Updates & Stories

Conservation Corps Minnesota has submitted an application to the Minnesota Department of Education for a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, made possible with federal… Read More

Check out the video created by Nature Valley and National Parks Conservation Association highlighting the Summer Youth Corps' work planting 3,000 trees on the Rat Root River in Voyageurs National Park. Read More

All alumni of Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa programs are invited to join the new Facebook Conservation Corps Alumni Group. Reconnect and share information with other alums about job opportunities, events, environment-related articles and more. Join now and spread the word!  Read More

Missed the 80th birthday celebration last fall? You can still get a piece of the history– and a wonderful memento of the Corps. We have a limited supply of 80th Birthday t-shirts on sale for only $10.  Read More

HandsOn Twin Cities partners with more than 300 nonprofits throughout the metro area to bring people together and strengthen communities through meaningful volunteer action. As an affiliate, Conservation Corps Minnesota will leverage additional volunteer services to broaden our community reach and expand our volunteer program.  Read More

In 2013, Conservation Corps Minnesota significantly expanded its volunteer events in the metro area. Throughout the year, we led four seed bomb events and redesigned our website to accommodate volunteer signups. Our crew members led 2,543 volunteers in 12,677 hours of work restoring 316 acres of land and nine miles of trail.These numbers wouldn’t have been possible without the support of a volunteer-focused grant from REI. In previous years, REI’s grants supplied the Corps with equipment and funding to start programs like I Can Camp, but REI recently shifted its focus to funding volunteer initiatives. Read More

During another cold week in Minnesota, a warm crowd gathered at Summit Brewing Company in Saint Paul for an evening of local beer and food, and the company of more than 100 people who supported the Corps in 2013. The crowd of donors, volunteers and project hosts enjoyed free Summit beer on tap and a Boca Chica taco bar at the beautiful Summit headquarters on the Mississippi River. Many attendees were alumni of the Corps, from the 1970s through today. Read More

We are proud to announce that we recently received the Charities Review Council stamp of approval and are listed on the Council’s Smart Givers Network!  Read More

The transition from idealistic college student to full-time employee is not typically smooth. After all, student life gives us the freedom to wake up at 10:00 am, write essays about Godzilla films and live blithely on loan money. Needless to say, having to be somewhere before sunrise, work 40-50 hours a week, and labor in snowstorms and rain did not come easy to me. Crew members and leaders with previous full-time job experience are sometimes more prepared than recent college graduates for the kind of hands-on work the Conservation Corps offers. I didn’t have any experience working full-time or outdoors, but I thought that this AmeriCorps year would be an adventure. And this year was an adventure - with a fair share of twists and meaningful moments. Read More

I’m gonna brag a little bit here, because I believe that we on the St. Paul Roving field crew have really figured something out. We’ve figured out how to keep our chainsaws sharp, navigate winding trails through the woods in big trucks, keep ourselves dry when it rains, cool when it’s hot, and warm when it’s cold, but so has most everyone else who does this work. What I believe we, and only we, have truly figured out is lunch.“What do you mean Nick? It took you 26 years to figure out how to nourish yourself via a midday meal?” you may be thinking to yourself; Well then I’m sorry to say, you obviously have not figured out lunch. Let me provide an example: Today at 12:15pm, my crew and I were biting into hot Kansas City barbeque beef brisket sandwiches, mmmmm mmm delicious. But we were in Minnesota! In a truck in the middle of the woods! How could that be? Well that’s a secret, but we figured it out (mostly our crew leader Mike). Read More