Updates & Stories

We appreciate all who braved the drizzle on September 14 to help us celebrate 80 years since the beginning of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Thanks to the covered DNR stage, we heard great live music all evening and gathered to honor five alumni from the original CCC who attended. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton even proclaimed the day as CCC Member Appreciation Day! Read More

More than 200 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota employees stopped by the Conservation Corps table at the company’s annual CareFest on Tuesday, September 10 to learn about our programs and make seed bombs. Read More

During some of the hottest days of summer when many of us were cooling off at the lake, 23 corps members and one staff person deployed to the remote town of Galena, Alaska to work in chilly, damp weather, helping locals recover from a devastating late spring flood caused by an ice jam on the Yukon River. Read More

After hot, dry conditions in northern Minnesota sparked several fires in the BWCA in August, two Corps crews were called on to assist in bringing one of them under control. The U.S. Forest Service flew crews from Mankato and Brainerd into an inaccessible area on the south arm of Knife Lake, northeast of Ely. Read More

On September 21, AmeriCorps celebrated 20 years of “getting things done for America.” National service champions, community leaders and AmeriCorps members past and present gathered together in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the impact of 20 years of service -- and envision 20 more. Read More

For the first of two fall All Corps Days, corps members from different programs came together to learn about alternative transportation and bicycle advocacy and get their hands dirty working on bikes. On Monday, September 16, Individual Placement, Youth Outdoors and Corps staff members gathered at Minnehaha Falls to learn about existing pedestrian/bike trails and plans to develop more in the metro area. Read More

As we go week to week working on different projects, it’s easy to consider our work done, the projects finished. This makes sense for most projects; you paint your walls and they’re painted until you paint them again, you build a deck and it’s there until you remove it. When working with nature, as we typically do at the Conservation Corps, it turns out projects are rarely done.  Read More

 “Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” ― Orson WellesFor eight months, my crew has intensely pursued culinary adventures. We snacked on Mexican style marzipan, chili seasoned mangos and homemade pretzels. We feasted on elk, venison and bear. For lunch, we unleashed Tupperware full of bulgur salad, pesto and roasted chicken. And notoriously end the day in a frozen yogurt haze. Read More

With summer drawing to a close my crew and I ventured out to Teddy Roosevelt National Park for a ten day spike. The last day of the trip, barred from spraying herbicide by a misting rain, our project host took us on a tour of the north unit of the park. In the middle of the 14 mile driving loop we stopped and ran through the rain to a small lean-to perched on the edge of an impressive vista. Like so many structures in state and national parks I recognized the cut stone and well-built masonry of the CCCs.  Standing dry beneath the roof and looking out into the mist I let my mind wander, appreciating the view in front of me and how it gave me a sense of place in the world and in history. Read More

When we first arrived at the logjam, we had already left our boats behind. Our last two river projects had involved us dragging our canoes over sandbars and rocks on rivers that have mostly dried up for the year, so we expected to simply walk up to the 250 foot logjam on the Whitewater River and dice it up quickly. With the fall drought, the water levels have been exceptionally low, but the Whitewater was churning. Read More