Posted on 07/02/2006 5:54:11 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Wyoming may soon get own conservation corps
By Jennifer Frazer rep8@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - The Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s was famous for its use of the nation's youth to rejuvenate forests and public lands.
Soon Wyoming may have a modern-day version of the corps, which would join corps in Utah, Montana and Colorado. The corps in all three of those states have worked in Wyoming in the past.
The Wyoming Conservation Corps would provide youth 18-24 with an opportunity to learn skills and work with government agencies while improving Wyoming's public lands.
The project is the brainchild of Nick Agopian, a law student at the University of Wyoming, who, together with law student Matt Kelly and UW Center for Volunteer Services director Robin Paulekas, is working to make it a reality.
Agopian was brainstorming ideas for an internship last year when he hit upon starting a conservation corps for Wyoming. He had worked on such a corps after graduation from college in Montana.
In January of this year he got approval from UW to move ahead with the project. Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, learned about the idea at a lunch, where he sat at the same table as Agopian.
"I just thought, 'What a great idea!'" Jennings said. "It really is something we should be doing in Wyoming."
He promoted the idea by adding it as an amendment to the School of Energy bill, but it was removed in the Senate by lawmakers who said the idea was in the wrong place.
The bill would have provided startup funding, but the project has moved ahead and is seeking startup funding on its own. If it comes to fruition, the proposed program would now be housed at the Haub School & Ruckelshaus Institute for Environment and Natural Resources at UW.
The corps would serve both government public land agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, and private companies interested in increasing their community involvement.
Though some have characterized this as a way of providing cheap labor to industry, the program's founders don't see it that way.
"The intent was to take it beyond what they would already do in reclamation, or to start doing something they weren't required to do," Jennings said.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, another planned partner, is enthusiastic about the program.
"I think the program is good in two very important respects," said Bill Wichers, deputy director of the department. "One is these folks would be able to accomplish worthwhile projects that might not get done otherwise. And second, it would be a tremendous educational opportunity for people working on the crews."
Youth interested in participating could apply to become either a corps member or leader on teams made up of two leaders and six members. Their work would take place between early May and late August on projects ranging from restoration of native vegetation following natural resource development to trail maintenance and restoration to wildfire reduction measures.
In return for their work, corps members would get health insurance during their service, a monthly living stipend of a few hundred dollars, plus an education award of $1,250 or $2,362 for higher education.
Project sponsors would pay $9,000 to $11,000 for each 640-hour work project and would provide campsites during the project.
I keep thinking that we should have a CCC corps for the Middle East and N Africa. Take the unemployed in Europe and put them to work planting trees and grass. The photos of the area just make me gasp. In my mind, the strongest indictment of sharia is the raping and devestation of the land. By contrast. Europe has been a wonderful trustee of its land bank.
Wyoming had a YCC (Youth Conservation Corps) in the mid 70s under Carter.
This is nothing new.
What's new is a Republican state legislator is proposing to revive FDR's CCC in a single state, I guess.
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