June 11, 2018 

CONSERVATION LEGACY PHOTO CONTEST

Conservation Legacy is a national organization dedicated to supporting a cooperative of locally based conservation service programs that foster service in support of communities and ecosystems. In celebration of our 20th Anniversary and Great Outdoors Month, we want to see—how do you #ServeOutdoors? What is your boots-on-the-ground experience? Share it with us! 

May 24, 2018 | “I spent five glorious years at the Coconino Rural Environment Corps (CREC), now Arizona Conservation Corps, in Flagstaff, AZ, from March 2002 until June of 2008, with a brief hiatus during 2004 to study sustainable building. I had spent a summer as a Crew Leader for the Student Conservation Association and wanted to continue working in the eternally fascinating, stimulating, challenging field of conservation."

May 14, 2018 | After a short internship with the National Park Service during her senior year of college at the UW, Allison Burdick wasn't sure where she's end up. Like many college grads, Burdick tentatively ventured into the professional world, taking a corporate job at Starbucks in a field she didn't go to school for. When park ranger Kelsey Johnson offered her the chance to apply for a yearlong paid position at the National Park Service, she jumped on it.

May 4, 2018 | “Building this new trail from start to finish is especially nice,” she said, taking a break from using a rock bar to nudge a boulder into place “I love my commute from tent to this canyon, and look forward to one day taking my kids on this trail and telling them I helped build it.”

April 23, 2018 | William Drabkin started the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona (YCOSA) in Tucson, AZ in 2001. Through the years, the organization evolved from YCOSA to Southwest Conservation Corps and presently operates as Arizona Conservation Corps. 

April 22, 2018 | In 2014, on Earth Day, Conservation Legacy was created to support several existing local conservation corps and national service programs that have been in operation across the country, some for the past 20 years.

April 10, 2018 | Kartchner Caverns State Park is inviting the public to come celebrate its newest hiking trail and renovation of the existing Foothills Loop Trail at an Earth Day event on April 22. Built in response to visitor requests for additional and more challenging trails at Kartchner Caverns State Park, the new trail is 1.75 miles through the foothills of the Whetstone Mountains. All trail work was completed with hand tools by the Arizona Conservation Corps (AZCC) trail crew and park staff.

March 27, 2018 | The nonprofit Conservation Corps New Mexico gives young adults 18 to 25 the chance to improve public lands across southern New Mexico and West Texas. Through partnerships with AmeriCorps, Conservation Corps members contribute to conservation efforts while gaining job skills and earning education award money. Program coordinator Ben Correll said before he got involved with conservation work, he didn’t think much about public lands.

March 26, 2018 | “Wildland firefighting is physically one of the toughest things you can do,” said Jason Boeshore, Veterans Program Coordinator with the non-profit Conservation Legacy Southwest Conservation Corps in Durango, Colorado. Boeshore recently took over the Veterans Fire Corps and Veterans Conservation Corps programs, developed to help returning servicemembers transition to civilian life by providing skills training and career connections in conservation and firefighting.

March 16, 2018 | Fifty-three young adults took the AmeriCorps pledge to “Get Things Done” and support a legacy of service and conservation stewardship at the National Park Service. These Community Volunteer Ambassadors will serve with the NPS for 50 weeks and be trained as community and volunteer engagement coordinators.