China Cassidy Instead of hanging out in the house playing video games or binging on the newest releases, select youth from Holbrook and surrounding communities took part in the Petrified Forest National Park’s Youth Conservation Corps this summer. The Youth Conservation Corps is an outdoor education and stewardship program that teaches things such as facility maintenance, resource management and ecology, among other areas of operation. The youth involved had the opportunity to shadow PFNP Park Ranger Ricardo Escobar on weekly field trips to learn about the different federal land management agencies spanning from the Pinetop and Mogollon Rim area back through Winslow. The program is also aimed to keep young people engaged in learning about the resources protected by the park. In hopes to conserving the ideals of the Civilian Conservation Corps that was formed back in the 1930’s, the YCC was formed to continue the mission “to develop an ethic of environmental stewardship and civic responsibility by providing youth employment opportunities in the nation’s national parks, forests and wilderness areas.”
