Updates & Stories

May 6th marked Conservation Corps Minnesota’s second All Corps Day community service project. While the previous All Corps Day addressed issues of homelessness and housing, this warm spring afternoon made for an opportunity for corps members of different programs to meet and learn about environmental education, more specifically, local schoolyard gardening. Together members visited Rivers Edge Academy, a local charter school with an alternative, environmentally driven curriculum. Afterwards, corps members heard about the work of Eco Education, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing public outdoor education by teaming up with local schools. The group ended the day at Brooklyn Center High School constructing what will soon be a schoolyard garden. Read More

The past couple of weeks have been good burning weather so we have been doing a lot of prescribed burns in the local state parks. We have burned two bluff prairies in Great River State Park in Nodine, MN. This slanted picture of fire running up hill is the actual gradient of the goat prairie, if you stood straight up you would fall over. Walking down the bottom of this prairie was quite the adventure! Read More

Winter storms disabled park and many cities in southwest Minnesota April 23, 2013. Saint Paul, Minn. – Blue Mounds State Park staff called upon Conservation Corps Minnesota to help restore operations at the park after devastating winter storms earlier this month took down many trees and branches in the campground, located in Luverne, Minn. Gov. Dayton declared a state of emergency in the southwest Minnesota region, after sending in the National Guard to assist with recovery. Read More

My search this month for my grandfather in history has been aided by the fact that the original CCC era is extremely well preserved. Minnesota was one of the most active in the federally run program, with 148 camps throughout the state. It changed the lives of not only the almost 80,000 men who were enrolled in the program but also the countless number of military staff members and L.E.M (Local Experienced Men) who participated. Read More

I’m going to talk about the weather. It’s an all-too-frequent conversational topic lately; but don’t kid yourself- you love it. And if you don’t, please look deep down and really consider your Minnesotanhood.Check the state rankings of per capita smartphone weather app downloads- Minnesota tops every list (citation needed). If you’ve got less than three different weather apps on your phone, good luck making any friends here. Read More

I’m lucky to have such a diverse, hardworking group of young people in our crew, and although we’ve accomplished plenty in terms of restoration work and environmental education, we’ve had a lot of laughs. From talk of “trash robots” to explaining the definition of hormones and getting the youth to try hummus (“it just sounds gross”), Noah and I manage to find a balance between friend/mentor/supervisor. Read More

Dogs. They are an unmistakable part of my everyday. They are there with their owners or shall we say… chaperones on the paths, running through the woods or in a dog park. Big ones, small ones, shaggy ones… well you get the picture. They are everywhere. Dogs are only one of the many perks of doing urban conservation work. (And why is it again that they always look like their owners?) Read More

On four separate days out of a ten month service, Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa puts together special community service days formally referred to as All Corps Days. These days are meant to introduce corps members of different programs to one another while learning about the environmental issues facing the Twin Cities. The first All Corps Day took place on April 1 and focused on housing issues and environmental justice. Read More

Cutting down trees to conserve them seems counter intuitive to some. When I first joined the corps I wasn’t aware of why we were cutting down trees besides to remove them for prairie restoration. Not only do we cut down trees for prairies restoration, but also to promote sprouts from the tree roots, to remove invasive species and to slow down the spread of disease and bug infestations. Read More

Two weeks ago our crew volunteered to work with DNR forestry to help burn and monitor slash piles. We didn't receive much more information than that, but burning is always fun. We drove toward White Bear Lake and I watched the terrain become slightly more forested, but only because it became more residential. Large suburban houses poked out of the maple stands. We pulled into a cul-de-sac and drove to the end where two muddy ruts dove through a small field past some lumber piles and a DNR van before disappearing into a pine stand. We got out of the truck as Art, the project host, approached us. In the forest I could see a skidder grappling piles of brush and dropping them onto a roaring bonfire. Beyond that I saw a field and then a playground and then a school. Read More