Jessica: For KVCR News I'm Jessica Greenwell. I spoke with Dan Ramirez at the National Park Service about the Youth Conservation Corps and their summer program in Joshua Tree. For our listeners who may not know, the California Conservation Corps is a voluntary work development program for adults between 18 and 25 years primarily, they offer work in environmental conservation, fire protection, maintenance, and the like. But there is a program, the Youth Conservation Corps, that offers a summer program in Joshua Tree. Dan, could you tell us a little bit about this program?
Dan Ramirez: Yes, the YCC program here in Joshua Tree National Park. We primarily recruit locally, so from the Twentynine Palms, Morongo Valley, Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley areas, we're trying to recruit from high school age. So, from 15 to 18. Teens are encouraged to apply as long as they don't turn 19 during their time with us. We try and have a good balance of age ranges and demographics. We spend some time really developing on community building and teamwork. Everyone gets to know each other. We go on hikes, we talk about safety, kind of get everyone into the mindset of this is our schedule, this is our crew. Once we get a good framework, the foundation built up with the team, then we go into our project. This year, we are doing about a six-week season. So we have work out on High View trail, that's in Black Rock. And we're also doing work out on Keys View, try and do like simple kind of maintenance tasks, sometimes do a little brushing, we'll do some maybe some structure building. That's usually structures are like steps or water mitigation, so we can get water off the trail, so this prevents erosion. Or we do tasks like we have them brush out a whole corridor that's kind of grown in that visitors tend to get lost in certain trails that don't get hiked that much. So we want to make sure that those areas are clear so people don't get lost. But then we do spend every other Friday doing something fun, we will take them out to visit other preserves, we've gone down to Thousand Palms, we've gone to some museums in the past gone, down to Mercer Caverns and to Whitewater Preserve. Also, we do encourage them to work and get trained by other divisions in the park with our science division, Wildlife Division, so that they get to see that park is not just managed by park rangers, that most people assume that are law enforcement. But there's many roles filled by different trades. And it gets them that perspective. So hopefully down the line, when they are of age and they want to apply to get a labor position in the park, then they can put their name in the hat and be part of the Joshua Tree National Park family.
Jessica: So, is that kind of the thought behind the youth version of the Conservation Corps? To inspire kids that may someday become part of the Park Service's full-time employees? Is that what you guys are looking for?
Dan Ramirez: Well, it's always nice to you know, have folks that want to be a part of the Park Service just because it's giving back, and a lot of youth that have done this in the past have given back, they have returned as youth leads. And those are folks that have done the YCC program prior and came back as a mentor for this next generation coming in, like this is hard work. But you know, with perseverance and dedication and teamwork we can, we can strive through it. And so those youth leads typically want to volunteer after their season. Some have gone on to either work in the park or other divisions. Some have gone on to work the Mojave Desert Land Trust, and others have moved on to other state agencies or preserves, either in the state or outside. But typically, it's just to really show that there's opportunities in the Park Service.
Jessica: If you had to say you're looking for a specific skill set, who are you looking for specifically?
Dan Ramirez: Anyone that's willing to give it a shot, and we just encourage youth to apply and be willing to do hard work. People that want to work with other people, develop trade skills and educate themselves in the opportunities that the Park Service can provide folks that really want to do some hard work.
Jessica: And you caught he said hard work twice. I don't think that was accidental. For more information on the Youth Conservation Corps. You can visit https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/kidsyouth/teens.htm.
Don't worry, we'll have a link on the website. There you'll find details about the program, a video with specifics about the work, a link to the application and more. For KVCR News, I'm Jessica Greenwell.