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The CCC, Proud Member of the Corps Network

The California Conservation Corps is a member of The Corps Network, an umbrella organization serving as a voice for more than 100 conservation and service corps programs throughout the country. There are currently programs in 41 states and the District of Columbia.

CCC Director David Muraki is a member of the Corps Network board, and he and several CCC staff members participated in the organization’s February Forum in Washington, D.C. Various corps programs shared experiences, accomplishments and best practices, heard from corpsmembers, and also had the opportunity to visit congressional representatives during the conference.

You can check out the Corps Network at www.corpsnetwork.org

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Camera Magnet

Last Tuesday Governor Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to establish the first-in-the-nation cabinet position for service and volunteering. (see story links below) On hand to lend support and celebrate with the Governor, First Lady and new Cabinet Secretary Karen Baker, were over 60 corpsmembers representing the Pomona, Norwalk, LA and Camarillo centers, and represent they did.

C-1 Christian Herrera and 5 corpsmembers had the honor of standing on stage along with approximately 75 other representatives of service and volunteer agencies.

Christian Hererra (in the yellow hat below) is no stranger to attracting media attention for the corps—he’s appeared in many television and print stories on behalf of the CCC and was a total “camera magnet” at last week’s event. On second thought, maybe Christian just “happened to be in the right place at the right time……” Nice job Chris. Stories: Time Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, Vallejo Times Read more!

Join the Corps, See Siberia

Tahoe corpsmember Savannah Kestral has been selected as a CCC participant in the annual Tahoe-Baikal Summer Environmental Exchange. It should be an experience she’ll never forget.

The exchange takes five North American and six Northern European young people, along with two corpsmembers, for a summer of education, conservation awareness and hands-on watershed research at Lake Tahoe and Yosemite in California and Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. The group will also have a chance to tour Mongolia and other parts of Siberia.
Lake Tahoe is one of the world’s largest, clearest and deepest alpine lakes, with more than 260 wildlife species and 1,000 plant species in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lake Baikal is the world’s largest (in volume), deepest and oldest freshwater lake. It contains 20 percent of the Earth’s unfrozen fresh water and is one of most biologically diverse lakes in the world.

Savannah is a veteran of international exchanges, having been a part of the CCC’s work exchange with Conservation Volunteers Australia in 2007. As part of her Tahoe-Baikal internship, she will help with the organization’s Web site, local outreach efforts to support the program, and the development of community service programs in conservation awareness. The Tahoe-Baikal exchange will be based at Fallen Leaf Lake while in the Tahoe Basin.

The CCC Foundation will provide half of the $2500 participation costs for the two corpsmembers. This is the 14th year members of the CCC have participated in the Tahoe-Baikal partnership.

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Fighting Fire with Fire

Corpsmembers Deploy Statewide
One year ago Luke Duivenvoorden was bagging groceries at a local market, Anne Garn worked at a big box retailer stocking shelves, Jason Venske was flipping burgers and Kevin Oxley was making a career out of sitting on his dad’s couch.

Today they’re fighting fires with the CCC’s “Shasta 21”
fire crew.

Battling forest fires has been a part of the California Conservation Corps' mission since it was created in 1976, and a legacy of the work done by Civilian Conservation Corps crews during the 1930s. Over the years, modern-day CCC crews have been dispatched to nearly every major fire in the state.

The CCC's fire response work ranges from providing logistical support at the fire camps to initial attack on the firelines.

The CCC's Type II crews, which receive extensive physical and classroom training, fight fires and assist with mop-up of hot spots after the fire is out. “The training is unbelievable," said Chris Hodges from the back of the crew's transport vehicle after spending the last five hours in a burning forest with a chainsaw. “This is what I want for the rest of my life.”

At major fire camps, which often support 2,000 or more firefighters around-the-clock, corpsmembers can be found running the supply operations, assisting with food service, rolling up fire hoses, helping with set-up and tear-down of the camp and more.

As of November 2007, the CCC looks back on an extremely busy 2007 fire season. John Martinez, the Corps' Emergency Services Unit manager, finally has a chance to catch his breath, some 40 fires later. "Though we were very active for a long stretch earlier in the season, throughout the state, the October fires in Southern California happened overnight, and required a lot of resources very quickly," John said. "We sent out 38 crews, more than 500 corpsmembers. All the centers stepped up and provided the resources that were needed.This year seems to be a season I don't think we'll forget anytime soon."

The CCC’s “Shasta 21” crew out of Redding was deployed to help fight the Poomacha fire on Mt. Palomar in San Diego County. “We’ve been brushing out roads, cutting fire lines, getting chased by the fire back to the safety zone. We thought we were through for the season and then these Santa Ana winds flared up and here we are," noted Shawn Fry, fire crew supervisor on the Shasta 21 fire crew. He’s been running the Type II fire response teams for the past seven years. Through the sound of chainsaws and crackling trees you can hear Fry barking orders to his crew, orders that are followed without any hesitation or questioning. This is a well-oiled, tightly run machine and any goofing off on the line is met with a sharp and swift reprimand from Fry followed later by encouragement and joking back in the crew vehicle. He has clearly earned their respect and admiration.

From July through September a total of 142 CCC crews were called out, responding to at least 15 fires for CAL FIRE and 18 for the U.S. Forest Service. Nearly 115,000 hours were provided to the two agencies. The largest incident was the Zaca Fire in Santa Barbara County, which raged for two months in the Los Padres National Forest. "We had 48 different crew requests for this fire," John said.

Other major fires to which the CCC responded were the Moonlight Fire in Plumas County, the Lick Fire in Santa Clara County and the Elk Fire in Siskiyou County. Then, as the Santa Ana winds picked up in October, the CCC dispatched more than 500 corpsmembers and staff to fires in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Crews were called in from as far away as Lake Tahoe and Redding.

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The C's in Big Sky Country

Corpmembers Invade Montana
It's not unusual for the Los Padres Center in San Luis Obispo to work in several nearby counties, but five corpsmembers found themselves spending two weeks tackling projects a bit farther away, in Montana.

The corpsmembers and their crew supervisor, Ben Herbert, drove to "Big Sky" country for two weeks as part of the second exchange with the Montana Conservation Corps. The scenery didn't disappoint.
It was September and warm in California, but the corpsmembers were surprised to brave an early Montana snowstorm when they arrived. Then came an eight-day backpacking spike in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness near Yellowstone National Park. After a few days of trail work, the CCC crew awoke one morning to find six inches of snow around their tents. Not to worry -- they just moved to a lower location and continued their trail work.

How did they measure up to the work? Montana officials heaped praise on them for their work ethic, general attitudes and ability to adapt to changing conditions, weather and all.
With CCC alumni spread out over the country, the crew linked up with Tim Warner, a former corpsmember and Backcountry supervisor. Tim works for the National Park Service in the Grand Tetons and treated the crew to a backyard barbecue at his home.

After the Californians returned home, the Los Padres Center hosted six corpsmembers from Montana. Bruce Bonifas, the CCC's conservation supervisor who oversaw the exchange, did his best to match up the Montanans with scenic Central Coast worksites. "We tried to get them next to the coast as much as possible," he said.

The Montanans worked at Pismo Beach, removing protective fencing at the end of nesting season for the threatened snowy plover. With guidance from State Parks ecologists, they also improved the beach habitat for the birds. Along with birds, the Montanans focused on fish, creating habitat for the endangered California steelhead trout. And there was a chance to do a little hiking, as they walked in several miles to work on the Santa Margarita Lake Trail.

It wasn't all work -- the group visited San Francisco and camped out at Big Sur before driving back to Montana. If all goes well, the two corps programs are looking to do a third round of exchanges in 2008. Read more!