Updates & Stories

These are my boots. Two years ago on a snowy morning in January I drove up I-94 to the Fergus Falls DNR office to sign some paperwork and begin my first term in the Conservation Corps as a crew leader. I met the other three leaders I would be working with, and we packed our belongings into a giant white truck and traveled to Camp Friendship for orientation. Read More

The Eastern Bluebird, a species identifiable by its striking blue and orange color-scheme, was on the edge of extinction in the 1960s. Multiple environmental hazards, including widespread pesticide spraying, human destruction of nesting habitat and predatory invasive birds contributed to their decrease in numbers. Read More

I wish I could tell you how sorry I am that I didn’t seem more interested in your past when you were alive. History, to a teenager, means old dead people and large text books. I was too absorbed with the technology of youth to care about my past. I’m lucky though that you left me such an easy trail to follow. You must have known that someday I would care. Someday I would want to know where I came from and how my family became so adventuresome. Read More

 Photo: Conservation Corps staff with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. From left,… Read More

 Photo: Conservation Corps crew members installed livestock access control fence to protect Elim Creek in Carlton County. Read More

 Photo: Corps members Bethany Dahl, Drew Wilwert, Jennie LaRoche, Travis Wilder and Joe McCarthy with Rich Stemper of the Root River… Read More

University of Minnesota students made seed bombs at a BAM meeting. On October 30, Conservation Corps… Read More

 Last month, we launched an updated website that makes us more mobile-friendly and that we hope you… Read More

Thanks to a matching donation and our generous supporters, we raised $4,575 on Give To The Max Day! Your contributions have a real impact: this one day of giving means 4-5 youth can attend a summer session, or we can provide CPR training for more than 90 young adults. Thank you!We have a few more CCC 80th Birthday t-shirts to give away, so claim yours by making a donation of $50 or more before the end of the year.  Read More

“I really need to do something with my life,” I heard from behind me. When I looked up from piling brush I saw one of my crew members looking out over our work site, his expression grave and concentrated. As I continued to pile the massive amount of buckthorn we cut that day I took time to ponder his words. With the end of our term in sight much of the talk in my crew this month has been of what comes after the Corps. Read More