Member Stories

I’ve gotta give a shout out to Stihl Chainsaws. At -20F it’s tough to get anything running at all, but with just a few pulls those saws were roaring and it was time to get to work.  And so went the winter.I was hired back for another term with the Conservation Corps field crews, this time as the crew leader of the Metro Roving crew. Between the end of the last term and the beginning of the current term, those of us who were hired back worked as an interim crew on a couple of different projects. You may or may not recall but it was a particularly cold winter, the coldest in about 30 years in fact, and hence the coldest winter everyone on the crew has ever experienced. The fact that we continued to get work done each day (save the few that were called off due to dangerously cold temperatures) is testament to the reputation of the Corps and the ethic that is instilled in Corps members. We work smart and we work hard because we believe that our accomplishments are integral in conserving our environment. Read More

I have been thinking about my life and my experience in Alaska. The villages especially are always on my mind.  It’s been engraved in my brain as well as my heart.  I'm sure the same can be said with you and many others that went there.  At times when I feel overwhelmed with not knowing where my career path is heading, or when I encounter other woes about making student loan payments, wedding costs, broken cars, bills, etc.  It dawns on me that those problems are not that bad to have.  Seeing the villages and the conditions that the villagers live in makes my problems seem like luxuries. I have realized that is what they are. For the villagers, their problems are much greater. Not knowing where or when your next meal or even just a simple orange is going to come from. Read More

Most of the problems in life come because of two reasons. First, we act without thinking. Second, we keep thinking without acting. For some of us life is -sort of- figured out at different moments of our lives, after high school, during or after college, etc. At those points, we believe things are organized enough that it would not be much of a problem, and then we set cruise control. Ironically, that’s when we completely lose control. We lose track. We lose motivation. Sometimes we even lose ourselves and who we believe we want to be.I joined the Corps at the age limit, 25. Perhaps a bit too late, perhaps at the right moment. However, since the beginning I had so many questions and doubts about if this was going to be the right move for me. Will volunteering full-time interfere with my future plans? Will it be possible for me to live with an stipend and debt on my shoulders? What about the career I already started, will I have to start from zero again? What if Minnesota is not the right place? And questions kept coming, and coming, and coming. Read More

I’m Jackie, and I just moved all the way back to my home state of Iowa from Portland, Oregon for my new job. My position is pretty unique because I am working independently, a state away from the primary host organization. RREAL is based in Pine River, Minnesota while I am stationed with Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) in Hiawatha, IA.RREAL provides solar furnaces, a service we call Solar Assistance, to low income families as a long-term alternative to standard energy assistance. Energy assistance is provided by community action programs (CAPs) such as HACAP. Read More

The cold weather has begun to set in here in southeast Minnesota! The leaves have been changing colors and many plants are losing their leaves, which means it is time to cut and spray invasive species that stay green long after other plants have died off for the winter! In addition to buckthorn which we have been feverously cutting because their ivy green leaves stick out like an eye sore, we have been searching for, GPSing, cutting and spraying the roots of invasive Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). 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