On Thursday, June 8, local elected officials appearing in order from left to right: Mick Omun (kneeling)- ACES program crew supervisor; Camille Howes - Gila National Forest Supervisor; Jim Paxon - Sierra County, New Mexico Commissioner; Alicia Beyer – Southwest Regional Director for Senator Martin Heinrich; students TY Begay, Dave Smith, and Steven Neff, Bret Mellott – Black Range District Ranger; students Idaz Blunt, Conrad Sandoval, Alex Perry, and Jessica Vicuna, and Melanie Goodman – Field Representative for Senator Ben Ray Lujan.
Forest Service Job Corps – Changing lives, giving back
SILVER CITY, NM, June 16, 2023 – The Gila National Forest developing a new partnership with Forest Service Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (CCC) in a win-win for students and the forest. Students hail from the Job Corps CCCs at Oconaluftee, North Carolina; Anaconda, Montana; Frenchburg, Kentucky; Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; Nemo, South Dakota, and Timber Lake, Oregon. The students will spend the next six weeks to four months helping out in a variety of capacities on the Gila National Forest as they learn new skills and prepare for their future careers.
Eight students will be living and working out of the Beaverhead Ranger Station, bringing new life to dilapidated and outdated seasonal housing facilities. They are pre-apprentices in carpentry and painting, whose skills are a perfect fit for the update and replacement of flooring, basic plumbing, fixtures, appliances, windows, doors, cabinetry, and hardware that is needed in many of the Gila National Forest’s buildings.
“We have a crucial need for workers and a large number of aging buildings on which updates and repairs are long overdue,” said Gila National Forest Supervisor, Camille Howes. “Job Corps has students in need of real-world experience, who are ready for a challenge and willing to help. Partnering with Job Corps is a fantastic mutually beneficial opportunity to meet their needs and ours at the same time.”
A crew supervisor for the group at Beaverhead was hired through ACES, the Forest Service Agriculture Conservation Experienced Services program, which allows forests to obtain services from experienced workers aged 55 and older to complete conservation work, mentor less experienced workers and complete short term priority work. The crew supervisor is diversely skilled, with multiple degrees and experience as an engineer, electrician, and military veteran. In only a short time of working together, he has formed a bond with the students, taking pride in their work and expressing appreciation for the opportunity to share his knowledge. The students, too, are excited to absorb as much from him as they can.
Two additional Job Corps students are working in the Reserve Ranger District. The Job Corps program emphasizes hands-on learning in real world environments. An Oconaluftee Job Corps forestry conservation and wildland firefighting student is working as a wildlife technician, surveying areas of the forest for Mexican spotted owl, goshawks, Chiricahua leopard frogs, and other threatened, endangered, or sensitive species. A Boxelder Job Corps Office Automation student is working at the ranger district’s front desk, filling a critical role serving customers.
“These students arrived prepared and enthusiastic for work. The training and guidance they receive at their Job Corps centers shows in the students’ attitudes and abilities,” said Reserve District Ranger, Amanda Gehrt. “I’m honored to be a part of their work experience that helps prepare them for their future careers.”
Job Corps CCCs are associated with national forests or grasslands and are operated by the Forest Service in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor. CCCs provide youth ages 16 to 24 to the opportunity to earn high school diplomas, GEDs, and certification in conservation and traditional vocational trades. CCCs are the only Job Corps centers authorized to conserve, develop, or manage public natural resources and public recreation areas; develop community projects in the public interest; and respond to natural disasters. The CCCs provide a cost-effective method for national forests and grasslands to address deferred maintenance needs and to complete essential conservation projects on national forests and grasslands that otherwise would not receive the necessary resources or manpower.
The Gila National Forest is expanding existing partnerships and exploring new partnerships in an effort to ramp up facility, forest, and watershed restoration efforts. Over three days last month, forest leadership met with representatives of the Onconaluftee Job Corps CCC, National Forest Foundation, Bat Conservation International, Wild Arizona, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Gila Resource Information Project/Gila Conservation Coalition, and Conservation Corps New Mexico/Arizona Conservation Corps to discuss the forest’s work priorities, visit example worksites, and learn how partners can help restore watersheds and protect communities and critical infrastructure at risk from catastrophic wildfire.
“We learned that partners can, and are eager to help fill staffing shortages, bring new ideas and approaches to bear, and even provide grant funds that further increase the effectiveness and capacity to accomplish this important work,” said Howes. “It’s exciting to be a part of building momentum and taking advantage of synergy that will benefit us all for years to come. Partnering with Job Corps further allows us to be part of positive life-changing experiences for young people, and nothing could be more rewarding than that.”
More information is available about Job Corps at Job Corps | Careers Begin Here. Learn more about the ACES program at ACES – A program to help the Forest Service accomplish its work | US Forest Service (usda.gov). For more information or questions contact Maribeth Pecotte at 575-388-8211 or Maribeth.Pecotte@usda.gov.