentally hard it is rather than physically. I grew a lot as a person and hope to continue to use the knowledge I have …

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Field News Recap – April

Oregon Update: Oregon graduated its first young adult crew for the season in April. The winter silviculture crew in Eugene graduated 6 members, and throughout the whole session they planted nearly 19,000 poplar trees. The winter camping crews have finished their season and completed 9 weeks of campsite restoration, 7 weeks of invasive plant removal, and 3 weeks of trail maintenance. Our Oregon program has launched a combo Leadership Development Program with future youth crew leads for our Washington, Idaho, and Oregon programs. They’ve started their session with getting Wilderness First Aid certifications and will be moving on to chainsaw certification in the coming weeks. The spring crews are cruising along and just completed their 6th week at the end of April. One crew has been working at Silver Falls this whole month, and the other crew has been working on a combination of campsite restoration, invasive plant removal, and Douglas Fir habitat restoration where a fire came through a few years ago. Previous Next Washington Update: Washington currently has three young adult crews. One of them partnered with Cascadia Conservation District and the Washington Department of Natural Resources to help clear out fire breaks in the community of Plain, …

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Internship Opportunities in Idaho

Northwest Youth Corps’ Conservation Internship Program provides training and hands-on experience with land and water resource management agencies, such as the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State Organizations and Non-Profits, in Idaho, Northern California, Oregon and Washington. The Conservation Internship Program is a cooperative effort between Northwest Youth Corps and partner agencies to provide our participants paid opportunities to acquire the skills needed to qualify for permanent and seasonal employment opportunities while living near and working on public lands.  https://youtu.be/i7vnpDqQmjE Video showcasing Northwest Youth Corps internship experience and partnership with Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.   Payette National Forest Opportunities The Payette National Forest consists of over 2.3 million acres, with everything from the deep recesses of Hells Canyon to peaks reaching elevations of almost 9,500 feet. The dry desert grasslands compliment heavily forested acres. Gateways to the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness reach trails that are seldom traveled.   Forestry Technician Internship: Northwest Youth Corps is recruiting two interns for the Payette National Forest, McCall Ranger District from May-September 2023 for a total of 680 hours (17 weeks). Interns will assist the trails program on the New Meadows and McCall Ranger Districts. …

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Field News Recap – March

Oregon Update: Oregon currently has five active young adult (YA) crews out in the field. Our three winter crews have been out since February and the two spring crews kicked off in March.  The winter camping crews have been working hard in Oregon state campgrounds to get them ready for the upcoming summer months by making them accessible for as many people as possible. Another of our winter crews has been working on a poplar farm in Eugene with the goal of planting 26,000 trees. These crews are approaching their final weeks for the season.  Our two spring crews are in their third week and have been focused on developed recreation projects in campgrounds. This is the first week of trail work for crew 5 and they will be in Silver Falls State Park for the next four weeks helping maintain the highly popular Canyon Trail. Poplar Project Register guard article read Here Checking the Phacelia to make sure it has plenty of room to grow and flourish. Our Oregon Expedition crew teamed up with our blue crew. Expedition crew working on the fire pits at Driftwood Campground. Previous Next Washington Update: For the first time, Washington launched three young adult spring …

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Project Spotlight

In partnership with Oregon  Bureau of Land Management , our fall young adult crews have been working at Twin Prairie Meadows (near cottage grove, OR ) removing conifers to allow for the madrones and oak trees to thrive. These meadows offer essential habitat for plants and animals amongst the otherwise thick tree canopies of the area. The project provided an excellent opportunity for the crew to practice bucking logs into decomposition piles, after getting their saw certifications the week prior. While working on a steep incline made for an intense and physically demanding project, it offered the crew epic views that they will not soon forget.

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