Fellows Camping

By Gelmy Ruiz

Over the weekend of May 16-19, a group of six Executive Fellows -- Nick Esquivel, Kathryn Kliff, Jessica Mar, Ashley Tucker, Heather Williams and Gelmy Ruiz -- ventured out to meet the Yosemite I Backcountry crew. Little did the six know what hard work meant. The fellows arrived on Saturday afternoon and were challenged by the first task of the backcountry, setting up their tents. After some struggle the tents were set up and the fellows were ready for dinner. As the group sat around the campfire eating dinner with Backcountry Supervisor Karlson Hubbard they learned some of the lexicon of the campground. A new world of lyrical words opened up featuring such terms as splooge, jungle can, sump and slop. As dinner ended the fellows splooged their dinner plates using the hot water from the jungle cans. They then washed their dishes near the sump and cleaned camp.

After a windy night, the fellows led by Karlson went on a hike up John Muir Trail to Nevada and Vernal falls. As the fellows hiked the trail, Karlson provided background and history about the work the crew performed to maintain trails. Coming down the Misty Trail the fellows were soaked as the waterfalls were at their most spectacular thanks to the rapidly melting snow. Karlson kept up a fast pace, foreshadowing the hard work to come on Monday when the fellows went out with the crew. Returning from the hike the fellows took advantage of the quiet down time to go treat their tired muscles and bathe in the cold water of the creek.

Monday morning started early at 5 a.m. The entire camp was abuzz as corpsmembers prepared themselves for a day of work. The fellows joined corpsmembers and prepared sandwiches for themselves for lunch. After a hearty breakfast the crew, including the fellows, gathered for PT (Physical Training). The fellows tried to keep pace with the crew doing crunches and stretches. Muscles stretched and ready for the day ahead, the crew and fellows loaded into cars headed for Glacier Point. A hike down the trail led to the first order of the day, clearing the snow off the trail. Using shovels and rakes, the crew and fellows worked to clear the path. Although the site offered a spectacular view there was little time to enjoy the view as the hard work absorbed the crew. After a couple of hours of hard, intense work the trail was cleared of snow. As the corpsmembers continued down the trail doing trail maintenance the fellows were excused for the day and were able to enjoy the afternoon at Glacier Point.

After dinner, the fellows spoke to the corpsmember about the Executive Fellowship program and the type of work each fellow was involved in. A lively discussion ensued where the corpsmembers asked insightful questions about the State of California’s budget.

The fellows expected to come camping and join the CCC for a day of work; in the end they came camping and learned the true meaning of the motto, “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions and more.” The fellows’ hard hats come off, in respect to the great work that the Yosemite I Backcountry crew does on a daily basis.

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Coprsmember Spotlight

When Melina Vasquez joined the CCC a few weeks ago, she probably didn’t imagine she’d be find herself on a trail in the San Bernardino National Forest, one of the first people in the nation hired with the federal stimulus bill dollars.

March 16, her first regular work day after completing the COMET training, was anything but. It was a major news event, with Melina was interviewed by national and local television crews covering her Inland Empire crew putting the first shovels in the ground to assist the U.S. Forest Service.

Melina, 18, had been eyeing the CCC for a while, and on the waiting list to join for more than six months. When she was laid off from her job in a Victorville chicken restaurant, she began actively searching for employment.

“It was hard to find a job,” she says. “I’d wake up every morning and go after applications. They’d say the same thing, ‘we’re not hiring.’”

Finally, she was accepted into the CCC and went through COMET. “You work as a team with people you don’t even know.”
Melina views the CCC as a great challenge and great opportunity.

“If you want a challenge, the CCC will change your life and bring you that much closer to your goals,” she says. “I love it and hope young people will join and love it like I do.”
Melina grew up in Watts and knew from age four what she wanted to be -- a surgeon. She plans to use her CCC scholarship to help fund her educational goals, which ultimately include medical school.

Her life is not all work -- when she has some spare time Melina likes to play volleyball and listen to music from Korn.

As for being part of the first group of people hired with the stimulus funding, she reflects on her involvement in the recent presidential campaign and interest in current events.

“I’m always watching the news, so it’s kind of interesting that all of a sudden I’m a part of (President Obama’s) plan.”

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Read All About It!

From the New York Times to the San Diego Union-Tribune, from the Boston Globe, to the Hendersonville North Carolina Times-News, and to TV screens across the state, the CCC has captured tremendous media attention this week. The reason? We are the first “shovel-ready” beneficiary of federal recovery funding to actually start using those shovels!

Thanks to U.S. Forest Service recovery money, a CCC crew hit the trail Monday, March 16 near Hemet in the San Bernardino National Forest.

José Murillo’s Inland Empire crew, which includes eight new hires, was swarmed by TV cameras, reporters and photographers, as they put their shovels in the ground and tackled trail maintenance efforts.

Many of the corpsmembers were interviewed, along with Inland Conservation Supervisor Rhody Soria and CCC Communications Director Jimmy Camp.

A substantial story and large color photo appeared the next day in the New York Times, along with Associated Press photos that ran all over the country. But our fame hasn’t ended there. A national NPR radio program wants to interview a corpsmember, and the Los Angeles Times would like to spend a day or two with the crew.

Meanwhile, our trail maintenance continues, with corpsmembers eventually set to work on backlogged projects in all three ranger districts of the San Bernardino National Forest. Along with trail work, the CCC will also help improve energy efficiency at the Forest’s headquarters in San Bernardino.
Click Play > Below

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Corpsmember Spotlight

Monique Sanchez has been with the CCC for five months and in that time has gained a new perspective on life. Monique is from Stockton and prior to joining the CCC was, “running with gangs and on the streets.” A glimpse of a better life came from a corpsmember from Monique’s neighborhood who had been able to leave the streets. Monique remembers seeing her friend after a lapse of several months and recalls being impressed at how much she had changed, now owning a car and living on her own. Inspired, Monique left the streets and joined the CCC.

As a corpsmember on Delta Crew 3, Monique’s life has undergone an incredible change from her days on the streets. She is working on her high school diploma and getting her class B license and finds the most rewarding aspect of being in the CCC is “being able to help the community I live in.”

Monique has this message for young people living the life she left: “The streets won’t be there too long. The CCC helps you straighten out and change your life. Here people are willing to help you as long as you put your part in. It’s not too late."

What had once seemed like an impossible dream, owning a car and living on her own, are now realities for Monique. She plans to get an extension so she may stay in the CCC and finish her high school diploma this year. Congrats, Monique, and keep up the good work! Read more!

Green, the New Black

As the stimulus money starts to trickle into California, green has become the new black. Anybody who is anybody is organizing around green collar jobs and the new green economy. Groups like SERJ (Stimulus Economic Recovery & Jobs Task Force) and Green Jobs Council are rapidly gearing up to bring green jobs and innovation to California. As early as 1978, the CCC was involved in energy conservation work such as windmills, solar water heating and greenhouse and other small building construction.


By 1979, the CCC operated two energy centers: A Solar program (Solar) at Greenwood in El Dorado County and the Energy Conservation program (Econ) at the Training Academy in Calaveras County. The centers specialized in solar hot water installations, energy audits and retrofits, weatherization, HVAC and construction focusing on energy-efficient building. The CCC was green before it was fashionable and is ideally placed to return to its green roots. As people begin to redefine what green means the CCC is poised to train and prepare the new workforce of green collar workers. Read more!

Tool Talk

Pulaski - - A fire and grade tool combing an axe on one side and a grub hoe on the other.

Credited with inventing the tool, Edward Pulaski was a hero from the 1910 Wallace, Idaho fires. During a very dry, windy August, Ranger Pulaski, a member of the US Forest Service since 1908, took a crew of 45 men to combat the fire. Facing a wall of fire with no means to escape Ranger Pulaski led his crew into an abandoned mine tunnel to wait out the fire. Six of the men died but Ranger Pulaski’s actions saved the remaining 39. The fire site is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

Seeing an opportunity to improve fire fighting, Pulaski devised a new tool which is to this day used by Corpsmembers in the CCC and firefighters throughout the United States.

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A Look Back at 2008

CCC- Flirting With Disaster

Living up to its reputation as one of California’s premier emergency response forces, the California Conservation Corps devoted thousands of hours in 2008 to fires, floods, pest infestations and more.

The year was a milestone for CCC fire response. With dozens of devastating wildfires, the Corps called out a record number of fire crews -- more crews than it had in its entire 32-year history -- 74 crews, 801 corpsmembers. And the CCC provided continuous logistical support to CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service for 141 days straight, from June to October.

Along with initial attack work and fire camp support, members of the CCC also staffed evacuation shelters in various locations.

The CCC’s extensive flood training paid off as Southern California crews responded to Yorba Linda in November and December. The site of the Freeway Fire was threatened by mudslides and flooding from major storms. Corpsmembers filled thousands of sandbags -- 20,000 in just one day -- also placing 10,000 square feet of protective plastic along hillsides and clearing culverts and flood channels.

Earlier in the year, CCC crews responded to Inyo County, hard-hit by flooding and mud. Corpsmembers worked long days tackling cleanup efforts in the town of Independence.
And 2008 also included efforts to combat pest infestations for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Crews battled the Mexican fruit fly In Los Angeles County and the Light Brown Apple Moth in Santa Barbara County.

Whatever the need or the natural disaster, the CCC is a mobile workforce and can respond within hours, anywhere in the state.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Corpsmembers speak at the Salmon Restoration Federation Conference.

By C-1 John Griffith

The Salmon Restoration Federation has been holding an annual conference for the last 26 years. The conference is four days long and includes field tours of restoration sites, networking opportunities, an award ceremony for restorationists, and several workshops. This year, one of those workshops was titled, California Conservation Corps-California’s Future Restoration Workers. The featured speakers were two corpsmembers, a C-1, and two committed CCC sponsors. The corpsmembers were David Atchison a natural resource specialist from Fortuna and Zac Williams a tool specialist from the Ukiah campus. Both corpsmembers spoke to a packed room about the personal transformational experiences they’ve had in the CCC. David and Zac delivered their talks from the heart as they recapped the challenges they’ve met and the progress they’ve made while in the CCC. Misty eyes and smiles from the audience spoke to the power of their success stories. Other speakers at the workshop were John Griffith C-1 from the Fortuna campus, Allan Renger from Department of Fish and Game, and Leah Mahan from the NOAA Fisheries Program.

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Green Building = Green Jobs

Basic changes in building design and construction could slash greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent in North America, said a joint Canada-US-Mexico report Thursday.

The report, “Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges,” was released by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation at an environmental trade fair in Canada. .

Jonathon Westeinde, a Canadian developer, chairs an advisory group for the commission, which has the mandate of environmental cooperation under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The report recommended that engineers and architects abandon old, proven designs in favor of emerging building technologies, and also called for urban planning with increased population density and access to public transit.

It touted basic measures such as thicker insulation and more energy efficient windows, minimizing energy-intensive heating and air-conditioning and avoiding use of some synthetic building materials that cause indoor air pollution by releasing volatile compounds.

The report noted that North America’s buildings release more than 2,200 megatons of carbon dioxide each year, some 35 percent of the continent’s total.

But the industry has a long way to go. Less than four percent of new buildings meet stringent new environmental, health and energy-saving goals under the continent’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard. Many of the ideas in the report, from urban design to boosting insulation, are not new. “What’s different with this report is there is science behind it,” said Westeinde.

Evidence for the possible energy savings is contained in technical background papers based on laboratory tests, and show that the targets in the report are achievable, he said.

The CEC is an international organization created by Canada, Mexico, and the United States under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and promote the effective enforcement of environmental law. The Agreement complements the environmental provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Read the full report here: Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges
More on Green Building: Green Building

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This Week's Poll Results- Who is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time?

Several of us here at HQ are Packer fans, including myself, so you can imagine how difficult it was to post these results. We did have one comment on this poll that Steve Young should have been included. Sorry, but when you only play a few healthy seasons, and I agree that they were exceptional seasons, but rank right around #20 in every major record category, then I don't think you belong In the "Greatest of all time" list. When we do the "Who had the greatest single season ever" poll question we'll be sure to add Steve Young along with YA Tittle, Kurt Warner and Steve Buerlein who are all tied with Young at the # 9 spot for most touchdowns in a single season.

Check out this weeks poll below "DO YOU LIKE THE CURRENT CCC UNIFORMS?" And please comment on your answers above the poll. Read more!

Crews Work to Protect Levees

The CCC is known for its floodfighting work and sandbagging against rising waters, but the Corps also works on flood prevention efforts.

Corpsmembers from Stockton and Sacramento have spent the past several weeks with chainsaws in hand, trimming trees and clearing brush on Tyler Island near Walnut Grove in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Tyler Island borders on Georgiana Slough, and the CCC crews are tackling the brush on the levees to meet federal levee inspection guidelines put into place after Hurricane Katrina.

The CCC is working under the direction of local Reclamation District 563 and its presdent, Steve Mello. Mello praised the work of the corpsmembers, who have been called out to sandbag on the island during major floods in past years. Read more!

The GIVE Act Falls Short by a Hair

Yesterday afternoon, H.R. 5563, legislation to reauthorize the national service programs was defeated by a recorded vote of 277 - 140. Because the GIVE Act was considered under suspension, the legislation needed two-thirds of those present to vote in the affirmative for the bill to pass. The GIVE Act was one vote shy of meeting the required margin. Following is Rep. George Miller's compelling closing arguments in favor of the GIVE Act where he mentions the CCC. Click Read More following the video to read a statement from his office.

Republican leaders in Congress today killed bipartisan legislation (the GIVE Act, H.R. 5563) that would improve American communities by supporting and increasing the ranks of community service volunteers who perform essential services like mentoring at-risk young people, tutoring schoolchildren, improving public safety, and rebuilding communities devastated by natural disasters. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a co-sponsor of the legislation, said the Republicans defeated the legislation out of pure political partisanship.
“The Republican leadership decided to hold community service programs hostage to its petty partisan political agenda,” said Miller.

“The GIVE Act would have supported the tens of millions of Americans who improve their communities through community service and volunteerism, but Roadblock Republicans decided to stop the legislation for the sake of simple obstructionism. They should be ashamed of themselves. Democrats acted in a good-faith way to develop this legislation on a bipartisan basis, and Republicans chose to take the low road. This is exactly the kind of obstructionism that led voters to remove Republicans from power in 2006, and it shows that Republicans still aren’t serious about working to find solutions that solve America’s challenges.”

BACKGROUND:
Republicans voted against legislation that they supported. Last year, the Education and Labor Committee passed the GIVE Act with a unanimous bipartisan vote of 44 to 0.

Republicans voted against legislation that they were closely involved in developing. Every Republican amendment that was considered by the House Rules Committee was made in order. All of those amendments were offered on the floor of the House, and all of them were approved by the House and later made part of the bill that Republicans defeated today.

The GIVE Act includes provisions that would have required by law background checks on individuals participating in federally-funded volunteer and community service programs. As a result, by voting against the GIVE Act today, Republicans killed legislation that included in statute protections for children against sexual predators. . Read more!

Bruce Bonifas to Become Statewide Trails Coordinator

Bruce Bonifas, a staff member for the California Conservation Corps’ Los Padres Center for nearly 28 years, has been named as the CCC’s first statewide trail coordinator.

Bonifas will head up the CCC’s role in the new CCC-California State Parks Trail Program, overseeing the planning and implementation of specially funded trails projects by CCC crews throughout the state.

CCC Director David Muraki praised Bonifas’ selection, noting he has worked with local, state and federal agencies on hundreds of natural resource projects, including trails, over the years.

“Bruce has developed an outstanding reputation for his efforts on the Central Coast and we want to take his expertise and use it on a larger scale,” Muraki said. “”We know how much people enjoy using the trails in their favorite parks, and, at the same time, the young women and men of the CCC who build the trails take great pride in their work. I can’t think of a better way to expand our partnership with State Parks.”

Karl Knapp, who manages the State Parks trails and road program, said the collaboration is a good opportunity for both departments to work together to accomplish high-quality projects, while developing corpsmember proficiency.

“The young people will be learning some traditional skills that go all the way back to the original Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s,” Knapp said. “They’ll be keeping those skills alive.”

Bonifas, who will continue to work out of the Corps local office, said the CCC will be the major labor force assisting State Parks in reducing their backlog of trail work, including ADA-accessible trails and the construction of portions of the California Coastal Trail.

“Corpsmembers will receive additional training in trail building and related work, which will enhance their professionalism and career options after the CCC,” Bonifas said. “”And you’re working in a beautiful place, from the desert to the coast. If you’re a nature lover, it works out pretty well.”

Bonifas joined the CCC in 1980 as a crew supervisor in San Luis Obispo, a position he held for more than 16 years. His experience included a stint as the CCC’s staff liaison on the annual corpsmember exchange with Conservation Volunteers Australia. He has also served 11 years as the Conservation Supervisor, his current position.

Born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Bonifas is a 1969 graduate of San Luis Obispo Senior High School. He received a B.A. degree from Humboldt State University. Bonifas and his wife, Barbara, live in Atascadero where Barbara teaches third grade. They have two sons, Henry and Sam, both of whom have been members of the California Conservation Corps..

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Listen to a great story from National Public Radio on the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The story compares the original C's to the California Conservation Corps. Click HERE to listen. You can read the full story here: KUOW Radio Read more!