CCC Takes a State Park off the Grid

The California Conservation Corps is doing its share to help the state reduce its carbon footprint through a unique partnership with the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
State Parks has agreed to identify solar photovoltaic projects for the CCC to complete over the next several years. Corpsmembers, young adults between 18 to 25, will be selected from within the Corps to form energy crews to complete projects selected across the state. They will receive special training and expert supervision to complete these projects.
Through these projects, the CCC not only intends to save the state high energy costs, but also provide corpsmembers the training and experience necessary to access a green pathway to future employment.
The first project will be at Montaña de Oro State Park in San Luis Obispo County. There the C’s will install solar panels at eight different sites within the park to provide for interpretation, interactive education and energy conservation. The systems will deliver 10,000 watts in total and range in size from 56 to 400 square feet.
Final permits are expected to be completed and approved within the next 10 days. Read more!

Corpsmembers Return From Down Under

“No worries” was the operative philosophy for nine lucky corpsmembers and CCC liaison Roxanne Strangfeld, participants in the 2008 work exchange with Conservation Volunteers Australia. This year marked the 20th anniversary of exchanges between the two programs.

The crew, praised as one of the hardest-working CCC crews to date, tackled environmental work in Australia in August and September. The corpsmembers spent four weeks in Victoria and an additional four weeks in South Australia. Projects included work at the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary, a revegetation and fencing effort at a national park, a major tree-planting effort, a vegetation survey to protect a native Australian bird and natural resource work in the Adelaide area.

While the Californians were Down Under, two teams of Australians were hosted at the CCC’s Tahoe and Ukiah centers.

Read more!

Backcountry Trails Program Marks 30 Years of Trail Work

On a beautiful September day in Yosemite National Park, Backcountry alumni, current participants, CCC staff, Park Service officials and friends of the Backcountry Trails Program gathered to commemorate its 30th anniversary.

CCC Director David Muraki, who headed the program for its first 10 years, emceed the ceremony. There were remarks from representatives of the Backcountry Horsemen’s Association, the Yosemite Fund and the CCC Foundation, which provided generous support for the event.

The event was bittersweet, given the recent loss of Backcountry Coordinator Peter Lewis, who led the program for more than 20 years. A memorial service for Peter followed the 30th anniversary ceremony.

Among the accomplishments of the program, which is the only one of its kind in the nation:

* Two million hours of service over three decades, beginning in 1979.

* 8,709 miles of trail repaired or maintained, the same distance as if you were to hike from Yosemite to Los Angeles to Miami to New York to Seattle and back to Yosemite.

* 148 crews, 1,954 graduates. Backcountry graduates have been hired at every major national park in the country.

Read more!

Largest Dispatch of Fire Crews in CCC History

The California Conservation Corps sent more than 800 corpsmembers, the largest number in the program's 32-year history, to wildfires throughout the state in 2008. At least one CCC was dispatched to a fire somewhere in California every single day from June 9 to October 26, when the last corpsmembers were demobilized.

Most of the CCC crews assisted with logistical support to CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service at the fire camps. In addition, the Redding Center’s Type II crew, Shasta 21, provided initial attack and mop-up work throughout the state.

Gov. Schwarzenegger met corpsmembers on his visits to various fire camps throughout the summer and praised their efforts. CCC crews worked 12-to-16-hour days while assigned to a fire, for stints up to 21 days.

The CCC, as one of the state’s premier emergency response agencies, is already gearing up for potential winter storms and flooding. Training in floodfighting techniques for more than 100 corpsmembers has been set for November 14 in Sacramento.

Read more!

Community College Partnership Initiated

With the recent signing of a Master Interagency Agreement with the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges, the CCC is looking forward to a strong collaboration that can open new doors of opportunity for both corpsmembers and community college students.

Brad Duncan, the CCC’s chief of Program Development and Support, said two organizations (both “CCCs”) have agreed to develop joint demonstration projects and pre-Corps pathways for youth 16-20, share labor market information and employer needs, develop models for post-Corps tracking, collaborate on initiatives, and much more.

Brad said both organizations have stressed their commitment to meeting the emerging needs of the state’s workforce and providing education training and support of CCC corpsmembers and those from the local corps programs.

Read more!

New Trails Partnership Underway

Twenty-five CCC crew supervisors (C 1s) are in San Luis Obispo this week for five days of intensive trail-building training under the direction of California State Parks. It’s the first time State Parks has designed and delivered a course to the staff of a single agency.

The crew supervisors will receive both classroom instruction and hands-on experience. They’ll hone their skills on a portion of the Pecho Coast Trail in San Luis Obispo County, near the Point San Luis lighthouse.

The training is the first to take place under the new CCC-State Parks Trail Partnership, headed by Bruce Bonifas. The partnership will feature trail construction by crews throughout the state, including a 14.2 mile trail along the North Fork of the American River in El Dorado County.

Read more!