Most adults would likely rank babysitting, car washing and dog walking among the classic summer jobs of their youth.
Last June, the U.S. teen unemployment rate was 18.1 percent, improved over the 21 percent tally of 2014, but still noted as falling even faster than the national unemployment rate.
In an effort to encourage American youth’s job search toward preserving the nation’s rich natural treasures, the National Parks Service offers what could be considered the ultimate summer job.
The Native Conservation Corps and Youth Conservation Corps are separate NPS programs, each providing the rewarding, hands-on opportunity to work on physically challenging conservation projects in diverse weather conditions while gaining direct experience in the fundamentals of stewardship.
Petrified Forest National Park Ranger Sarah Herve, who enjoys working with groups of Native American students in the NCC program each year, shares her enthusiasm about the program.
“Native Conservation Corps is intended to be an immersion experience for Native American high school juniors and seniors, so students do things like camp together and make food together as part of the program. They really develop teamwork, resourcefulness and creative skills. If we could do it year round without interfering with the kids’ school, it would be great,” she said.
Herve has previously guided Hopi, Zuni and Navajo youth through the program as they learned about national parks and each other, an experience she describes as “powerful, because rarely do these tribes have opportunities to interact together.”
In addition to the cultural exchange, participants work eight hours per day, five days per week, and earn a stipend of $60 per day while working alongside NPS professionals to learn about the many career opportunities available with the organization.
This year, NPS has partnered with The Southwest Conservation Corps as part of its Native youth outreach and, through the Ancestral Lands initiative, will engage students in activities geared toward meaningful conservation projects on native lands throughout the region, with programs to be staged in Acoma Pueblo, Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo.
Traditionally, Ancestral Lands crews deploy projects ranging from historical preservation, traditional agriculture, chainsaw crews, hiking clubs, stream restoration, fencing, trash pickup, trail construction and more. The program also aims to incorporate traditional culture and language as part of crew lifestyle and project work.
This summer, Herve noted, NCC students can expect a diverse array of tasks. “This year we’re going to have the corps go to several different parks than they have in the past. We’re hoping to be able to send one of the corps out as far as Joshua Tree National Park, just across the California border,” she said.
NCC crews are also slated to work at Petrified Forest and Glen Canyon national parks.
As part of the 10-week program, which begins in June, the NCC youth will participate in activities ranging from museum artifact collection and curation, to archaeological surveying, paleontological field work, law enforcement job shadowing, non-native and invasive plant removal, native seed collection and plant propagation, and more.
NPS officials note that the students will have opportunities to act as ambassadors of their Native American communities and tribes as they interact with park visitors.
With park personnel assistance, the enrollees will also reach out locally through presentations to various audiences at their high school, local elementary schools, chapter houses and community events.
Native American youth aged 15-18 interested in the NCC program should visit http://sccorps.org/join/ancestral-lands/, and complete and submit a Native Conservation Corps Crewmember application. Applicants should enroll by May 31.
For the eight-week 2016 Youth Conservation Corps program, youth can look forward to supporting the completion of PFNP’s new Tawa trail, re-vegetation of native plants, assisting with paleontological field work, native seed collection, and at least one off-site educational trip and service project, with additional regional training in Flagstaff.
One city official recalls his own fond memories as a teen working with the YCC.
“I was part of the Youth Conservation Corps, it was the first job I ever had back in 1984, just after my sophomore year of high school, and it was awesome,” said Holbrook Recreation Director Louie Baldonado Jr. “I was one of 12 other kids who worked for the National Parks Service. We repaired bridges at the Petrified Forest National Park, and did other projects that helped to make the park a little bit better. We learned what it was like to have a job, what it takes to be a part of an organization and valuable work skills, some of the same ones I still use today.”
To be eligible for the Youth Conservation Corps program, applicants must:
* Be a citizen of the United States of America.
* Have reached the age of 15 by May 31, 2016, but will not reach the age of 19 by July 22, 2016.
* Possess a Social Security card.
* Not have participated in YCC within the past three years.
* Have no history of serious criminal or anti-social behavior.
* Be able to obtain parental or legal guardian consent to enroll in the YCC program.
* Be able to attend the full eight-week program from May 31 through July 22.
* Be able to attend regional YCC overnight activities in Flagstaff (transportation provided) at the beginning and end of the program.
* Be able to provide proper work clothing (long-sleeve shirts, trousers or jeans, etc.).
* Have transportation to/from the park or to/from a
designated meeting place in Sanders or Holbrook. (Disabled youth who, with reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the YCC program are also eligible.)
YCC enrollees will be paid the current minimum wage for a 40-hour work week.
The YCC application deadline is April 15.
For more information or to download the application form, visit
http://www.nps.gov/pefo/getinvolved/supportyourpark/ycc.htm, or call Petrified Forest
National Park at (928) 524-6228, ext. 264.
