filed under: community & partnership development
The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps
Explore the background of the 21CSC initiative.
by Jeff Parker, Executive Director, Northwest Youth Corps
The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) is a bold national effort to put thousands of America’s young people and veterans to work protecting, restoring, and enhancing America’s great outdoors. In this presentation, we will briefly explore the background of the 21CSC initiative, while focusing the majority of the session on the future of 21CSC and the unique opportunity it presents to leverage partnerships to benefit America’s trail infrastructure and develop the future workforce. Participants will discuss the technical capacity of 21CSC organizations, tips for partnering, examples of successful projects, and the role non-profit conservation corps as a solution to successfully improving our trail infrastructure and engaging the next generation of citizen stewards play.
Jeff Parker is the Executive Director of Northwest Youth Corps, based in Eugene, Oregon. Started in 1984, NYC works throughout a 4 state area, serving over 1,000 diverse youth and young adults each year in outdoor conservation programs that combine education, community, leadership, empowerment, and challenge. NYC operates residential backcountry crews, community based corps programs, a fully accredited alternative high school, and a 2 acre organic farm. Each year, NYC crews and interns complete over 190,000 hours of conservation projects for public land management agencies, including trail construction and maintenance, invasive plant eradication, fuels reduction, and stream restoration. Jeff holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Washington and an MS in Environmental Science from the Evergreen State College. He is a Co-Chair of the Public Lands Service Coalition Steering Committee, a Member of the Corps Network Board of Directors, and served as a member of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Federal Advisory Committee. He began his career in conservation work in 1994. He is the proud father of two boys and loves to call the wild places in the Pacific Northwest home.
Contact: [email protected]
Affinity and Identity-Based Crews and Programs
The purpose of this guide is to highlight the work of service and conservation Corps who develop and manage identity-based programs and crews, discuss the intention and purpose of these crews, why they are important, and how they have been transformational experiences for Corpsmembers and partners.
Everything you need to know about the positive impact of trails on health, environment, economics, and more.
Chattahoochee River NRA Water Trail
A 48-mile water trail along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. The water trail is contained within the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (NRA).
Owens Field Pump Track, South Carolina
In April 2021, the City of Columbia, South Carolina used Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funds to improve the Owens Field Pump Track
